Yo guys! It's your pal Austorias! We actually got a question in! HYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPE! And I've also decided to do this a bit differently, I'm going to pick a question/joke from the ones that I get, and I will showcase them at the beginning and end of the chapter. For an example, today's question is from sniperdog225! *Ahem*, "Jacks, what did Francis' tail taste like?" Hmmm, good question, stick around to the post chapter notes to find out the answer! Also, I may be going o hiatus guys, gotta go to my father's house for half of thanksgiving break.

*********************************************ON WITH THE STORY*********************************************************

Grey and Jacks fought off the Sin that were corralled around Francis, and the trio now faced at least eight Sin, staring them down. Both forces took combat positions. Jacks stood holding his sword straight in front of him with a slight tilt for defense, he held it like a sword master. Francis stood to Jacks' left, he head tilted slightly downward, so that she could see through her visor. She bore no weapon, just her fists, and she bounced back and forth in a street fighter style form. Grey, on Jacks' right, held his hands in front of himself, a slight blue glow radiating from them with a revving noise. Grey tilted his head very slightly to be able to point his metal eyes at Jacks.

"How nice of you to….." Grey was about to wise crack at Jacks, until he scanned the boy's body, revealing deep, bleeding claw gashes across his chest and legs, at which point he simple stopped, and turned back to face the Sin with slight worry for the kid.

Francis also took notice when she looked his way, although she was not as subtle.

"Holy shit Jacks! Are- are you?" Jacks cut her off mid-sentence.

"Fine." Was all that he said, even though he really wasn't.

In reality, Jacks could barely retain cognizance, the pain was slowly overcoming his will, and the blood loss did not help one bit. He Jacks knew that he had to push on, even if he is weak, harmed, and scared. Jacks barely spoke a word, he was too focused on keeping the pain at bay, and on the Sin in front of him. Francis was about to disagree with Jacks, but as she opened her mouth, one of the Sin jumped at her. She quickly reacted with an uppercut to the jaw, sending it up in the air slightly. Jacks took the opportunity to shoot his hook at it, but instead of pulling it down, he pulled himself up. Jacks pointed his sword downwards straight through the black monster's chest, impaling it to the cold ground. It's lifeless body recoiled as Jacks pulled his new blade from the earth, and regained his combat position. Those quick movements did a number on Jacks, he grasped his bleeding chest and let his sword droop in his hand. Grey and Francis had a mix of pride, worry, and guilt on their faces. They liked how Jacks finally maned-up, but now he is pushing himself to the ultimate limit, death. They honestly felt bad for bringing him here, not for their safety, but for his. Jacks heard a loud, deep shout come from behind him, so he quickly turned around to inspect it, taking his eyes off of the Sin. He viewed Vix grappling with a Sin slightly larger than himself, and it was slowly pushing him to his back. Jacks looked back at Francis and Grey, both of them beating the hell out of another Sin, and back to Vix. He did not want to do it, be Vix needed his help more. Vix struggled to one knee, and then onto his back, his arms shook from the sheer amount of tension. His arms slowly gave way to the Sin's, no one could help him, they were fighting their own battles.

"GET THE FFFFFUUUUU…. OFF!" There was great struggle in his voice, and he knew that his words were futile.

Vix suddenly felt a lot of slack in the Sin's arms, and he quickly pushed it aside to roll onto it, and begin battering it, until he noticed a long silver blade sticking out of the beast's back, he starred at it, puzzled at the sight, but then he looked to the right. Standing there was Jacks, looking at the collapsed beast and gasping for breath, his helmet corroding his breathing. Vix stood there in awe as he looked at the kid's injuries, and how he was still fighting, or that he was fighting at all, he could not tell which he was more amazed at. A short silence occurred as they both heard Grey calling Jacks' name, and Vix still sat starstruck at the boy as he ran back to grab his sword, and then to Grey and Francis.

In the meantime, Foxy and Spring were having a bit too much fun with the whole situation.

"Hey Lionel! Catch!" Foxy yelled as he picked up a Sin by the face and threw it into the air like it was nothing.

Spring quickly jumped out of the tree that he had perched in, he was doing multiple spins in the air, holding his rifle straight outward.

"THIS ONE IS FOR ALL OF THE DORITOS!" He said, not even shooting the Sin, but instead pulling out his survival knife and stabbing the beast up through the jaw before pulling it out, and landing in a perfect split, still holding his gun.

Foxy took an air horn from seemingly thin air, and began to use it in a strange, pulsating pattern.

