A/N: My twisted tale continues, this time from a variety of view points.
Chapter 8: Ember's Past and Judy's Decision
I left Judy with a threat. I hope Judy acts as expected. She wouldn't force me to act, will she? Now that, I have decided to claim a kit of my own; I have a personal interest in their wellbeing. First stop, is Lightbringer's Palace. Judy might be too scared to change what food is brought to us, it seems like that's something I must do for them.
My meeting with Lightbringer ended rather well. He agreed to provide various vegetables for our guests and a sheep for Nick. I don't think Nick would eat rabbits. At least, he should have finished the sheep by the time I get back. I'm counting on Judy to be sensible for once. The guard tells me that my presence is requested at the school. Apparently, Ember has gotten into a fight. One thing after another, never a moment's rest. Why did I decide to spare the kit in the first place? Yet, I strangely hope that she's okay.
I go towards the school. I wonder what could have possibly happened Everlight is usually friendly. I arrive and find Ember waiting for me at the entrance. I see Ember with claw marks on her face bleeding. I use my staff to heal her. She says, "The wolf attacked me for no reason. Then, everyone sided with the wolf."
I tell her, "I'm going to go ask the teacher to see what really happened. You better not be lying."
"I would never lie to you."
We go to the class. I ask the lioness what happened. The teacher says, "I was giving a class on the Chasm, I asked if anyone knew about what rain meant. Ember said, "Rain is the best thing ever." That single comment made the wolf attack her. I had to break them up. I told someone to fetch you because you've recently decided to keep Ember for some reason. I'm sure you still remember what rain means and why that would be a problem. Due to the hostility of the class, I decided to have Ember wait at the school's entrance for you." Despite of my longstanding belief of what rain meant. I wonder how Ember could have possibly come to regard it as a good thing. The other kits don't at least. I guess that's one less issue to deal with. "Take Ember home, go and tell her what rain means."
We walk outside of the school and sit on a bench.
I ask Ember, "Why do you think rain is the best thing ever?"
She says, "It was the day I met a white vixen like you. She turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. White vixens are a sign of good things."
"What happened?"
"I lived with my family before. I've never got along with my family. I think it's due to my unique fur color. I am half white, half black. I never knew my name until I was four, I wasn't treated well. Abused but kept alive. I never knew why until one day I overheard that my name was Shatter. My family gave me that name because it was thought that I took two bunnies and made them one. My family believed they couldn't kill me because I would suddenly be reborn and combine two bunnies into one again. They kept me alive but barely. They've gotten rid of me as soon as possible to school. They took extreme delight in how even the school didn't accept me.
Beaten and abused daily. This all changed one day after being abused on the school playground. That day, it was raining. A white vixen appeared from the sky and took me away from the school and away from the town. The vixen was travelling with a male rabbit. I would ride on the vixen's head as she jumps into the air. Her magnificent black wings appeared whenever she jumped. They brought me to a different town. They gave me a new name too, Shadowslight. I lived with them for a year. A week ago, though they left and never came back. I went to school still by myself until a wolf brought me away from school. The one thing they kept reminding us at school, if a predator wants to take you away, you go with them or very bad things can happen.
It was fine at first, soaring upon a floating sheet of ice. It felt just like the day the vixen appeared from the sky and carried me away. Then, I met you. I expect good things around white vixens."
I listen to Ember's tale. She's a favored animal of the cult and we happened to take her away. The cultists simply vanished for a week. How can I explain what rain means to us without implicating the cult? Does she even know that she's part of the cult? Hmm. I should tell her the truth and judge her reaction.
I say, "I want to be clear, you're not in trouble. Let me tell you what rain means to us and I will tell you why the wolf acted the way he did. Legend has it when the chasm rains, the entire chasm is under the cult's watch. The groups we sent out to bring food to us are usually killed. That wolf in class lost his father during one of the rainy days. When it rains, we don't go into the chasm except it's not that easy to tell when it's going to. It just suddenly starts. This is why the wolf next to you reacted that way. "
"That is sad. I feel sorry for the wolf. What is the cult?"
I thought Ember would know what the cult is, she lived with them after all. There's not many animals with magical wings. I don't want to explain it to her right now. I say, "You'll find out when you're older."
