1-6
The Good

Ominous gray clouds hung over Gregg's head as he threw a bag of trash into the dump, the frigid ocean wind whipping across his face like razor blades whizzing through the air. The fox whipped his hands clean and leaned against the old tin can that he called his place of work. It was an ancient breakfast diner that Angus and himself worked at, and although they were both forced to wear those cliché itchy diner outfits, it was better than being homeless. He checked something off his server notepad and stuck his pen through the hole in his ear as he went back inside.

Gregg was slapped in the face with the thick atmosphere of the diner like he'd been shot by a tortilla launched out of a cannon. 50s music blared from an old jukebox as the smell of stale pancakes and greasy bacon flowed through the building like piss in a river. Angus was in the kitchen, attempting to make miracles with what little he had for the last few customers left in the store.

"Hey Cap'n, how's the ship?" He asked as he rustled the bear's chief hat.

"Caught a good tailwind." Angus nodded back as he flipped a pancake while the fox squeezed by him and entered his boss's office. It was a horrifyingly pitch black that was illuminated only by the PC his boss was doing god knows what on.

"Mr. Hendrix?" He asked. Hendrix held up a finger as he clicked on something before he looked up at his employee.

"Greggy, did you do what I asked?" He replied. Gregg didn't like the pet name he'd come up with, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

"I took the trash out, cleaned the dishes, swept, and cleaned off the tables." The lion nodded as he brushed his hair.

"Did you clean the bathroom as well?" The fox had a split-second traumatic flashback when he said that.

"I'll never forget it!" He answered in a jarringly cheery tone.

"Good, you can go, and tell your friend he can leave once he's done." Gregg grinned with glee and rushed into the break room before setting the world record for the fastest time changing into another set of clothes. He threw on his old black leather jacket and rushed back into the kitchen, where his soon-to-be husband was packing some food into a styrofoam container.

"Alright Cap't, boss says we're off the clock." He explained.

"Alright, let me finish up he..." The bear's face turned a bright red as he gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I'll be out back." Gregg smiled as approached the back door before stopping and spinning around to face the bear.

"Hey Gregg?" The flush bear asked.

"Yeah?" His fiance replied.

"I love you." Now it was Gregg's turn to be flustered, his face turning bright red as he smiled back.

"I love you too." The fox said before leaving. and approached the end of the dock and sat down on its edge. Gregg's feet almost caressed the water's edge as he looked down at the sea and attempted to pierce through its murky facade and see the bottom. The door behind him creaked open and out came Angus, who was now wearing his normal outfit and holding 2 styrofoam takeout boxes with silverware on top. He sat down next to the fox and handed one to him.

"I made us some food." He said while they opened up his box. Inside were 2 pancakes covered in syrup, some scrambled eggs and 2 delicious looking slices of bacon.

"Oh my God, thank you so much!" He exclaimed as he gave the big bear an even bigger hug. He really had to reach to wrap his arms around his fiance.

"It's nothing." He said as he wrapped an arm around the little fox. Both boys pulled away and began to dig into their food. Angus ate slowly while Gregg scarfed his down like a starving wolf. On the other side of the port you could see a line of cranes hard at work lifting crates filled with all kinds of goods, with dock workers running around like ants that were bringing food back to the colony. The fox found it to be weirdly calming, like watching one of those timelapse videos on youtube. The two silently sat together, watching the scene for what felt like hours. Suddenly Gregg's butt began to vibrate and play the marimba. He quickly pulled his phone out of his back pocket and read who was calling.

"It's Mae!" He exclaimed as he quickly accepted it.

"Hi Mae!" The cheerful boy answered.

"Hey Gregg, what's up?" She asked.

"Hanging with Angus, he made us breakfast."

"At noon?"

"We're wild like that." He chuckled while turning on speakerphone mode and splitting the phone between him and his fiance.

"Hi Mae." Angus addressed the cat.

"Sup big guy?" She greeted Angus.

"We're well." He replied. It was good to hear his old friend's voice again, even if it was over the phone.

"That's awesome." The cat let out a nervous cough before she continued. "There's something important I need to tell you guys. Is this a good time?"