Chica, Bonnie, And Freddy were all seen standing around one small Sin, they all jumped into the air and down onto the beast, which tried to escape. A cloud of dust appeared around them, shouts and gunshots could be heard. Freddy's hammer flew out of the dust of smoke with a splatter of maroon liquid on it, and the dust cleared. When it finished, Chica, Bonnie, and Freddy all stood over a splatter of the maroon fluid, coupled with a few smashed bones and gun shells.

The whole group viewed the Sin backing off slowly, a very small number of them had no injuries, and the rest were injured or destroyed. They continued swiping and pressing until no Sin could be seen or heard. Once they were completely gone, everyone caught their breath and laughed, all except Jacks. Jacks' injuries finally overtook him, his vision blurred as he reach for his head, he quickly lost his balance. He fell to his hands and knees, his blood dripping to the ground, staining the grass a deep red. It was all in slow motion as Francis, Grey, Foxy, and Spring all stopped laughing as Grey pointed to the boy. Grey and Francis ripped off their facial covering before kneeling down to assist him. Foxy placed a hand lightly on Jacks back and rubbed it as he threw up a mouthful of blood. The rest of the group stood in surprise and worry as Grey spoke, even Vix looked upset.

"Here, lie him against the tree." Grey said, snapping and pointing to a large tree trunk in front of them.

Foxy gently dragged him, and place him, in front of the designated tree. Foxy had tears in his eyes and Francis held her hands over her mouth. Foxy was muttering to himself in anxiety.

"Gimme some room!" Grey said, motioning everyone aside.

He moved Jacks hand off of his chest and looked down at his injuries. Grey could barely see what he was working with so he attempted to remove Jacks' hardplate. It slightly hurt Jacks, but he did not have the energy to complain. The second that Grey finally got the chest piece off, he tore the robe around his chest and stomach. What was revealed, startled everyone…

Jacks had six very deep wounds running down his sides, three slashes on the left, three slashes on the right. The wounds were very deep, and bleeding very badly. Grey could even make out a small section of Jacks' ribcage from the gruesome gashes.

"Ja-Jacks… what….." Foxy was going to say something to Jacks, but Grey held up a hand to stop him.

"Don't talk to him, he needs to save what willpower he has left." Grey said as Jacks coughed up more blood onto his robe.

When Jacks coughed, Foxy closed his eyes tightly, and wrinkled his mouth, cringing in worry and sadness. He put his left arm over his eyes and ran back to face the other direction. He did not want to see his brother in that state. He began whispering to himself, Francis seemed to be the only one who could make out his speech.

"Damnit Jacks! Why couldn't you have just fought back?! Why didn't you?" Foxy leaned facing a tree, punching it with his right hand as he still covered his eyes with the left.

Francis knew that she had something to do with Jacks' injuries, and she genuinely felt guilty for it. It ate at her as she became more and more worried at the situation. The singular thought ran through her head.

(What would Foxy do to me if he knew?)

She continued thinking on the topic as she watched Grey use very old school magic to mend Jacks' serious injuries. She slowly calmed her nerves by taking a deep breath, and thinking about the golden topic.

(I…. I am a Knight damnit! The one thing that Knights always have is their honor, and I'll be dammed if I spoil that honor now)

She nodded down to herself, and slowly turned to face Foxy, still at a tree a few feet away. She held her arms behind her back as she walked over to the grieving fox, swaying back and forth with each step. It seemed like she had walked miles to get to him, but to him she did get. She gathered all of her courage in her vocal cords, and spoke very softly and heartfelt.

"Hey, Fawkes." Francis said, waving to him.

He slightly turned his face to her, revealing his fur having two wet streams under his eyes.

"Fawkes, *Hic* what? Are we not *Hic* friends anymore? *Hic hic hic* Foxy was really upset, and still cracked a joke in the middle of his sentence.

"Sorry, Foxy." She corrected herself.

A long moment of silence went underway as the foxy continued sobbing, waiting for what she had to say.

"I-I'm truly sorry." She could not say anymore, it was not easy for proud Knights to admit their wrongs.

Foxy seemingly instantly looked at her with big, swollen, yellow eyes.

"For what?" His voice was very shaky and high pitched as he spoke.

"I- I could have prevented what happened to Jacks….." She let her head droop and her voice got quieter.

Foxy's eyes lit up like fireworks exploding across the night sky. He stepped forward to Francis.

"What do you mean?" Foxy sounded slightly mad, like he already knew the answer to his own question.

"Well, back when we were in formation, I saw Jacks crawling away from a Sin that was chasing him…." The more she spoke, the closer Foxy got to her. She continued stepping back.

"I-I didn't help him, I thought that it would be a good opportunity for him to learn to fight right! I didn't intend for this to happen I swear! I didn't hear him yell or anything! I'm sorry!" Foxy was now stepping very quickly, almost running toward her.

