Fly, fly, fly, fly away, away from the chipmunk
who loved you, from the song that was poured from his soul and that was
now tormenting yours, away from that nightclub, away from this city, from
this life—
"FOXGLOVE!!!!!!!"
Away from the one who took his place in
your dreams, away from pain, from love, from everything and everyone—
This time, however, Otis was angry enough
to actually catch up with her. He flew above her, and grabbed her shoulders
with his foot-paws. She was immediately destabilised, and both fluttered
down to a rooftop, landing rather hard and tumbling in the process. As
Otis angrily regained his footing, he looked at the batmaid with stiff
ears and tail and scolded,
"Just—just *what* the hell do you think
you're doing??!!" Foxglove stood, echosounded at him, and tried to reply,
"Otis——Otis I'm s—" As she said this, however,
she padded up to him, wrapped her wings around him, and kissed him, doing
so without any hint of rational thought. Otis, naturally, was completely
shocked by this. Even though it was something that he actually *wanted*
to do, way in the back of his head, this was certainly *not* the way he
had it planned. Foxglove, meanwhile, had her mind and tail racing the 100-metre
dash, and her ears were laid back a trifle. She tried to grasp the memories
that were cascading down her mind, trying to grab something that would
make the pain go away, that would perhaps make her sleep better at days,
and then she caught the memory of Dale kissing her—no———no——it was slipping
away, something was pulling that memory from her mind and tearing it to
shreds, something did not add up, the scent was not the same, the fur was
not the same, the wings were not the same—
Wings?
"Dale——"
Her rational thought was yanked back on-line
as she realised what she was doing. She opened her eyes, and when she saw
and heard Otis' face, she immediately broke and staggered away, with limp
tail and ears again. Otis echosounded at her, and his anger faded when
he heard her facial expression, and relaxed his ears and tail.
"No—no, Foxy, I'm *not* Dale. I'll never
be Dale. There's no way I can replace him—"
"Otis—Otis——I'm——I'm sorry——!" she stuttered,
covering her muzzle with her wings, trying to anchor her confused mind
to any kind of rational thought. "I——I didn't mean——to do that—!! I——I——"
She covered her entire head with her wings, and turned away from him. His
voice was soft, *too* soft, almost as if she was actually beginning to
*like* that voice, beginning to like *him*——
He, however, was taking more pity on her
now.
"Foxy, please, you can't solve this problem
by running away! I *know* this is tough for you, but *that's* why you need
to roost with the bats again! If you run away, you will eventually kill
yourself!!" She stiffened her features, turned and echosounded at him from
under her wings, with fury and pain.
"*I'm* *al-ready* *DEAD*," she chattered.
Stunned for a moment, he then laid his ears down a trifle, and held out
a friendly wing,
"Foxy, *please* don't say that. I—*we*
can help you start a new life, *that's* the reason why we're here!! I know
you'll always have Dale in your heart, but that's no reason why you can't
pick yourself up and try again!" Her wings and ears quivered at this statement.
Echosounding at the cement, she whimpered,
"Otis—I——I *don't*—want to fall in love
*again*—" For a moment, Otis thought that his heart broke, by the way his
ears and tail sagged, but his feelings were not important right now. The
current priority was Foxglove's problem, which was easily solved, or so
he thought.
"You—you don't *have* to." She sighed in
pain,
"No. Otis——you're not exactly making it
*easy* for me. I don't——I don't want to fall in love——with you." Here,
Otis knew that he could not exactly hug her in order to console her, for
she had made her choice. Still, he said,
"I'm—I'm sorry, Foxy, I never intended
to make any moves on you—"
"No—no, the problem is that you're *here*,
you know, and—and Dale *isn't*—" She trembled for a moment, features sagging
again. "This would be a whole lot easier for me if you were truly my brother."
It was here when he finally understood.
"You need Dale, yes. Dale and the Rangers
were the only family you had, Foxy. I know you need a family now, and I
really *do* want to help you, but with Dale gone, then perhaps you don't
need a husband—or a boyfriend—right now." Foxglove echosounded at him,
a trifle confused. "Since your parents are gone, then perhaps you should
start a family with——a *brother*, maybe?" Her ears perked up a trifle.
