Caelum shifted beneath the sheets, tossing and turning as he struggled to close his eyes. The cut along his cheek had sealed completely now, but a scar remained in it's place, a faint red line against his blood and tear stained grey fur. He brushed the scar, and even know the cut had sealed, it still stung when his frail paw ran over it. He thought about the little things he had in life, and how precious they seemed to him, despite understanding their purpose and meaning little on not at all.

He dreaded the forthcoming day of Monday, for he would be forced to return to school... And even there could he find no sanctuary from the harsh words or actions of others. Kits older than him had been bullying him the past week, picking on him and hitting him due to his frail form... The teachers didn't seem to either care or notice, and went about as though he was fine. He had no friends, unlike all the other kits and cubs of his class, and he was therefore isolated from interaction. He had soon picked up on himself being the only predatory species admist the prey kinds who were in his class, and was therefore - despite being visibly weak and unintimidating, was segregated from them due to fear - baring sharp fangs and knife like claws was enough to make many of the others cry at the sight of him, but those who didn't cry based on the fangs and claws cried because of the hideous state of his body, so thin that the bones of his skeleton were starting to become visible, and now it even pained him to speak or take a breath.

The sounds from the TV had now ceased, and he could hear movement from downstairs, before the landing light flickered as the switch was pressed, and he heard the creaking of the wooden stairs as his father made his way up them. He stifled all sounds as best he could, trying desperately to pretend as though he was now alseep. He heard the door to his room creak open. And he made no movement, not even to breath. A few moments later and the door creaked to a close with a small thud, before his dad departed for his own room.

The night passed away, and the young kit soon found himself being rudely awoken by his dad. To say he was surprised when his dad appeared to have breakfest ready - brought into the room - and a new set of clothes laid out for him would've been a massive understatement, and the young kit could not help but express the surprise by widening his amber eyes. He turned to face his dad, but he bore a stoic expression that hid his emotions. Without a word his dad then left the room, but his anger and frustration didn't appear to surround him and his actions this morning. Had maybe last's nights events changed his heart, and possibly brough back the father who use to think the world of him? Wasn't that wishful thinking?

With haste he ate his breakfest, already feeling himself being restored with new energy and vigor, but he still felt hungry. Once his breakfest was finished, he began to dress himself in his new clean clothes, struggling to do so as he had to learn this himself. It took him a long minute or two before he had managed to put on all of his clothes, that appeared thicker than normal, thankfully helping prevent the cold from attacking his body on this cold Monday, and as well as this appeared to camoflauge his skinny form. He walked down the stairs, yet even with the recent nourishment he had just recieved, each step still put pressure onto his legs, but now not so much. His dad stood waiting, still bearing the stoic expression. He took his son by his paw as he led him to the car, and helped him inside it, placing the seatbelt across his chest before admitting himself to the drivers seat. With a turn of the key and a rumble of the engine, they made their away along the road to the local school.

The car pulled up, and the dull brown fox got out of the car before going back to his son. He opened the door, undone the seatbelt and helped his son out of the car, before walking him inside. He released his sons paw, and crouching down uttered a few words that the young kit's ears could barely make out, before turning to speak with one of the teachers. After exchanging hushed words, he left with a wave, to the teacher or his son none could tell. None of that performace seemed out of the ordinary, as he ha always acted like a caring but struggling father in the presence of others, and the only real shocking event that morning was the breakfest and the clothes being laid out for him. He entered his classroom, instantly taking his place in the corner away from others, as the prey kinds began to wander in. He watched them interact with each other with a look of longing and jealousy, hearing their laughs and giggles at jokes he didn't understand, but still found amusing, yet he stilfed his laughs.

The students began to take up their seats, before the door opened and a young grey lapin stood in the light, before nevously making his way inside. The young boy looke towards his mother, who encouraged him with a few words and a loving embrace, in which the father soon joined. Departing from his parents embrace, the young lapin made his way inside the class, sitting at the back of the group and not making interaction.

The teaher then began to call out the names of the different students, but Caelum only paid attention to his own, and the name to which the new boy would respond to - hoping that he could be his first ever friend.

"Caelum Vulpus?" The teacher called, to which the fox responed with a weak and tired 'here' He took no notice of the other names, until he heard one that was new to him.

"Celica Mercury?" The teacher called again, recieving a nervous 'here' from the new rabbit.

Caelum took notice of the new rabbits name, but he pretended to appear uninterested. After the roll-call had been completed, the teacher began to teach the students basic maths, to which Caelum already hated.

Playtime came quickly for the group, but this was the time in school Caelum feared the most. He would always try to avoid everyone else, and would just end up hiding and cowering in the corner, but the bullies always seemed to find him, and today appeared no different, as Caelum yelped when an unexpected force made itself known against the side of his rib cage. The bullies uttered no words, and instead spoke threw their actions of kicking and punchin the four year old. The abuse from the older children always appeared to last most of playtime, and always went seemingly unnoticed by anyone, except today... Someone did notice... Celica... The newcomer saw the beating with his very eyes, and had wasted no time in reporting it to a teacher, who instantly dealt with the problem, dismissing all three boys directly to the head teacher. Celica helped Caelum back to his feet, and smiled when the fox spoke to him.

"Thank you..."

AN: And I'm gonna end this chapter there. Alrighty, now I said shoutouts to the first five reviews, and favourites, and here they are:

Shoutout to reviews goes to: Brainiac1013, fireblazer2000, Agent007.1, OneHitCracker, and Yhello

Shoutout to Favourites goes to: Brainiac1013, fireblazer2000, Yhello, awesomedestroyer2355, and Flaminlovedragon39

Shoutout once again to the first 3 reviews on this chapter, as well as a response to them. Enjoy and until next time, peace out.