Ember and I walked back towards our residence. I wonder what I would find there. I open the door to find Nick and Judy asleep on the floor in a rather compromising position. Judy still has the collar around her neck. Nick is currently drooling on Judy's head. Not my problem. The sheep is gone, the floor is a bloody mess. I guess I'll need to get a blue and red crystal to clean it up.
I tell Ember to stay in here. I'm going to get blue and red crystals to clean this mess up. It wouldn't be good if the scent lingers. I left Ember to get the crystals. It's strange the cult hasn't made a move yet. I wonder if all the previous attacks were unprovoked or done for vengeance.
I feel something jumping on my head. I open my eyes to see Judy covered in slobber. I back myself away from Judy and scream. I remember well the succulent taste of lamb. I had my first bite of prey today and I liked it. I'm extremely concerned for Judy. Judy has woken up from my scream.
Judy says, "Nick, what is it?"
"Feel the top of your head."
"This again? I think it's kind of cute."
"What do you mean again?"
"You had your tail wrapped around me before Whitebreeze woke me up. You were drooling a lot then too. The bed is still wet you know."
I get up and look at the bed. Judy is right. This wasn't the first time. I don't trust myself around her. I say, "Judy, I can't live with you anymore. I might end up eating you while asleep someday. It's not safe."
She responds with, "I trust you, you're not going to run off on your own especially, not after what I went through to find a sheep just for you to eat. Do you understand me? Oh, and before I forget, take this collar off me."
I remove the collar from Judy and put it on the table. "Carrots, what did you go through to get the sheep here? and did the kit actually know you?" Judy comes clean and tells me everything she has done and why she did them. I'm touched by everything she has done for me. "You spent a day walking in the chasm trying to find something for me to eat? Do I really mean that much to you?"
"You mean all that to me and more. Why did you agree to go camping with me in the first place? It's so unlike you."
"I can't tell you Judy. You wouldn't like it."
Judy doesn't seem to believe me and says, "Try me."
I tell her, "The truth is Clawhauser was going to pay me ten thousand to spend a month camping in the wilds with you." This, went badly as I predicted.
Judy yells, "YOU INSUFFERABLE FOX! YOU WENT CAMPING WITH ME BECAUSE CLAWHAUSER WAS GOING TO PAY YOU TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS? Silly me, I thought you came because you wanted to." She's clearly mad and displays that by punching me rather hard. I run around the room and hope she calms down. A voice of reason is heard in all this madness.
Ember says, "You two act like the fox and rabbit I used to live with though the fox was the one with the black collar around her neck."
Judy stops chasing me and looks at the kit. Judy looks intently at the kit's shirt. She says, "Nick, do you think this is possible? It looks rather real, doesn't it?"
I don't want to consider such things. We're just friends, good friends but still. I say, "Ember, you said something about living with a fox?"
Ember says, "I lived with my family that hated me because of my fur color. One rainy day during school after the kids were done abusing me in the playground. A white vixen came from the sky and took me away. She had a black collar around her neck, multiple blue markings throughout her body. The male rabbit did too. They got along most of the time. There's times when they fought. I could see lightning coursing through the collar during these times. They then spent the rest of the night together. They've put me in my own bed during those nights, usually I slept next to that vixen's comfortable fur. I lived with them until I was picked by a wolf recently and that wolf brought me here."
I say, "Judy, Ember's story gives me an idea. I want you to put the collar around me."
Judy says, "Why Nick? I trust you, you won't hurt me."
"It's myself that I don't trust. I would feel better if you did." I look to her with eyes clearly begging for her to put a collar around me.
She gives in, she says, "I don't like it. I can see how much you want this. I won't be using it ever though" with that she put the collar around my neck. I can feel safer now. She can stop me if I decide to try eating her.
The other two kits come home. Alim says, "Mister fox, you're not sleeping. You're actually awake!"
Minty says, "Where's that sheep from earlier?"
I say, "I just needed rest you see. I'm fine now. That sheep decided to leave."
Whitebreeze comes home next. She says, "Interesting fashion choice, Nick. I'm not one to judge." I can tell that she's trying really hard not to laugh. Her swift change in behavior does catch me off guard, I thought she was going to kill Judy before I gave in to exhaustion. "Everyone, out! Now! Don't come back for an hour. I don't care where you go."
She kicks us out of our house. Judy says, "It's been a while since we've bathed. Might as well do that now."
