AN: O.o A. Dax. Fic. Me? To write? Oh wow. XD I mean, lately Dax has been really annoying. Still. Had to get the idea out of my system. Hmm. I wonder which story I should concentrate most on. Eh, we'll see. Summary says it all. Hope you enjoy the first chapter! ;) I sorta have an idea for this story, you know. Gasp! First time!

Disclaimer: If I was Ali, don't you think I'd tell you? Probably not, I don't tell anyone anything. :P But no, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not her.

1. Alive...and a fox.

Dax had gone missing—all the Colas knew that.

Five months had passed since his sudden disappearance and everyone was confused as to why he'd just vanish with no trace. No warnings, and definitely no weird behaviour from the boy to forebode; one day he was there, the next he was gone. Rumours had gone around saying he was probably dead, but no one had any proof of that. Or any proof that he was alive.

Paulina Sartre had tried to dowse for him, along with Cola Club's currently only dowser left, but to no avail. Wherever Dax Jones was, it was neither life nor death. It was somewhere in between, something which one of the Cola knew too well about.

His three closest friends were vexed, but now hope was drained out of them. He was probably dead, they would think. Or if not, probably suffering.

Control had searched and searched, but no one could find him. There was no funeral. Everyone had long lost hope though, and life at Fenton Lodge was bleak and gloomy, even if the death of Catherine, the worst person to ever live, had occurred. Without one Cola it was like a puzzle with one missing puzzle-piece. It just wasn't right. The True Eleven were meant to be together under one roof, no matter what. Clive also counted as one of them, so if he, or even Spook Williams, whom everyone loathed less now after his and Dax's adventure in saving the rest of the Colas, went missing, it was like a tumbling building.

And when one of those friends, Lisa Hardman saw an injured fox just entering her huge yard, anticipation, mixed with a sense of astonishment, and scepticism were all jumbled up inside her, like papers meant to be sorted out by a very busy worker. Was it or was it not Dax? was the question conquering her thoughts now. Was it possible that another fox enter in her yard, just like that?

It is, she realised with a fruitless pang and she heaved a sigh, sitting back on her chair, turning the volume back higher on her plasma screen TV, but paying little attention to the fashion show on it, her mind in another world at the moment. A world where miracles happened, and where no one she cared about died or disappeared; a world where she wasn't terrorised by any spirits, a world where she had peace, and friends, and her family.

She absent-mindedly changed the channel, and her interest suddenly flicked to the wildlife show on it, feeling even more dreadful inside. When Dax came at her house occasionally (Control had surprisingly let him, Gideon and Mia even after the running-around-the-country-incident), with, of course, their other two friends, he'd spend hours, late at night (apart from his usual foxtrot, fly or swim), watching any show that was on Animal Planet.

Lisa closed the TV, and the sigh she heaved turned into a loud sob. But it was covered by an even louder noise; a wail. She got up from her seat, and walked again to the window to see the same animal there, in the same place it had been before.

Should I go or not? she asked herself, and another voice told her not to bother.

Still, she went out to the panting fox, which was currently on his belly, and approached it cautiously. Its ears pricked at the sound of crunch grass, and its snout was up in the air in a second. Its eyes seemed to widen, and it leaped up, running for Lisa.

Lisa let the fox come near her, though she wasn't exactly sure it really was her friend. If it had been Dax, then now he would be in his human form, not remain in his fox-form. Or at least, he would have sent her a message telepathically, telling her it was him.

But as the fox looked up at her, with supposedly pleading eyes, Lisa got no message and didn't see it transform. The fox whined, in pain and frustration, and nudged her leg with its paws.

"D-Dax..." she whispered, kneeling down beside it. It seemed as if the fox's eyes lit up, and it nodded its head joyfully. Lisa put her hand on its head, unsure of what was happening, and ran it between his ears. "Where have you been?" she murmured, her eyes welling up with unwanted tears, which now flowed freely down her face. DaxFox regarded her for a while, his tilted to one side, before bringing up a trembling paw and putting his claws gently on her face, as if to wipe away the tears. She gave him a strained smile, but her confused expression reappeared on her face the next second.

"Where have you been?" she asked louder this time. He backed away a few steps, making a gesture so much like a shrug. "Why won't you shift back?" Lisa was now frowning. Again, the odd movement from his shoulders; and then a shake of the head. "You can't?" He nodded and walked closer to her again.

Lisa closed her now stinging eyes and sat on the pasture, her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

This all seemed like a dream, she thought, and petted his head in spite of everything. He moaned again, and she looked over at him and suddenly gasped.

