Darkness shrouded the island as the vulpine couple laid together on the ground in a darker building. They had scrounged up some blankets and cloth, making a small area to sleep on. Silence hung between them as Mangle had snuggled up into Foxy's neck, sleeping the exhaustion away, however, the vulpine had the short end of the stick in terms of rest.

Recently, through the fighting and chaos around him, memories had resurfaced. Painful, tearing memories that couldn't just blink away like he used to. Instead they pushed through and filleted every section of his mind until he couldn't think straight. In those few short seconds his body had gone numb. Nothing made any sense, blackness overtook the peripheral of his vision and was shrinking, slowly taking the rest of it until all he saw was black, then a low, red haze.

He shivered in place, his limbs frozen as he began to see some light, a small pinprick which began to grow into a full scene, replaying the memory of the incident as he began to thrash himself, though, unable to actually move. His body fully stiff, mentally breaking, and unable to escape the trance, unable to forget.

Her name…

'Please…'

Her face…

'Please.'

Her future…

'Please!'

He mentally shouted at himself, screaming endlessly without a single chord being spoken aloud. His vision went black as each of his limbs felt chained down, along with his neck, holding him back as he tried to push past, though, held back. He pushed further, exerting every ounce of energy as he began to feel blood run from his limbs along the cuffs which held him in place, the sound of someone shouting his name catching his attention.

Distant, but similar…

"Foxy!"

An outline caught his attention through the darkness, it grew much like the previous one, but… this was different… It was familiar to him, an actual person.

"Foxy, w-"

They called out again, another syllable being spoken but the word itself was cut off. Distorted beyond recognition, though, it was still familiar… The figure was closer, showing white furred fox, soon realizing who it was; Mangle was here with him in… this… Rushing again, he pushed harder against the chains which held him, straining himself to get closer to the vixen who walked towards him, closer and closer.

Soon she was up in front of him as he continued pushing, wanting nothing more than for her to hold him for a second, and she eventually reached up to his muzzle, gently rubbing the scar along the left side of it as he closed his eyes, and tracing towards his jaw, now caressing his face and feeling the smaller scar on his cheek.

Foxy reopened his eyes to not see her fur perfectly cleaned, but instead tarnished by the war-torn environment around them, but still beautiful. Any remnants of the blackness which surrounded his vision retreated away, allowing him an unhindered view of Mangle who stared at him in worry, her tired eyes sending guilt straight to his spine as she hovered over his leg on her knees, using her thumb to once again trace the small scar on his cheek.

"Are… Are you okay?"

He was dumbfounded as he stared at her, it wasn't usual for him to see her like that.. so tired. Though, the view also amazed him. The sight of moonlight surrounding her as she kneeled just above his lap, in just a thin waist-cut tank-top as snow fell outside. Her soft white fur, now dirtied and stained, though, still soft as he placed his hand on her shoulder and felt her.

"Yeah…" He mumbled as he stared at her, eventually coming back to his senses as he continued, "Yeah, I just need some fresh air."

He gently pushed her shoulder back as he leaned forward, the vixen leaning onto her side and off his leg as he stood up and walked outside, the brisk winter air flowing into his fur and seeping far into him, helping him unwind from the incident just moments earlier, staring up at the moon as he radiated light back onto him.

Footsteps pulled him back to reality before he even zoned out, looking back to see Mangle holding her jacket on her shoulders as she stepped up behind him. Foxy turned around fully, watching her as she looked at him in worry once again, but also with compassion, soon letting a sight escape his lips as he looked back up towards the night sky, a small chuckle escaping his maw.

"We're back at it again, aren't we?"

She stared at him, her features hinting at a serious expression as she spoke; "Foxy, don't do this again. You promised you wouldn't try to hide it, you'd let me help you."

Another breathless sigh was heard from the vulpine as he looked back down at her.

"I know… I'm not trying to, but- I… I just don't want you to worry so much," He put his hand back on her shoulder, feeling it through the fabric of her jacket as she continued to look at him. "I don't want you to overwhelm yourself, and I don't want you tired, scared, hurt… I feel like it's my fault. That I'm failing, again."

