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Chapter 6: She Can Stay

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Alopex stood in the living room of Jacob’s House, it was messy, VERY messy. Dirty clothes were piled up in the corner, a 2 person couch tainted by a few food and beer stains sat in front of a small table with many empty cans of booze, while a CRT Television accompanied by a VHS player and a Playstation 2 hugged the opposing wall. The floor was covered by a carpet that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in almost a decade. A bookshelf filled with random tapes and DVDs lay next to the entrance to the corridor that led to the other rooms, and a small nightstand resided by its side. Peter searched for something in its drawers, but came up empty handed. “Damn, I swore it was here…” He mumbled, before looking back at the fox, realizing that the concerned visage on her face was caused by the horrible state of the home. “Allie, I know this place seems rough, but since my Uncle is letting you stay here we can finally get him to clean up!”

“This is overwhelming, having a place to live and people that want me to stay with no caveats. Well… almost none at least” The mutant said, examining the DVDs and trying to ignore all the dirt and grime surrounding her white fur. Meanwhile Pete decided to continue his search while pretending he knew what “caveat” meant.

“Beats staying in the woods right?” The boy spoke while throwing out most things that resided in the drawer: pens, random black spine tapes, even a woman’s shirt that had somehow been there since before Jacob’s divorce.

Alopex examined the assorted objects piled up around her “Yeah it does…” her train of thought was interrupted when she picked up the shirt and saw what was written on it, at that point her face had a cocky grin. The fox noticed Peter was still distracted so she decided to quickly take off her hoodie and put on the shirt, luckily whoever wore it before was way taller than her, so it almost served as a dress. Maybe she could start using dresses and large shirts since her legs weren't really fit for pants “Also, are you really sticking to Allie? That seems a tad intimate don’t you think?” She slowly sneaked towards Pete, playfully tossing her previous clothing at him.

“Well… I came up with it on the spot, ok?” At the moment he finished talking Peter realized that the thing Al tossed at him was his old hoodie, which now laid on his shoulder. He froze, thinking his new friend had just stripped and was waiting for him to notice “Alopex… Why did you take off the hoodie”

“Turn around, I got a surprise for you!” Uh oh, this was happening too fast. He had never seen a girl naked and now he was going to see a FOX girl naked? I mean sure she never wore pants, but that he could understand, the snow white fur she had covered her private parts anyway. Plus her hips were too large for any pants he had and her legs weren’t shaped like a human’s. Dammit! Now he was thinking of her hips, why did they have to be so big anyway? Do foxes commonly have large hips? “Come on Petey, take a peek!”

Pete got up and slowly turned around, only to see Alopex standing right where she was before, but this time wearing a shirt that was just big enough to serve as a short dress (another issue the hips caused is that they really made any large shirt or dress look way smaller than it was). Said shirt had a phrase imprinted on it “Foxy Lady?”

“Yep! It fits well doesn’t it?” Al sarcastically replied while pointing at her shirt. Peter was a bit stunned, for a few seconds he had misinterpreted the situation in quite a dramatic way, at this point he could barely hide the red in his face “Also, couldn’t help but notice that you called me Alopex earlier. Guess the nickname didn’t stick like you said it would”

“Oh… I guess it was, y’know… A reaction to you throwing your clothes at me” The teenage boy spoke, her expression immediately shifted, realizing what the previous scene looked like from his perspective. At that moment her smugness disappeared, she hadn’t exactly been trained to properly handle these types of social situations. “But it fits! You look good in it too, though we need to get you a proper dress or some pants with big enough tail holes” The mood became less awkward as he shifted the subject back to the shirt, although the fact that she was still pantless kept the situation humorous.

“Well, you didn’t have any that fit me, but you mentioned your sister earlier, so maybe you could get something from her. I’ve never really worn a dress before, I’d love to try one…” Once again, the mutant was brought back to her past, no matter how much she tried to avoid it she couldn’t help herself. Maybe another change of subject would brighten things up “So, why is this place so messy?”

“Uncle Jack lives alone since he got divorced, he never quite recovered from it. His wife left him on a whim years ago” Pete’s answer soured the mood even more.

Alopex searched for something to say, but could only muster a weak response “That’s terrible…”

“Yeah…” Even Peter was somewhat affected by remembering what his uncle had gone through. Lucky for both of them, when he went back to the drawer to continue his search, the mysterious item he had been looking for appeared right in front of him. “FOUND IT!” The teenage boy picked up two PS2 controllers with tangled cords that were hidden beneath a Street Sharks VHS. It was exactly what he needed.

