Author notes: well, this has been a long time coming, goes without saying my first three chapters showed how inexperienced I was as a writer. However, now that I feel more confident in my writing, I reckon it's high time I give these chapters the care they deserve

"Talking"

'Thinking'

It was a cold night in the forest, Rouge had a small bag wrapped over her shoulder filled with small valuable items such as wallets, rings and even a few earrings, she wore a black bandanna over her face like how criminals would wear in the movies she'd watch. Rouge was currently using her wings to glide from tree branch to tree branch, far in the distance she could hear footsteps from the two guards trying desperately to catch her, though she doubts they knew she wasn't leading them anywhere specific but rather randomly through the forest. They would either give up or get lost she didn't care which came first.

Rouge stopped to catch her breath and looked back towards the guards she had to squint to see their flashlights barely shining through the leaves she couldn't help but laugh 'these guards must be stupid if they think they can catch me, it's pitch black and I know this forest better than they do I am in my element right now' she was about to take off again but stopped as she heard a noise coming from the base of a nearby tree. It almost sounded like someone crying but that should be impossible there's no one out here, right?

Deciding that she had a good while before the guards would catch up and also her curiosity getting the better of her, Rouge jumped down from the tree branch and began looking over at the tree she heard the noise from it was hard to find it at first the noise seemed to be coming from a pile of dirt 'wait a second does that dirt have fur?' the more she looked at it the more she started to notice little details it had two small pointy ears, patches of yellow and white fur and a large bushy tail that's when it finally clicked in Rouge's head.

"Oh, shoot this is a fox cub what the hell is a cub doing out here?" she spoke under her breath it seems whoever this is has been crying in their sleep, Rouge was more worried though because of how small they were "they have to be younger than me but what could they be doing out here in the cold?"

Suddenly the small fox let out a very weak "ehh" as they started to wake up. Rouge wasn't sure what to do but simply stood next to them as they started to move their body she watch as their eyes slowly opened, she watched as two deep blue eyes started to take in the area surrounding them before locking in on her and a look of terror appears on its face.

Miles felt himself start to wake up from his sleep unsure if he had been sleeping for hours or only minutes, the pain from the beating he received that day started to come back as well it felt like he was on fire. As he slowly opened his eyes it took a second for everything around him to focus but as his eyes adjusted, he noticed a person in front of him.

They looked different from the others he had the displeasure of meeting but as far as he saw it, they were another bully here to beat him up, he waited for them to make the first move but instead, they just stood there waiting 'why aren't they doing anything?' he saw a chance to try and run and decided to take but as he stood up the pain in his legs made it impossible for him to get any more than a few steps before he fell over onto the ground.

Rouge watched as the fox suddenly tried to bolt past her only to fall over almost immediately, she was about to try and help them up only for them to try and crawl away. She walked over so that she was in front of them and held out their hands to get them to stop "hey kid take it easy, what are you doing out here?" Miles stopped and looked up at the stranger before rolling over onto his back and into a sitting position "I-I don't want any trouble please don't hurt me" Rouge watch as the fox flinched, bracing himself for a punch or a kick. She was lost for words "h-hurt you why would I do that?" she started to look over his chest and stomach it seems that while his back was covered in mud the rest of him was much cleaner, she could easily see his yellow and white fur, but that wasn't the only thing she could see. Almost all over his body were bruises, scabs, and cuts most of them had to be fresh with the amount of dried blood that stuck to his fur.

Rouge quickly looked away towards the ground as she felt like she would throw up if she kept looking 'this kid needs some serious help, asap' she gave him another quick look over 'there's no way he's going to last long with these kinds of injuries plus with how cold it is tonight he'd be lucky to survive tonight' she took a deep breath, she knew what she had to do "Okay how about you come with me and we can take you someplace warm yeah?" as she talked to him she placed her hand on his shoulder.

The moment she touched him his fight or flight response kicked in as he swatted her hand away "don't touch me!" he yelled with what little energy he had before a much quieter and weaker "please" it sounded more like a beg than a demand

Rouge pushed back the urge to yell at the clearly scared kid "Okay well, kid you can't exactly move on your own so you're going to have to…" Rouge stopped talking as she heard the sound of nearby footsteps that were slowly getting closer "crap the guards I almost forgot about them" she franticly looked around trying to think what to do 'I gotta hide but where? The trees yes that will work, but the kid he might tell them where I am what do I do?' she looked back towards the fox "look kid I want to help you but right now I need you to hide with me" Miles simply looked at her "what no, I don't know who you are".

She started to panic as the footsteps got closer, she quickly grabbed the young fox wrapping one arm under his arms and the other over his mouth to stop him from screaming and took off into the nearby tree, landing on the large branch she held the fox tight as he tried to squirm in her grip she leaned over and whispered into his ear "look just stop moving I promise I won't hurt you just stay still till the bad people go away okay?" Miles stopped and considered what she said before a simple nod, he had to admit even though she was holding him tight he felt oddly warm and comfy as he felt his eyes start to get heavy again. Rouge was quiet as she watched the guards bellow them.

"You sure you heard her out here?" one guard asked the other "Positive who else would be out here at this time of night" the other responded "well I don't know how to break it to you but there isn't anyone here, face it she's long gone let's just get out of this stupid forest" as he spoke he started walking away "are you sure that's a good idea? I mean what would the others think if we just let a thief go?" the first guard stopped in his tracks and turned back around to his partner "I honestly don't get paid enough to give a damn! now let's go preferably before we get lost".

Rouge watched as the guards started to walk away, she waited till she could hear them anymore before turning her attention back to the fox in her arms "Okay kid looks like we're in the clear I'm going to fly us back down to the ground, okay?" she waited for a response but didn't hear one "um kid?" she looked down only to see the fox asleep in her arms, she wasn't going to admit it to anyone but the sight of him snuggled up in her arms was probably the cutest thing she has ever seen.

She didn't want to wake him up so carefully she glided down to the ground holding the kid in her arms she was shocked at how light he was and as she ran her hand up his back, she could feel his bones 'This kid must be starving' she started heading towards her house "don't worry kid I'll take you someplace nice and warm"

Authors note: All right first chapter rewritten again sorry for taking so long to redo this and for those of you who found this story after I rewrote this chapter don't worry you didn't miss much

All right take care until next time and I leave you with this "A man died at the library today, apparently, he was crushed by a pile of books. If you ask me, he only had his shelf to blame"