"Sure." Gregg responded.

"This isn't a joke, I'm being serious when I say this."

"Are you OK?" Angus asked cautiously.

"Tell us!" His fiance shouted impatiently.

"Casey is alive." Gregg and Angus were quiet, dead quiet. They looked at each other, eyes wide with disbelief. "You still there?" She asked.

"Are you sure?" Angus asked skeptically.

"What?" Gregg's tone was flooded by confusion and curiosity, and both of them leaned in closer to listen.

"Casey is alive, I'm right with him actually."

"Well put him on!" Gregg eagerly responded, the excitement in his voice being swapped out for anxiety. Rustling sounds came through the microphone before someone spoke up.

"Hey Gregg, Angus." Their voice was tired and scratchy, yet recognisably Casey's.

"Casey? Is that you?" The fox's dinner plate eyes began to fill with tears while Angus instinctively placed his hand onto his shoulder.

"Yeah." Gregg sobbed as tears of joy streamed down his cheeks while Angus wrapped his arm around the fox.

"Oh my god, it's you." His face was jovial, his smile so wide it nearly ripped his face in half.

"Yeah, It's me." Casey sounded like he was on the verge of tears as well.

"It- oh my god… I missed you so much! W-what happened to you?" The cat let out a soft sigh.

"It's complicated, honestly I don't really understand either." He explained.

"Alright, Where are you right now?"

"Mae's house." The cat said.

"Oh- OK. We'll be there tomorrow."

"Wait-" Angus interjected.

"Wait, hold on. Where would we meet?" Mae spoke up.

"The Party Barn! How's that?" Gregg answered.

"Hold on-" The bear's words rung out yet had no effect on the now overjoyed fox

"Uh sure? How does Noon sound?" She accepted in a cautious voice.

"Yeah, that's perfect! I'll see you soon! Bye!" Gregg hung the phone up and shot up excitedly, unintentionally launching what was left of his food into the sea. He quickly got back down to catch it but it was too late, for it was floating on the water's surface, now nothing but fish feed.

"Oh no!" He cried out as he reached for the pancakes. "I'm sorry Angus." He apologized as he stood up.

"It's fine, just hold on. We can't just leave, we have bills to pay." Angus explained while his fiance ran back to the door.

"I can take PTO!" Gregg replied as he swung the door open.

"Gregg!" The fox stopped in his tracks and looked back.

"We can't afford to do that. We each have 2 jobs, are we going to take PTO for all of them?"

"I know but, like, Casey should be dead! But you heard that call, that's him and he's alive. I'm going either way, if you want to stay you can." And with that he rushed inside the old diner.

"Well if you're going, so am I." The bear sighed as he packed his food up and followed him inside.

The Bad

Bea mindlessly stared out the window of her secretary's office, back slouched with mouth slightly agape and eyes glazed over. The sky was dark and cloudy, the wind shook the treeline while rain clattered against the windows. Meanwhile inside was brightly lit by soul sucking lights that drained the crocodile of all her vitality. The sound of rain clattering against the roof and rolling down the windows felt soothing for her in a way she couldn't really describe.

"Miss. Santello!" A man suddenly appeared in front of her desk. She swiftly turned her tiny swivel chair to face him, her back as straight as a pencil as a wide smile plastered on her face. He was a deer in his mid 40s with a suit and tie, and was holding an empty box in his arms.

"How are you? It's nice listening to the rain isn't it?" Her boss asked in a faux pas friendly tone as she adjusted her bargain bin suit.

"Yeah, it's nice." She replied through a fake smile. She found it hard to hide her disdain for him, he wasn't an asshole, he was just so corporate in every aspect of his life that it was toxic to everything around him. If you dunked him in a lake it would be irradiated.

"Oh good, good… You know, that rain reminds me of a funny story when I was a kid." Bea had to force herself not to roll her eyes, if she had a nickel for every time that something reminded him of a 'funny story' then he'd be her secretary.

