Ash's Odyssey

By AdamAndSteve

I do not own any of these characters, other than my OC, who will be appearing in the next chapter or so.

He had it all. The money, the house, everything. Ashton Fox, sole survivor of what some called the 'violent crime of the century' had inherited his parents' house, along with everything in their bank account. It was a considerable amount of money, though Ash hadn't touched a cent of it.

Nine weeks had passed since that night. Nine weeks had passed since he'd last had a full night's sleep. He showed no weakness, as he was used to doing this already. Most of the others he spoke to were surprised by this. Even Ash himself was surprised... What kind of kid wouldn't shed even a tear over the loss of his family? He didn't often have time to think about it, seeing as he was constantly bothered by various police officers, reporters and whoever else deemed themselves important enough to pester him. Who were they to intrude on his peace?

He'd been lying on his bed for the past several hours, enjoying the peace he so rarely had. Ash sighed, thinking once again back to that night, walking home with his parents from a dinner party with some of Felicity's friends.

"Come on, Ash. We've still got to stop by the convenient store on the way back." His father said, taking his wife's paw. Ash started walking a bit faster, trying to keep up with his parents. Despite being sixteen fox years old, he was still very small for his age.

"We could wait until tomorrow morning to buy milk, couldn't we?" Ash asked, now jogging to keep up with them. Felicity Looked back at her son.

"I've got to start baking early tomorrow morning, or we won't have the cake done before..." But she stopped and looked ahead, where a trio of animals were walking in the Fox family's direction. She whispered to her husband.

"Let's walk on the other side of the path, please..."

Mr. Fox continued walking until they were only a few feet from these other animals. As he tried to walk past, without saying a word to them, the largest in the group grabbed Mr. Fox's arm and held him where he was. "Hey, what're you-" He started, but stopped in mid sentence. The one who grabbed him stepped out into brighter light, revealing himself. He was a rabbit, though larger than Ash had ever seen a rabbit get. The rabbit was accompanied by two others who remained hidden, though ash could tell that one of them was some kind of fox... The rabbit spoke to Mr. Fox.

"You shouldn't have come back over here... You know just how much our boss wants to speak to you..."

Mr. Fox looked confused. "I have no idea what you're talking about, now let me go before-"

Felicity screamed, Ash jumped backwards and fell on his tail. The rabbit pulled back his fist and sunk it into her husband's stomach. Felicity stepped forward to do... something, and one of the other animals grabbed her as well. "You should keep a tighter leash on this bitch, fox." The rabbit snarled and attacked again, this time his fist connected with Felicity's face. "Now you'll learn what it means to steal from us..."

Ash sat up as the doorbell rang. He groaned and stretched as he walked down the hallway towards the front door. He glanced at the clock in the living room, taking note of the time. It was nearly 11:00 PM...

"Who the hell could it be at this hour?" Ash asked himself before looking through the window by the door. He couldn't see anyone outside, so he reached over and flipped on the porch light. There wasn't anyone outside, but there was something sitting on the welcome mat. It looked like a package had arrived for someone, probably for his late father. Ash sighed and unlocked the door. Then it hit him... Why would they leave it here and not ask for a signature? Especially this late? Ash quickly locked the door again. He stood back and assured himself it would hold before running into the kitchen and grabbing a chair. After the chair was wedged under the doorknob, Ash returned to the kitchen and dug through the drawer next to the sink until he found a large fillet knife. He had always thought they'd come to get him, and he wasn't going to let them without putting up a fight. He positioned himself near the front door, but not directly in front of it. In this position, he could escape through the window to his left if the front door wasn't an option.

Ash sat in that spot for what seemed like hours until he felt himself starting to fall asleep. Leaving the chair at the door, he went back to his room. He walked past the room that his cousin Kristofferson had used while he was staying with them. Ash hadn't heard from his cousin since the day he'd left to live with his father again.

Ash pushed the door to his room open and flopped down on his bed, fillet knife still in his belt. He passed out before his head hit the pillow.

"Hey, over here! I've found their son!" Ash squinted as he was pulled from his dark hiding place into bright light. He quickly surveyed the scene, noticing that the bodies of his parents had been covered in white sheets. There were officers all around, searching the scene for evidence. He knew they would ask him questions, lots of questions...

Ash sat bolt upright again as the doorbell rang once more. It was the middle of the day as far as Ash could tell, so it should be safe enough. He walked down the hall again, removed the chair from the door and opened it, keeping his knife close, just in case he needed it. Ash blinked a few times in the bright light, then realized who was standing at the door. He was looking at his cousin Kristofferson for the first time in two years. He was holding that box that had been sitting on the porch all night.