Blood trickled from muzzle, and on to the grass, giving it an odd shade; there was a patch where his fur was ripped off showing the sensitive, bloodied skin. He walked with a limp in one of his hind legs and an occasional whimper of pain came out of his mouth.

"What happened to you?" Lisa wasn't sure he'd heard her, barely hearing it herself. But he was a fox, and he immediately caught her soft and wavering voice. He shrugged, and something like a wince was contorted on his snout in the next second. How a fox could wince, Lisa had no idea.

The next second everything dawned on her, striking her in the chest like a cold wave of saltwater.

Dax was alive.

But he was in fox-form.

He couldn't change back.

It was actually Dax.

Injured, and...

A fox.

For how long, Lisa wondered, would he remain like this?

She shook her head, her face perplexed. Dax gave a raspy bark and she looked over at him to see him baring his teeth in what might be a peculiar grin. She smiled dazedly at him, relief washing over her as she realised that this really was Dax.

The fox gave another bark, this one huskier, and she gave him a questioning look. He whined and raised his paw up.

"What?" Lisa said, impatience now rising. "What do you want?"

Dax growled, and shook his head.

"What? Do you expect me to speak fox-ish or something? What are you trying to say?" Again he rumbled, and started running away from her, limping. "Hey!" she called after him, getting back up. She saw him heading to the house, and stopping, looking back at her. "You want to go there or something?" He nodded. "Oh...well, come on then."

The girl went up to the fox, and both walked inside the mansion, Lisa feeling very weird. She'd seen Dax countless times in fox-form, had talked to him telepathically before while he was any animal; and now that he was pretty much like any other fox just made things even stranger.

Maurice wasn't home, away for work, and her butler and cook were taking breaks. Lisa walked, with Dax stealthily following her, in the kitchen and sat on the stool near a bar, rubbing her temples as a headache overtook.

"We need help..."

"I'm...I'm dead..."

"Jamie! No, not Jamie! I need to tell him that..."

She groaned at the voices in her head, and glared at every confused spirit in the room.

"Please, Sylv," she said quietly, "make them stop just…just now."

To her surprise, and gratitude, Sylv was able to let them off her for a while, creating a sort of border in between the girl and spirits.

"Thanks," Lisa whispered, her face cracking in a smile, receiving a questioning noise from Dax. She blinked and looked back down at the fox, having momentarily forgotten about him.

"Um…you hungry?" she asked, thinking it odd to be asking a fox if it was hungry or not. Dax nodded, and stuck his tongue out, rasping out ragged breaths. Lisa quickly fetched two bowls (which she liked to use to feed the cats and kittens which would come around here), and put one with water, and then took a piece of chicken and put it in the bowl, grimacing inside. She was treating Dax now as if he was more than half-animal—which at the moment he was. But how unusual it was to feed one of your friends from a blasted bowl, she thought shaking her head.

He finished the piece in less than two minutes, and his tongue racked over his teeth, looking up at Lisa with those small, dark eyes. For a moment, she thought he looked sort of cute, with that innocent foxy look on his furry face, but the blood and wounds on his slight body immediately took it out.

"Are you still hungry?" she muttered, and he nodded, starting to drink the water. She sighed and looked in the fridge again, finding a steak, and with a second thought took every meat item she had.

Dax ate half of it at an incredible speed, and Lisa told him to slow it down a bit, telling him he'd choke. He didn't listen.

"You okay now?" she asked once he was done. He nodded. "Good. Now to work out what to do next. School starts in two weeks. Until then I've got to nurse you. Oh, what fun," she said sarcastically. He barked out, loudly, and she hissed, "Keep it down!" and he did, though there was an odd curve in his snout, which told Lisa it was a smirk.

"Maybe I should tell Gideon and Mia," Lisa said thoughtfully, looking down. Dax shook his head hastily, and she threw him a surprised glance. "But...they will find out anyway," she said slowly. He shrugged and bent his head to drink again. "I'll have to tell Dad then," she conceded, yet still confused. "He'll see you anyway."

He nodded, and Lisa was already growing tired of the only gestures he could make. Nod, shake his head, shrug his shoulder...that was about it. Nothing else. We might as well create...our "own language", she thought.

"This is gonna be a hard two weeks," she mumbled wearily.

AN: Pretty short (compared to what I usually write), but still. Didn't have any more inspiration. But, no worries, I'm writing the second chapter as we speak! (type) Also, I was wondering whether this should be Lisa/Dax story, or if not, a Jenny/Dax one? Anyone want one of them? Tell me in a review! (Though I'm pretty sure which pairing will get more votes! ;)) Although, perhaps, a Lisa/Dax works better. Yeah. We'll see.

Thanks for reading!

~Trippy