Hopefully I've made up for the short chapter last time.
Disclaimer: The only thing I want to own in Starfox is Starwolf"s theme. I'm pretty sure a ton of people just nodded their heads in agreement right now.
After buying his much needed shampoo, Keith was returning back to his dorm room. Hoping that Marcus was out of the shower by now. He whistled a tune as he casually strolled through the halls of the dormitory until noticing a trail of wet marks all over the carpet. He disregarded it until noticing they lead to the open doorway of his room. Sprinting inside, he found that the wet trail led from the bathroom.
By now Keith was examining the shower, finding that the floor was wet as well and that Marcus' clothes were still in the hamper. Going back to the room, he checked through Marcus' drawer to see if any clothes were missing, or if anything was missing. Nothing. Everything was still neat and tidy. So either Marcus decided to walk around the dorm naked, or someone kidnapped him.
Before pushing worse thoughts in his mind, he looked through his things for the one thing he would need. The fox's phone.
"Shit! Pattern lock!" The human swore seeing the nine dots in a complete even square. Waiting for a possible answer to come to mind, the human remembered another way of finding out the password. He held the screen under the light of a desk lamp to notice smudges on in a distinct pattern. "Gotcha..." He smiled as he easily unlocked the phone. He browsed through the contacts to find a certain three letter name for a certain blue vixen.
Keith waited very impatiently as the dial tone kept ringing in his ear. He tapped his foot repeatedly, hoping that Kyrstal would pick up.
"What is it, sweety?" Her voice came in just as gleeful as it was when they met. It actually put the human in a horrible state of mind, knowing her cheer wouldn't be for long.
"Hello Mrs. McCloud, it's Keith, I have some bad news fer ya..." He felt his heart sank as he knew there was no going back on telling her.
"Did Marcus get sick again?"
"No he's... He's gone. He's not in the dorm, all his clothes are here, and... and ..." Keith began to panic, his voice dropping as the thoughts he was trying to suppress were staring to bubble and take root in his mind.
"Oh no, Keith calm down, I'll be there as soon as I can!" Kyrstal hung up, leaving the human to grieve alone. He feel back into his own bed. The horrible possibilities and what ifs popping into his mind. He could only hope that the fox was still breathing and unharmed. His emotions began to flare, thinking about the hatred towards whoever had taken him away. If Keith ever found the person that took Marcus away, he would guarantee that they won't be put in a prison.
Cold. That's all he felt, the numbing chill of the air around him. Mind numbed from the temperature and lingering tranquilizer, the fox attempted to get up. But to no avail, his arms were tied up, and as were his feet. Though the way he was tied, he could easily get to his feet, but his body was still motionless, denying his commands to move.
Marcus opened his eyes, seeing the dimly lit room with only a door adorning the wall he was facing. After struggling to turn his head, the fox found that the rest of the room had various tools spread out on small tables. Thoughts of torture popped into his mind, only to be shot down when realizing that the tools were that of a locksmith.
Marcus sighed in relief, looking down at his own body to find himself surprisingly clothed. A loose fitting black t-shirt, and jeans, but no shoes or socks. He wondered what was the purpose of all this. None of it made sense. Why capture him to tie him up in a room with lock picking equipment, and go as far as to give him a set of clothes? Marcus felt his body's function slowly return to him, but standing up was still beyond him, he still needed a bit of rest before he could start his escape plan.
Krystal ran through the halls of the dormitory, following the feeling of intense grief and self-loathing coming from her son's room. She found the door wide open, and Keith laying back in his bed, arm covering his face.
"Keith, tell me what happened." The vixen was just as worried as he was, only she knew what to do in this situation. The human didn't move from his spot, but explained.
"When we got home today, we kinda had a small argument about who was gonna take a shower first. But we were out of human shampoo so I had to get some, when I came back, Marcus was gone..." He bit his tongue to prevent himself from going over the edge. He could taste the metallic blood, but he ignored it. "All his clothes are still here, an' there was a wet trail coming from the bathroom out into the hall, but it ends in the middle of the hall." He began to choke over his own words, regretting ever leaving.
"Keith, it's not your fault. Now calm down." Krystal sat at his side and rubbed his arm. "I'll find him, and if I don't, Marcus is more than capable to get out of any trouble." She noticed him beginning to shiver and convulse roughly. The poor thing was in ruins, slowly losing his mind thinking of all the bad outcomes. Blaming himself for this.