"One time me and my dad were doing some roofing, we were up there because he wanted to teach me how to do that if I ever did need to myself." Bea couldn't help but watch the man gesture with his hands rather than listen to his story, it was more entertaining and straightforward than anything he could ever come up with. "But anyways, it had rained the night before and everything was slippery and he ended up falling off the roof. But we had this huge trampoline in the backyard and he landed on it and bounced off and landed on his butt!" He began to chuckle.

"That's very funny, sir." She nodded.

"Yeah, it is. But what about your dad, how's he doing?" There was a long pause, Bea's smile now turning angry, eyes piercing his soul like javelins.

"Oh right sorry, my bad." He awkwardly said as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Is it that hard to remember my dad killed himself? Is it?" Her tone was frigid as ice.

"Right, sorry." The deer weakly apologized. Bea took it back, he was an asshole. "Anyways, you know… I've always appreciated you as a secretary, I think that you've treated me well and I like to think that I've done the same with you. But you know how things are with the economy right now and unfortunately we've been forced to enact some layoffs, and well…"

"I've been fired?" She finished, fake smile fading.

"Laid off, yes. This wasn't my decision, if I could have chosen I would have-"

"It's fine." They both paused, with the deer letting out an awkward cough before continuing.

"Alright then, I'll give you the rest of the night to pack up. It's been good working with you." There was a long and awkward pause as he stood there.

"Go on?" She pushed.

"Well I just thought you'd say that it's been good working with me?" He asked.

"No, actually, it certainly has not been good working with you." The deer nodded before he placed the box onto her desk and awkwardly shuffled into his office as he waved her goodbye. Bea sighed and leaned back into her chair, processing what happened. She took one last look over her desk: There was a family photo, her personal laptop, and some miscellaneous papers and other items. She threw all of it into the box her ex-boss had given her before walking out with it.

The rain was powerful enough to pummel a bodybuilder to death, or at least that's what Bea thought in the back of her mind as she stood against the wall of the building. She was safe underneath the overhang of the building for the time being as looking down at the box filled with her stuff. Placed on top of all of her things was a spinning pen holder that held several pens and other office supplies inside of it. It had been a birthday gift from her former boss, even then it felt like a gag gift. All she could think about was his stupid fucking face as he told her she was "laid off", and his dismissive attitude when she told him for the 10th god damn time about what happened to her father because he couldn't be bothered to remember.

The crocodile softly put her box down and pulled her boss's gift out and held it in her hand. She felt something rise up from her gut and move its way up to her brain. It was rage, a pure unadulterated rage at that rat bastard who'd sacrificed her job. She suddenly threw the pen holder against the wall and screamed louder than she ever thought she could.

"FUCK YOU!" Bea wailed as she kicked it as hard as she could, launching it across the parking lot and bouncing it off the wheel of someone's fancy Mercedes, and somehow denting the rim. Pens were launched all across the parking lot as she felt the gates of hell open up in her stomach. She stood there frozen, like a deer in headlights. For as brash and destructive as it was, she didn't feel any less angry, only that she could hold off the next outburst for a little while longer. She decided that she'd rather get soaked than chewed out by whoever decided to investigate, so she covered the box with her jacket and rushed with it through the rain.

If she'd been paying more attention to the ground beneath her she would have noticed the pen that had slid directly beneath her foot. She slipped on it and sent all of her belongings into the stratosphere as she crashed onto her back and hit her head hard on the concrete. Darkness found her the moment she landed, and she lie there in the rain unconscious for nearly a full minute before she regained consciousness.

When she came to she thought she was going to puke, lying there on the ground with a splitting headache and blurry vision. She tried to stand but her body was woozy, as if she was drunk. At first she didn't remember what happened, but soon it came back to her and she began to panic as she realized that all of her belongings were getting soaked. The girl scrambled to collect her belongings and stuff them into the box before it was too late. Once she was sure she had everything she picked the box up and stumbled to her car, only for the bottom of the box to collapse from the weight. The crocodile groaned as she threw the box to the side and pressed what she could onto her chest and rushed to her car, careful not to slip on another pen.