I guess Judy found an efficient way to spend the time while Whitebreeze is in our house doing something. We emerge from the baths completely clean. It feels nice to move about again. I guess Judy was right. I did need meat. It's been over an hour, we return home to find the house completely clean, there's no sign of blood anywhere. The bed is completely clean too. Whitebreeze says, "Aren't you going to say thank you?"
I'm kind of scared of her at this point. I say, "Thank you."
Food arrives at our house now. A wolf brings: A sheep, a rabbit kit, and tomatoes. Judy says, "Why are there tomatoes here?"
Whitebreeze says, "Since, I've decided to spare Ember. I've decided that if I'm going to keep a kit. I might as well have it eat properly which I'm sure is more than just carrots. You apparently, lack the courage to ask for different types of food, so I did it for you. Now, the sheep is for Nick. I'm going to watch him eat this one."
I say, "I'm not hungry right now."
Whitebreeze says, "Fine, we'll all eat first. Then, I'll deal with you." The rabbits eat tomatoes. Whitebreeze again the rabbit kit alive. Ember doesn't seem to care about that. Whitebreeze looks at me. "Now that we have eaten, it's your turn. Judy, I'm not sure how you did it earlier but do it again." Whitebreeze makes sure the sheep can't leave the room.
Live, conscious prey. I'm not sure if I can do it. Judy says, "Nick, you need to eat to keep your strength up. You've done it once. You can do it again."
I say, "But, it's moving. It's afraid. I can't, this is too hard."
Judy hears me and punches the sheep unconscious. She says, "Now, it's not moving."
I see this, I apprehensively move my mouth closer to the sheep. Judy strokes my head; her paws calm my nerves letting me know that it's okay. I bite off one of the legs. It's a guilty pleasure, one that I wish I hadn't discovered. The sheep tastes far better than anything from Zootopia.
Judy's paws comforting me every step of the way. I finish biting off all of the sheep's legs savoring every bite. I was really beginning to enjoy the meal. It was then the sheep woke up and emitting a startling cry. I have become so caught up in the moment, I forgot to kill prey before eating it. I have truly become a monster. To silence the sheep, I killed it of my own free will. Lost in a trance, I eagerly devour the sheep.
I look at my bloodstained claws and prepare to bolt out of the house. I realize what I did. I have become a beast and I enjoyed the feast.
I almost reach the door preparing to charge through it.
I see Nick kill the sheep then eagerly devour it whole. He then prepares to run out of the house. I can't have that. I used the collar he wanted me to place on him earlier, I said I never would earlier. I blame myself, I never killed the sheep. I didn't make sure it was dead before he began eating it. It just had to wake up and startle him.
It's painful to watch. He thinks he has done something wrong by eating the sheep. He didn't even feel the shocks when I first pressed the remote. I ended up shocking him unconscious. Whitebreeze says, "Well, at least he has eaten."
I say, "Can't you show some sympathy, can't you see what he's been through?"
"Tough, welcome to life."
Alim says, "Mister fox has eaten, is that why he was energetic today?"
Minty says, "Why did he try to run away after eating?"
Ember says, "Why does he have to eat?"
The kits are more than fine with the situation at hand than either Nick or me. They don't care that someone has been eaten. They don't understand. I ask Whitebreeze, "Is there any way we can get rid of all this blood?"
Whitebreeze says, "Certainly, I cleaned the entire house while you were out. Cleaning him won't be difficult. Prepare yourselves." Whitebreeze grabs a blue crystal in her pocket. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. A flood of water appears in our house drenching everything. Whitebreeze reaches for a red crystal in her pocket. The house becomes extremely hot, everything dries off. She uses the red crystal to produce a gigantic wave of air blowing all the scents away.
Our fur looks ridiculous. Whitebreeze says, "He's not going to happy about this you know." I ignore Whitebreeze's comment. I lift him on to the bed. I move on top of him. His fur after his impromptu bath feels even more comfortable than before. I sleep on top of him enjoying his scent.
Nick is mine and I won't let him run away.
A/N: Nick begging to be collared just felt right. Was Judy right in using it?
To the guest the reviewed earlier : There is no fish in Everlight or surrounding areas that they can reach.
Reviews influence what I decide to write for future chapters. Constructive criticism appreciated.