His eyes hanged low, simmered, and shook like the burning fire that he felt in his heart. Foxy's yellow OverLoad could be seen arising off of him. Foxy now spoke in a low, scolding shout that drew everyone's attention, well, except Grey's and Jacks'.

"YOU…. YOU COULD HAVE HELPPED HIM?! W- WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU "DIDN'T INTEND FOR THIS TO HAPPEN?!"" Foxy now backed her into a tree, Francis was legitimately scared of what the fox would do to her, even though she was likely of greater power.

"I COULD, I COULD KILL YOU FOR THIS!" Foxy yelled at the top of his lungs as he clenched both of his fists, tears still streaming down his face.

Foxy felt an enormous force smack against his body, and he stumbled to the ground. He was quick to react, however, he rolled backward, placing one hand against the ground to slow his skidding. When he looked up he saw none other than Vix in all of his gear, the black armor shined in the dim sunlight.

The armed members were about to raise their weapons at Foxy, but Vix raised his hand slightly, motioning them to stop.

"Don't let him blow off some steam." Vix spoke softly, his voice resonating from behind his metal, square shaped helmet.

The group was surprised that Vix was actually showing mercy, maybe even empathy, to Foxy. His attention was drawn again by Foxy shouting.

"WHAT!? YOU UP FOR ROUND TWO!?" Foxy said, drawing his claws and showing his teeth.

Vix responded by simply raising his fists. Foxy took no break, he instantly accepted the challenge by jumping at Vix in an animal like-leap. Due to the extreme weight of Vix's armor, he didn't even flinch when Foxy landed on him. Foxy was smarter than that though, crawled up and sat on his shoulders. Foxy then dug his claws under the neck slot between the helmet and chest plate. He was just barely strong enough to lift the dense helmet off, while still fighting against Vix's blows. Now aiming at his actual head, Foxy reeled back his neck, opening his jaws wide. He held Vix's arms back as much as he could as he bit down on the base of his long, white ear. Vix shouted in a deep voice before going on a pain rage, and throwing Foxy completely off of him, and right into the ground. Foxy's grip on Vix's ear was very tight though, and when Foxy was removed, so was the ear. Foxy reeled from being smashed into the ground by the strongest thing he has ever seen, but he recovered, staggering to his feet. He looked back at Vix, holding the spot where his left ear used to be, he did not seem angry though, he just showed emotions of pain as he lifted his fists back up.

Foxy was about to lunge again, but before he did, he heard a weak, croaking voice from behind him.

"Foxy." The voice said.

Foxy turned around to see Jacks, still lying against the tree with Grey above him, starring right at him.

"Stop." Jacks again said.

Jacks motioned to Grey, he looked worried, but he complied and stopped the healing process. Jacks slowly staggered to his feet, the entire group seemed to flinch every time that his feet hit the ground. He took a step forward, looking like he was about to fall over, Foxy just stood there, the tears still flowing down he face. Everyone was speechless as Jacks took another step, the leaves crackling under his feet. He kept stepping toward Foxy in this fashion, until he finally made it over to him.

Jacks fell toward Foxy, but Foxy caught him, being careful not to touch his wounds. Jacks was resting his head on Foxy's shoulder in the hug that they were sharing. Jacks pushed off of Foxy with one hand and looked him dead in the eyes, smiling brightly. Foxy returned the smile, but not as brightly. Foxy was knocked stupid when Jacks quickly left hooked him, sending him straight to the ground.

Foxy was face down, and Jacks stood above him looking down with a frown, he held his chest.

"Feeling any dejavu Foxy? Because I sure am….. This reminds me a lot of that incident the first time that we came to this place." Jacks spoke clearly, ignoring his injuries. The whole group remained speechless.

"The whole almost killing Francis deal? Yea, the exact same thing is happening here. A good plan, with good intentions that could have went well, but shit went down and nearly killed someone. I appreciate the thought that Francis put toward her plan, could have gone better, but she tried… You look like an idiot, and a hypocrite right now, you know that? You did not understand why Vix was angry at me, and now, you had the same feeling toward Francis. She even showed the courtesy to apologize to you, and that's….. that was really badass of her to do. So Foxy, this is me shutting you the fuck up and saying, try to think about who exactly you're affecting when you act upon your own accord."

Jacks walked back to the tree and sat down, everyone starred at him as Grey just chuckled and went back to healing him.

Hey everyone, It's Jacks! Austorias told me about the question that someone sent my way. Well sniperdog, Imagine eating celery, but dry celery with no flavor, but then cover it in kerosene. That's probably the best example I could give! I look forward to reading more of these in the future!