"Foxy."

"I don't feel like I'm a good person, I haven't ever been one… All I've done is fuck up. Every night I'm reminded of that, that I have killed a little girl, that I've killed people just trying to survive… That I've scarred people…"

His voice was cracking, on the verge of fully breaking and letting his emotions flow as he continued, now reaching for her hand as he looked at the difference between themselves.

"How do you stand me," He asked her in a low shout, desperation lacing his voice.

"Foxy," She said in a stern voice, letting go of his hand as she instead reached toward his stomach, tracing one of the several scars along his abdomen. "You may not be a good man, but you're a "good" man. Everything you've done was for what you felt was right, it had the right intentions, it's just… Sometimes life doesn't work in our favor. You taught me that when you were about to be sent away… You wanted to run away and you wanted me to come as well, and I wanted to come, I wanted you- I still want you."

Her hand grabbed his wrist as she pulled it up and rested it onto her shoulder, bringing herself closer to him as he stiffened up slightly, soon bringing herself up to boop his nose with her own as she closed her eyes, enjoying the light touch between them before kissing him and pulling back, soon laying her jaw against his chest as she stared up at him.

"I want you because I love you. That's why I ran away… But, why do I feel like you pull back every time we get anywhere? You change anytime we get intimate, or while fighting… I don't understand why. Why do you change? What happened?"

"What happened, Foxy," she repeated.

He couldn't think of an explanation, watching the gaze of the vixen he had come to love pierce through him. He felt vulnerable, but safe, he knew she wasn't trying to harm him, instead she wanted to help- he wanted her help.

Before he could answer she grabbed at the sides of his face, pulling him downwards towards her as she kissed him again, though pressing further unlike earlier.

"Hello, Earth to Foxy," she teased with a slight smirk as he stared back at her, bewildered. "I still want an answer."

Without saying a word, Foxy sighed as he pulled his arms around her back, putting their foreheads together.

"I just… I don't understand it myself. I'm sorry."

"Don't feel sorry, it's not your fault you don't understand it, I just want to help you learn. Okay?"

He sighed as he leaned further against her, shifting to where he could place his head on her shoulder, but she pushed him back slightly and looked at him.

"I'm serious, Foxy, I want you to learn what it is. I… I want you…" Her eyes were slightly lidded as he stared at her, moonlight shining down on them lighting her face up as she waited for him to reply.

He leaned down towards her again without a word and kissed her gently on her maw, soon tracing down her jaw to her cheek and then down to her neck where he was met by the mark which signified their relationship. So much was spawned by it, but he was grateful it was there by himself. His vixen.

With that in mind, he seemingly involuntarily reached upwards with his left hand, soon meeting one of her breasts which he gently felt through the thin fabric of her tank-top, but he held himself back as he pulled himself up to her ear.

"We should head back," He whispered to her as she nodded with a slight whimper as his hand moved away from her chest, instead wrapping around her waist as he walked with her back into the building and the two eventually laid back down onto the small pile of blankets they'd made earlier.

It didn't take long for him to fall into rhythm once again, groping her breast with one hand while holding her back with the other, gently kneading her flesh as she moaned into his ear again, causing him to feel odd again. However, before he could fully enter the mindset, he was once more reminded by the vixen who took notice A gentle nibble on his ear reminded him of it, returning his focus to her.

Morning had come by the time they awoke, both of them snuggled up in the blankets as they embraced the other. Foxy couldn't help but feel her back as he laid in silence, a smirk planted on his face as she stirred in his arms, slowly shifting from the crook of his shoulder to his chest and neck.

"Come on, Mags," He whispered to her as she tightened her grip around his torso, slowly squeezing the air out of him. "It's time to get up."

He continued to rub her back as she woke up more-and-more, eventually opening her eyes enough for him to see her yellow irises again, a small smile plastered on her face while she crawled further up against his chest.

"Already?"

"We need to start getting to those guns."