The fox approached him inquisitively. “Are those… Video game controllers?” She asked. They were dusty, but seemingly functional.

“Yeah! I got a more modern system, but my uncle still has a working PS2 with a few games, we could totally play it together later!” The teenage boy was enthusiastic. Finally he had a player 2, and one that he could probably beat considering her lack of experience, but that was willing to actually play with him, unlike his sister.

His excitement was infectious “Sounds nice. I’ve never played any video games, but it would be great to play them with you” It was another new world being opened for Al, finally she could play as many games and watch as many movies as she wanted!

“Heh… I don’t usually get to play with anyone, my dad doesn't want me playing online games for some reason. So I only go to school and play baseball with my friends, we barely see each other for anything else. It’d be nice to play with you… maybe we could even practice baseball once everyone knows about you?” Now they were making plans, getting ready to spend their time having fun and doing things together… it was all a bit too perfect.

“I’d like that. Although last time I saw you swing a bat you didn’t quite hit the target” Alopex replied with a smirk.

“Ha ha! very funny, but I did hit you… technically” Pete attempted to respond in measure while blowing the dust off the controllers.

“Getting your swing blocked doesn’t count as a real hit Petey” Alopex giggled while he slowly walked towards the gaming console and plugged the controllers in.

“Well, you’ll see my baseball skills in action soon enough!”

Right as the conversation ended the front door burst open. The two saw Jacob enter the house with a concerned expression, but he quickly hid it with a fake smile “Hey kids, I’m back. Good news to you Peter, your mom thinks you’ve volunteered to help me clean this place up, she found your empty room earlier and was about to go out looking for you. You’re lucky I covered you, but since I don’t like lying to her, you’re both helping me do some spring cleaning later”

“Seems a bit late for spring cleaning considering we’re in the Fall” Pete replied, pretending he hadn't noticed his uncle’s earlier shift in mood.

“Or a bit early!” Jacob was faking enthusiasm at this point, that was clear as day.

“But before that let’s go to your temporary bedroom” The middle-aged man rushed into the house with his 2 guests following while trying to keep his pace. They reached an old dusty room filled with a variety of workout gear, gym equipments and a small bed laid in the corner "It’s not much, but it’s something at least” He was clearly ashamed at the state of his house, especially how obvious it was that it had been years since anyone used this room

Still, it was a good gesture “It’s nice… Thank you Mr. Manners” the mutant said, trying to show some appreciation

“You’re welcome uhh… Alopex” This was clearly awkward for both of them, especially as he pretended not to notice the shirt she was wearing. But now was not the time to dwell on that, this was the chance for Jacob to learn a bit more about his new guest. "I'm sorry if this feels intrusive, but what exactly did you do for your, well, previous associates? You mentioned solving their problems by any means necessary, what did you mean by that?"

She swallowed nervously, realizing that actually talking about her old "job" would screw up their tenuous peace. Her attempt at obscuring the truth failed, and so she was left with no other choice but to admit her past mistakes "The Foot was all I had. The family I grew up with before I was mutated were gone, so I had no idea what to do with myself. I didn't even know what I was after turning into… this” Al simply pointed at herself, hoping Jack would understand what she meant “Hell, sometimes I'm still not sure of what I am. One day I was nothing but an animal, hunting to survive, then on the next I was learning complex stealth techniques for secret missions, it was all so confusing. So when they gave me a home and a… purpose, I did what they told me to… including killing people that they wanted dead" She stared at the floor while talking, not even trying to look back at the man who asked the question.

"Jesus…" Jacob shook his head and looked at Peter, who grimaced at the situation “Alopex, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to have a little talk with Pete. Make yourself at home”

She simply sat on the dusty bed and started inspecting her old scars. “I will” Meanwhile the two Manners went outside to have a serious discussion

“Oh boy” Peter spoke as his uncle turned around with his arms crossed and a grumpy face.

“How the hell are we going to deal with this…” The elder Manners looks towards his brother's house, thinking about the fact he's letting a known killer stay so close to his family. He wanted to make things right, to help Alopex, but not if it meant putting his loved ones in any danger.

“Come on Uncle Jack, she needs us! Let’s talk to mom and dad and I’m sure everything will be fine” Pete still held on to hope that everything could be easily solved, but this illusion was on the verge of being torn down.

“Again with that? Look I wish things were that simple, but we can't take in a mutant ninja killer into our lives like that! The only reason I didn't shoot her before was because you convinced me… If you weren't there…" As they continued their argument Al moved towards the living room. Her excellent hearing allowed her to listen in to the entire conversation, which was clearly taking a bad turn for Peter and her.

