Captain Foxy had faced many foes in his adventures, a pirate's life was never smooth sailing. Though Lady Luck was on his side as the fox was blessed with an energetic and loyal crew that swore to follow him to the ends of the earth. Together they sailed the seven seas, fighting horrors that only the bravest mates could ever dream of facing. Monsters that arose from the frothing depths of the darkest abyss, hunger for destruction and blood radiating from their terrifying gaze.
Sea serpents and sirens plagued the unmerciful land of blue as far as the eye could see. The scaled monstrosities were a common obstacle faced by many a pirate, pests that could kill you in an instant in an array of motions. They were as reckless as they were deadly, acting upon sheer instinct rather than rational thought. With a few calculated swipes from his mighty sword, Ol' Captain Foxy took care of the scalawags with graceful ease. The sirens would try to turn his crew against him, the treacherous hags with their lulling songs. Foxy's precious crew held strong with him through the darkest of times, not fooled by their false beauty and words.
Searching lands far and wide for the whispered words of buried treasure. Guarded by the lost souls of the ones who gave everything they had to keep their golden tokens and jewels, even after the call of death. Pirates from lifetimes past, some with the flesh of yesterday peeling from their deteriorating bones, bathed in the smell of sweat and sickly decay. Others were all but bare bones, the sweet smell of the salty ocean trailing their paths. In these lands legends of curses and macabre oddities were not questioned, for the imagination was its own vast and strange world where anything and everything is possible if you wish it to be so. On and on they sailed to wherever the wind wished them to go, with open arms and a chilling kiss. The sun setting below the crisp line of the waves, the colors merging into a smooth dance of cold greens and lively blues that only the sea could create. When darkness fell Foxy and his mates awaited for the new horizon to be born, spilled ink of bright oranges and flames.
Captain Foxy never had anticipated the storm, a raging hurricane of blackness that hailed down from the heavens. The calm blanket of water beneath his ship, as fast as a strike of a whip, transformed into a wild and frightened creature. Bucking and screaming as the wind became a frosted gale, adding more fuel to the smoldering blue tinted oil. There was nothing the fox could do as his crew that adored him were swept overboard by the turbulent waves. Drowning in the endless cold and pulled down below the surface by cruel claws made from ice.
His crew never returned, torn away from his side with no choice. Foxy was all alone, left with only the tattered remains of his once grande ship. Broken inside without his crew, the children's excited grins coaxing him to reminisce tales of old. Eyes filled with wonder as he painted adventures they could all experience through words and imagination.
In his mind he could still dream and maybe if Foxy thought hard enough he could imagine his crew back to life. Even now, while all the children had gone and grown up to be adults with their own families and he was thrown away and replaced, his imagination worked just fine. All the fun was immortalized and he would play back the tapes, living in an imaginary world. That's what he chose for himself, seeing little point at chasing the ghosts of the past like his companions. They couldn't change the past, the real world just didn't work that way.
Foxy sat alone in the parts and service room, wrapped in the darkness he called home. The others presumably roaming the building, though he couldn't care less about his former mates. They never tried to understand him, a clear outcast of the group. Foxy always had the impression that they were jealous of his popularity with the children, but now they were all in the same boat. Replaced and forgotten.
Tangled in the eye of the storm that was his mind Foxy set sail on another quest for the fabled Island of Diamonds, where rumor had it that riches untold were buried within the heart of the lush forest floor. So entrapped was he within that he never heard the footsteps approaching him, or the dark giddy laughter that followed.
There Foxy was, dodging the attack of a Venus flytrap that easily could've been eight feet tall. The carnivorous plant encased in a beautiful dress of lively leaves of dark green and vibrant purple opened its mouth in a furious roar that echoed throughout the forest. Boldly the fox wedged his sword between the beast's jaws, showcasing the thorns encasing its gums. Raising his hook to deal a swift and devastating blow, the ground beneath him began to shake.
The ground opened up, swallowing up Foxy's opponent in a dramatic fashion. His world that he so delicately created dissolved into a white haze that slowly faded into dullness and awareness. With an internal instinct his night vision clicked on, confusion filling up all other thoughts or potential actions. Above him stood a man, one that he should have keenly recognized but in his current state numbed to the calling of awareness, the fox was paralyzed. As his systems regained composure, Foxy duly recognized the weapon in the man's left hand. An ax, the metal blade rusted and flaking in contrast to the wooden handle that looked brand new. Analyzing the man's facial features, it all came to him in a sharp and hard jolt of realization. Just as the ax came down, again, and again, and again.
Foxy didn't scream, didn't put up a fight. A calmness consumed him, in those quick and final moments. His ragged hide tore against the will of the blade, mainframe, wires, and metal snapped with shrieks and groans underneath. Aged oil dripped onto the tiled floor from somewhere deep within, something that shouldn't have been cut. With one final action the fox looked up at William, whom he once saw as a friend dressed in a silly golden bunny suit. Locking eyes with him and giving one last devious pirate grin, his raspy voice drowned out from his long unused voice box.
"A captain always goes down with his ship."
This story consists of five segments in which will be uploaded individually every Monday until completion. I hope that you enjoy and please don't hesitate to give feedback. Thank you!