"B—brother?"
"Foxy, I don't want to see you in pain
anymore. If it will help you, I will take you in as my little sister, and
I *will* be your brother. I *would* take you in as a daughter, but I don't
think I'm old enough for it, maybe Richard and Rosie can help you with
that. But for now, would you consider being my sister?" At this point,
it seemed as if one third of the pain disappeared from Foxglove's chest.
If she could not have a husband, then perhaps another type of family *was*
what she needed. And—and—she actually felt *better*.
She then rushed up to him and hugged him
tightly, pleading,
"H—help me—b——*brother*——please——I need——*help*——"
Otis wrapped his wings around this tormented soul and whispered,
"I will, *sister*, thanks for letting me
help you."
"Wanna bey mah sesster tewe?" Both verspetilionids
echosounded up and heard Feyyanna, Richard, and Rosie standing on the edge
of the rooftop. Breathing a trifle easier, Foxglove replied,
"Well, um, sure! Why not?" but still without
any smile, though her ears and tail were back to normal.
"And when can we get to the parent thing?"
asked Rosie.
"Uh, let's take this one step at a time,
please," she replied, emotionally exhausted.
Foxglove closed the door and took her seat
at her assigned booth; later it would be reconditioned so she could hang
from the ceiling. She placed the earphone next to her left ear and lowered
the volume on the knob in the panel in front of her. She saw through the
glass in front of her the Rescue Aid Society Assembly Hall, where small
mammals from all over the world came together to try to solve problems
for both animals and humans. The audience consisted of small mammals from
almost all species, but they were mainly rodents. She saw a large flying
fox, male, but remembered her decision. Her "brother" and the others had
taken her here to the UN, and Richard introduced her to a vole named Kyle,
the chief interpreter. A brief interview landed her this job, one that
could help others and that was of absolutely no risk to her at all. Kyle
had noticed that this young batmaid could learn languages rather quickly,
and the UN was the best place around here where one could do so. Thusly,
here she would continue to develop her talents as an interpreter (which
was very rare among chiropterids, as she found out), and be of help to
others. Otis was relieved that she agreed to take this job, because here
she would be able to socialise not only with bats, but with many other
species as well. However, she asked him if they could roost in New Jersey
and not New York. It seemed that some chiropterids and other animals appeared
to recognise her from her night with Fat Cat and she really did not want
to give any explanations about why she was not with Dale anymore. He was
a trifle disappointed, but he knew that it would be a necessary arrangement
for now. She needed time to recover and be social again. It would be gradual,
naturally, she would make a friend here and there, and just basically have
a normal life. She was in a situation similar to when she was with the
Rangers: she would help others who were in need, but without all the danger—
Or Dale.
Dale. She could not stop thinking about
Dale, or that song. Not now, at least. And she could not stop dreaming,
either. With Otis' "adoption", Dale was once again visiting her during
the day. She needed to put her mind on other things, things that could
help others, that could solve problems, and maybe *her* problem would be
solved in the process.
Solved?
Rosie suggested that perhaps after all
had settled down, that she and Dale meet again to *at least* try to speak
to each other again, to try to have them be friends again and somehow continue
to stay in touch with him and the Rangers—
No.
*She* was the one who left, and *she* must
be the one to come back to him.
And she could *never* go back to him, ever,
*nor* would she court anyone again. Have plenty of friends? Maybe. But
now, she had a brother and a sister to establish ties with, and then perhaps
a mother and father.
But not a husband.
Not a fiancée.
Not a boyfriend.
Not *now*, not *ever*.
And now, she would begin to focus her mind
on other things.
On the main platform, she saw an exotic
mammal, with "scales", pad up to the podium. He adjusted his microphone,
and she did the same. The pangolin began speaking in Laotian, and she began
translating to English,
"My friends, we are in urgent need of help
in…"
As she leaned forward, she couldn't help
but notice that her shoulders were a trifle sore. Maybe it was because
Otis had grabbed her too hard that other night. But in the back of her
mind, she knew that the soreness, the *pain* had begun creeping in just
after that tragic night, and that it was fading in and out of *all* her
joints, not just her shoulders. She ignored it, at first, but every time
the pain came back, it was just a trifle stronger…