"I-I can't believe I couldn't protect him... " He mumbled, still shaking. The floodgates finally breaking, the tears burning as they rolled down his face.
"Keith, snap out of it!" The blue vixen pulled the human up to his feet and slapped his a couple times across the face. His eyes were red, but the blue seemed to pop out still. Krystal seemed to glare back at him. "Moping around and crying about this mess isn't going to help find him! Do you seriously want Marcus to know that all you did while he was kidnapped was that you laid in bed crying?!" Keith was in utter shock about the change in nature Krystal went through.
"N-No..." He whimpered.
"Now wipe the tears and get your gear, we're going to hunt for my son."
"Yes Ma'am." She smiled to watch the human begin gathering a couple things and wipe off his face. She began to call her husband to let him known about the kidnapping.
"Honey, Marcus has been kidnapped... What?!"
Marcus took in a deep breath. It had seemed like an hour had passed from waking up, he was sure that the tranquilizer wore off and he was free to move his body. Though free isn't exactly the good word here on the account of the ropes binding his hands and feet. Using the wall behind him for a bit of leverage, the fox got up from a seated position to leaning against the wall at full height. He stared at the low tables he saw the locksmith equipment on, wondering why they were so low that he could see them when he woke up. The fox tossed the thought out of his head as he focused on his shaky first steps. Though it was more as hoping to the table. Unfortunately, after the third hop, the fox lost his footing and tumbled over, hitting his face against the tools on the table. Feeling a sting under his left eye. Marcus was certain that he was bleeding, but immediately searched for the cause of the cut.
Along with the many tools was a scalpel. Wondering why a surgeon's scalpel was doing with locksmith tools, the fox began to question this whole ordeal. Grabbing onto the handle of the scalpel with his teeth, Marcus brought his tied paws up towards the blade. Being a surgeon scalpel, the blade cut through the rope easily, allowing the fox to use his hands freely.
Using the same scalpel, Marcus cut off the rest of the ropes. He scanned through the tools and took a couple pins with him, knowing full well how to pick locks open. Though after leaving the previous room, he found himself staring at a cloaked figure.
"Who are you?" He growled at him. The figure wore a mask over his head and kept silent, Marcus brought his fists up and glared at him. A chuckle came from the figure.
"No hello? Things never change, eh Blue?" Shocked filled his mind, hearing his nickname that only one person knew.
"Luke!? What the hell, man!" The figure took of the mask to be the same childhood friend. He smiled and walked up to Marcus.
"I had to that, but don't worry, we didn't do anything more than this." He gave the fox a hug, in which he returned.
"But why?" He looked at the wolf with a confused look.
"Our old timers thought it would be a way to test our skills so far, me kidnapping you successfully and you escaping." Marcus' eyes widened at the thought that his father intentionally put this on him. "C'mon, I'll take you back to your dorm." The wolf opened another door and led the fox back to his ride.
An hour later, Marcus was back in his dorm, along with Luke, Keith and his mother. At the moment, the boys were sitting on the bed while Krystal began ranting off about Fox choosing to go through with this test of strength without so much as telling her.
"I can't believe your father would put you through that! I was worried sick, and so was Keith! I swear he never considers the actual consequences for some things and rather face the problem when it approaches rather than planning ahead and resolving everything." She went on, upon mentioning the sad state Keith was in, the human suppressed a blush and laughed awkwardly. Luke on the other hand was completely zoned out, having lost interest in the whole one-sided conversation the moment it began. Marcus was somewhat ok with today's events. He made a new friend and got to see his old one.
"Well, I better go and put your father in the doghouse, bye sweety." Being the mother she is, Krystal gave a kiss on her son's forehead, allowing the wolf to tease him at the embarrassment he was suffering. Keith on the other hand was glaring at Luke. The guy seemed off, like he was having too much fun teasing Marcus.
"So how have you been, Luke?" The fox asked. Keith stayed alert and paid attention to all the wolf's actions.
"I'm been great, my skills have improved and my old man's proud of me. But for some reason, he wants me to enroll here."
"Wait, why?" The wolf shrugged.
"I don't know, all I know is, I picked up on flight techniques they don't teach here." Luke began to brag a bit. Keith sighed, realizing that he was no longer in the conversation. By the time the two finished catching up, it was time for them to go to bed. Keith just wrapped himself under his covers and turned his back towards the fox. Thinking he was already asleep, Marcus didn't say goodnight to his roommate and fell back into his bed.
Hope I made up with that twist! And entertained a couple people.