Jacob’s speech shocked the boy, deep down he did want to help her, but family came first "Come on, you don’t mean that! You want her to stay too…!"

"She’s not going to stay, this is never going to work, she's basically a child soldier!" Alopex slumped towards the floor while hearing Jack’s rant. A voice inside her head called her stupid for even thinking he would allow a killer to live with his family, it yelled at her talking about how she’d never be accepted here. Although there was something strange about it, almost like it was someone else trying to convince her, like another person speaking from inside her head.

"...you’re jealous that I finally have something happening in my life… Don't you want to know more about her too? She managed to sneak out of my bedroom on the second floor without making any noise! I want to learn how to do that! I can finally have someone around here that can actually do things, and not force me to care about some stupid Gas station or useless animal trivia… I want her to stay…" Pete’s voice began to crack the more upset he got, he had gotten so close only for his uncle to stand in his way again.

“PETER! Why is it always like this with you! Can’t you see how dangerous this all is? How dangerous she is?” Jacob saw the anger in his nephew’s face and it terrified him. He built a wall around the boy to keep him safe, but it only made him want to break out.

“You’re just like my parents! Always trying to keep me from doing anything! I can’t even leave the house alone, all because of some stupid bike accident” He caused Jack to recoil from the mention of the accident, clearly that memory was reignited by recent events.

The gas station clerk quickly recovered from his shock, slowly putting together a narrative justifying what was unfolding before him “Is this really what this is all about? You were looking for a rush? Do you even care about her?”

The implication that all of this was just a search for excitement insulted Pete. Sure that’s how this all started, making a run for Alopex after she left the store to see where it would lead him, but now it was a lot more than that. “I… do, I brought her home because I cared, I’ve been trying to keep her here because I care!” He was basically screaming at this point, tears started to drip from his eyes “I’m worried she’s not gonna make it out there, at least not all alone!” Deep down he knew that wasn't true, that she could survive on her own, but it still served as an excuse for himself “Would you be saying all of this if she was a human?”.

“Peter…” With that Jacob’s hypothesis fell apart, he was hurting his own family, maybe he could give this a shot and let her stay for good. Finally allow something from outside this bubble he had created, because at that moment he realized that this is what Peter needed. Still some stubbornness led to him circling back into becoming overprotective. "I'm trying to keep you safe, I'm trying to keep everyone safe, what if they come back to get her?"

"Then you can use that shotgun" The boy spoke with determination in his eyes, cleaning himself up from his earlier outburst "I can't let her go… if we do that, and then a few months later some news breaks out of her getting killed by hunters or ninjas or whatever, then it'll be our fault! Are you letting her walk away? How many people are going to leave this place before you realize we need to change?" This was it, he had struck at his Uncle’s heart with the realization that it was time to take risks for the sake of others.

Jacob decided enough was enough, Pete was right. It would take a while for him to trust Alopex, but he was willing to give it a chance "Tell me exactly what you want…"

"I want her to stay, I want you to stop treating her like a time bomb and I want to introduce her to our family!" While Peter made demands on the mutant’s behalf, she was still listening in to the conversation, finally things had worked out. That voice telling her things would go wrong was much more quiet now, she couldn’t believe that a boy she had met less than a day ago would have the resolve to stand against his own family for her, it only made her want to know him better. Sure he had his outbursts, but she could tell that deep down there was something more to him, and thought that intrigued her.

"...alright, I'll give it a shot" Jack put his hand on his nephew’s shoulder for reassurance.

However, the teen still wasn’t quite convinced "Will you? No walking back this time!"

"Yes I will, she can stay here for as long as she wants. We’ll plan out how to introduce her to everyone, though we should probably avoid one on one arguments from now on and show her to your parents and sister all at once. Also, don’t worry about convincing them on your own… I’ll have your back" They both smiled, after all the heated fights, a solution was in place and at least one person would be there to truly back Pete up when it was time to talk to his parents. For now he could focus on having some fun with her, that is, after they clean the house.

The two headed back inside where the mutant sat on the bed, pretending that she had never left her spot and that she was unaware of the debate between them. "Alopex, Peter convinced me and… you can stay. I'm not the one to decide if you're really approved, but as long as Peter’s parents don't know, you're fully allowed to live here" Al couldn’t hide her excitement, so she jumped off the bed to celebrate, managing to spread dust all over the room, to the point of changing some of her fur color "Ha! We should probably get to cleaning before all your fur turns gray"