"I know, but that was the best sleep I've had in a while… maybe ever."

"So a cold, hard floor in the middle of what-should-be a condemned building was better than our bed back home? S-" Before he could finish she shushed him, a smirk planted on as he stared at her.

"It isn't where we slept that made it wonderful…" She trailed a bit as he caught what she meant, subconsciously going to clear his throat before he stopped himself.

Why did he need to be so embarrassed about it? She was happy, he was happy… Why bother trying to hide it?

... But at the same time, he was afraid to take the first step for anything. Ever since the incident, he stopped taking the initiative, though, why was he still afraid?

He was split.

Badly.

He desperately wanted to be open in this moment, for her… With her…

But he was being held back by something.

It was unlike what usually held him back, that being his care for her, no… This was fear. He was afraid, genuinely terrified of something.

\

Mangle stared at him as he went silent, the smirk on his face replaced with a thinking expression as he went deep in thought.

"Foxy, what are you thinking about?"

From seemingly staring through her to jumping as he focused on her, he eventually found words again.

"I… don't know. I just realized something, but I can't piece it together."

"Well, do you at least feel better?"

He looked, thoughtfully, before he finally refocused on her and let out a sigh, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Yeah, I think I do…" He sat upwards, wrapping his hand around hers as he bumped her nose with his own before finally standing up.

Both of them got dressed, taking a minute to finally catch their surroundings and get the 'blood' pumping. Eventually, they grabbed their equipment and began moving, starting the grind of moving through the buildings again.

A day of sneaking behind the frontlines had taken place, using the basements of buildings and alleyways to avoid enemy patrols. They tried hard to keep violence to as little as possible, any suspicion could end them before they properly start and that… That they couldn't afford…

Any day now, and they could be attacked by more forces from off the island that'll come to support them, or maybe wipe them all. Both Foxy and Mangle were exhausted from running, but there was no telling how much longer until they reached a populated area, or worse they launched more artillery. All of it added up to a meticulous process where they tried to keep up a steady pace, avoiding any enemies and taking them out as quickly as possible, if needed, then continuing forward.

It felt like running from the pizzeria all over again, except now they were running towards the source of their troubles…

It seemed ironic to Mangle as she thought about it.

All this time spent running, and now they're closer to finishing it all than ever…

She was drawn back to reality by the sounds of talking, quickly slowing her pace and stacking up on a wall behind Foxy as he chanced a peek. He leaned out and caught a glimpse of a squad walking past, it was larger than the others, totalling about thirty-two men in total.

The most he had seen earlier was about eight, and that was standard squad size. This must've been a full platoon…

"Stay back, we can't take them on," He whispered back as he stayed in position, staring hesitantly at the group, however, they soon broke rank and separated into eights towards different sectors of the area.

Even when broken up into eight, that was too much for him and Mangle to take on without making much noise, so he gently pushed back into her, beckoning for her to back up as they both retreated into the house they had stacked up on.

Keeping low, they moved through the house silently as they examined it; the roof had cracks in it, the walls were filthy, and the floor was covered in dust and debris. Windows were shattered, and scorch marks lined some corners with pockmarks everywhere. Moving deeper into the house, there were blackened stains on the ground, occasionally a few bullet casings near it.

Mangle began to feel dizzy from it all, looking around at everything as she soon stopped and rested on her knee, holding her forehead as she let out a grunt, gritting her teeth.

"Hey, are you alright," He questioned her as he turned around, scanning her for any injuries.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just tired, I think," She replied, easing her hand away from her head as she looked up at him.

She could see him stifle a chuckle as he shook his head, obviously thinking it was due to their earlier actions, but she humored him, allowing the vulpine to stoke his ego for a few seconds as they stayed silent.

In the meantime, the soldiers outside had already passed, so they were able to continue onwards, granted, through a trench which went through the street from the basement of the building. The thought of cover was very appealing, though.