"Hey, Ash. I figured I should come visit you at some point after my training." Ash let him in.

"Training?" Ash asked Kris, still adjusting to the light as his cousin turned on the lamp. Kristofferson smiled. "You didn't hear, did you? I've joined the police force." He replied. Ash wasn't surprised to hear this, Kris always liked to help people.

"This was on your porch, I didn't think you'd noticed." Kristofferson told Ash, setting the box on the kitchen table. "It's addressed to your dad, which means it's yours now..." Ash set the knife down next to the box before starting to open the package. Kristofferson saw the knife and had to ask.

"What were you planning on doing with that knife, Ash?" The question didn't register with Ash for a few moments, he was too focused on opening the box. He managed to get it open after removing all the tape. He and Kristofferson both looked into the box.

There were several papers in bundles, a few folders (also filled with papers), and a wooden box. Sitting on top of all that, however, was the object that caught Ash's attention. It was a dagger, much larger than Ash's fillet knife. The handle was engraved with small lettering and several jewels were embedded into the hilt. The blade was slightly curved, and also engraved with lettering that Ash couldn't read, but he had seen it before... Before he could really think about it, Kristofferson spoke again. "I wonder what all this stuff is... Doesn't look like any of it is written in English, either." Ash set the dagger down next to the box and gently lifted a bundle of paper out. Kristofferson sat down next to him.

The two sat in the kitchen for hours sifting through the papers, though neither of them could make heads or tails of the writing... There were no spaces between words, no punctuation that they could recognize. Several plates of sandwiches and two containers of chocolate milk later, the boys were still unable to make any sense of the writing.

"Well... We still haven't looked at this." Kristofferson said, examining the wooden box. Ash was still focusing on the papers, several small things caught his eye. There was even a drawing detailing the dagger, which they had discovered contained a small compartment in the handle. The only thing that they'd found inside, much to their disappointment, was a small key resembling one Kristofferson used with his locker at the police station. Ash thought that it could possibly open the wooden box, but they also found that the lock on that box was broken and couldn't even fit a key.

Just as the boys were about to open the box at last, the doorbell rang once again. Before Ash could say anything, Kris had already started towards the door. Ash picked up the dagger and followed him into the living room. Kristofferson opened the door and Ash groaned. Standing at the door was Kylie, who'd been stopping by every few days or so to check on Ash. Ash never even bothered answering the door after the first time, when Kylie brought another reporter inside.

"I was getting worried, you haven't answered the phone in weeks!" Kylie told Ash, who glanced over at the phone. He suddenly remembered that he'd unplugged it after the first few days. "Just been... busy." Ash told him as he walked back into the kitchen. Kylie followed the two foxes into the kitchen. "What's all this?" Kylie asked, looking over the papers scattered about the table. Ash explained about the box, though he left out the part where he waited out all night for someone to attack him.

Kylie held up the bag he'd brought in with him. "I though you could use some dinner, so I picked up some food on the way..." Ash couldn't help but feel both grateful and upset with himself for ignoring Kylie for so long. He just wanted to help.

The three ate dinner, then continued to investigate the papers. Kylie stated that it looked like something he'd seen Badger's wife reading at one point. Ash then remembered where he'd seen it before.

"Why didn't I think of this earlier?" he asked himself, walking up the hallway, Kris and Kylie following close behind. They stopped in front of Mr. Fox's study... Or Ash's study, now that everything belonged to him. He took a breath and opened the door for the first time since his family's death. He turned on the light and walked over to the desk opposite the door and opened the bottom right-hand drawer. After shifting all the papers to the side, he found what he was looking for. It was a large book with the strange writing on the cover. "I found this a few years ago, before dad told me not to touch it..."

Ash set the book down on the desk and carefully opened it. He wasn't surprised to find that everything inside was written in this strange language. He flipped towards the back of the book and pulled a roll of paper. "I remembered this... I think it had a translated phrase written on it. It could help us read the other pages." Kristofferson examined the book while Ash dealt with the roll of paper.

"This book is very old... Probably a lot older than your dad, Ash." Ash's ears perked up at that, but he just unrolled the paper and found just what he was looking for. "I was right... Even after all these years, I remembered this." As the three were leaving the study, ready to go back to the kitchen, the doorbell rang once more.