Eventually it was another ten minutes later, the duo coming out into a sparsely populated street which was filled with rough looking androids who were outside trying to clean up, rebuild, or run their shops. The sight was pitiful, simply put. No one could gather food to open restaurants, the workers were nowhere to be found, either. Debris coated the streets, chunks of fur also occasionally being seen.

'Don't think about it…'

She reprimanded herself for even looking, instead following the vulpine who hid his ASR in his coat, her folding the stock to her firearm and stuffing it in her jacket as well. After a few more minutes of walking, they came across a walled off area, the wall wrapping around through the alleys with some soldiers in them. If the guns were to be anywhere, it would most likely be in there.

"Okay, so, what now," She asked aloud as he sighed looking around.

"Well, we could use the tactic I used at the Survey Station. Find a tall building beside it and scout it out."

"You call that scouting," She retorted, an expression of disbelief covering her features as he smirked.

"Sorta, kinda."

Mangle sighed in response, holding the bridge between her nose and her forehead with her fingers.

Foxy instead looked around at the buildings the walls were attached to, most of them were boarded up, lights coming out of the cracks, though, there were cracks. Turning up towards the roof warranted the sight of guards with rifles, looking out and talking casually. It was then he heard a shout, his head swiveling sharply to the left where he saw a man get hit in the gut, bowing over and landing onto his knees, gasping and swallowing for air.

Then he felt an iron grip on his wrist, now turning over to see the vixen holding him in place subconsciously, or at least he thought.

No, it seemed that she was holding herself back at the moment as well. Foxy pulled her into a tight, but comforting hold.

Her eyes were fiery, in a way he had only seen when he pissed her off - really pissed her off. He could see her jawline reinforced as she grit her teeth as well, her back was stiff, her arms the same, and as much as he wanted to go and attack the soldiers harming the man, they weren't in a position to.

If they did, the soldiers would rain down hell on them quicker than lightning, with time to spare.

As he scanned further, looking around, he saw soldiers everywhere. In windows, on the streets, in front of doorways, each of them armed with weapons and itching to shoot.

"No wonder they couldn't fight back," He mumbled under his breath, eyeing any place that could be out of sight from the soldiers.

However, as he looked, he saw points where if they had explosives, they could bring this show down. Maybe even find some of that artillery and rain hell in return? Foxy dragged Mangle along the road, having her follow closely so that a soldier couldn't simply grab her.

They continued walking for some time, until Mangle had finally begun to calm down again. They found a building that looked mostly abandoned, likely a good safe spot.

He walked up to the building, the front door ajar, so he pushed it inwards. All he could see was darkness as he walked inside, scanning the room swiftly before Mangle followed him as well, shutting the door behind them. With the light from the door gone they could, funnily enough, see better.

Taking a few seconds for their eyes to further adjust, they saw that the building had a lightswitch to their right. Foxy flipped it, watching a few bulbs hum to life, however, a good bit of them were blown or busted.

Across from them was a couch and a table, both of the furnishings were rather degraded, but it was better than nothing.

He

walked over to the couch, soon flopping onto it with a sigh as he felt the strain and toll of the trek course through his body-

The feeling of a heavy, though soft, weight rested in his lap, causing him to open his eyes to the vixen sitting on top of him and leaning against his chest. She snuggled up tightly against him, subconsciously prompting the vulpine to wrap his arms around her, the duo enjoying the feeling for a bit longer.

"Remember what I said about sleep earlier," She asked Foxy as his ears perked up in response, letting out a questioning "hmm?" as she continued, "This is much better."

He let out a chuckle as he felt her smile within the crook of his neck.

"I knew that comfort beat it."

(A/N time) Hope everyone's doing good. I'm working on going back at the moment and editing some earlier chapters to sort of keep them up-to-date with my current writing style. I'm not sure if I'll change it from the jarring first person to third person like I've been using, but who know? I might. Thanks to Spacecat again for helping me cultivate my ideas in his DMs... again. Pulled 20 hours straight working on it. Anyways, it's shorter but I expect the next chapter to be a bit longer to make up for that. Hopefully I'll get it out quicker than this one.