Her mom's old Saturn was somehow still chugging along for god knows how long, and Bea couldn't be more grateful for it. The crocodile unlocked the door and threw her shit inside, then stumbled back outside to grab the rest of it. The old car had been transformed into Bea's new home, the back seats were now a bed and every other inch of space was used as storage, each little object packed with incredible attention to detail. She threw what was left into the back and crawled inside, mind and body aching as she stripped her sopping wet clothes off and threw them onto the ground.

Her gaze drifted onto the miserable pile of paper mache she'd brought inside and noticed something that adorned it like a crown, her family photo. She reached an arm out and slid the frame up the bed and onto her chest. It was a picture of 16th birthday, one where the innocent and spritely crocodile had both parents under each arm and a beaming grin on her face while an oversized 'My Chemical Romance'' t-shirt loosely lay on her chest. Her parents had taken her and Jackie to their first concert, back when her mother didn't have to be stuck inside a hospital to live, and when her father was stable enough to run the Ol' Pickaxe.

Bea placed the photo against her chest and shut her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time her smile had been so wide, or when she had been so optimistic about life. She never wanted to forget that day. The poor girl wrapped her blanket around her damp form and almost immediately drifted off to sleep, her mind blocking out the soft rumbling of her phone in her suit pocket.

The Ugly

Molly was cradled like a baby in the warm embrace of her bed, awash in a deep, dreamless sleep. The officer was at ease, she felt as if a guardian angel was watching over her as she slept. At some point though, she would have to get up, and her body decided it to be sooner rather than later. As much as she wished she could stay in bed and sleep through the day, she couldn't do that, she had to go out there and do something. Her eyes slowly opened to the blurry world around her as she groaned and attempted to stretch, but for some reason her limbs were stopped by what felt like wooden bars. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked down, and there they were: wooden bars. In fact, the entire bed was surrounded by them, and they were so close to her that she barely even fit inside of the cage they had created. Then it hit her, she was in a crib. No wonder she was curled up like a baby.

She groggily looked around in confusion, wondering just what the hell had happened. She was in what looked like a newborn baby's room, the walls were painted a light pink and big white wooden letters were nailed to it to spell the name "Amy". Molly didn't remember coming in to sleep here, although to be fair she didn't remember too much after the search had concluded, other than having the day off and there being a lot of yelling. A tiny pink blanket was wrapped around her, and an old teddy bear had been used as a pillow while she slept. She sluggishly grabbed the edge of the crib and hoisted her leg up in an attempt to scale its walls, but unfortunately for her it was a rocking crib and it jarringly rocked to the side from her weight. She panicked and mistakenly leaned into the crib's tilt and caused the whole thing to tip over and throw her onto the ground.

The cat yelped as she crashed face first into the floor, the tiny crib crashing into her back. Molly somberly groaned while she threw the crib off of her and got to her feet. The entire room was covered in a thick blanket of dust that hadn't been disturbed in god knows how long, with a fair amount of it now floating in the air due to the stunt she just pulled. She lifted the crib back into place and walked up to the small desk drawer that sat next to it. Several items lay on it: A pink lamp, an old ring, a picture of her and her late husband taken while she was expecting, a poem Candy had written for Amy put in a frame, with a twin that had the words "Amy's birth certificate" embroidered on it. It lay empty.

One item stood out however, a small silver key that unlike everything else was dust-free. She grabbed it and walked to the door, not looking back as she shut it behind her and made sure to lock it tight. She walked through the empty hallway that led to her room. When she entered she quickly showered and changed into new clothes before continuing her day. Breakfast was simple, some pre-packaged scrambled eggs with a pop tart and a glass of orange juice. Sun beamed through the windows as she ate her food to the tune of the morning news. As she approached the front door she noticed a note that had been slid under the door.

'"Moore had me bring your car over to you, you left it at the station. -Stoddard." Underneath the note was her car key.

'I'll have to thank him for that.' Molly thought as she grabbed her key and went outside. Her car was parked in the driveway, it was an old 80s era Lexus with a bright yellow paint job. She'd bought it after everything went down, it was a car she'd been dreaming about getting since she was 14, paint job and all. Owning it didn't seem to make her feel any better these days, however. She unlocked the car and crawled into the driver's seat and turned the key, yet the car didn't make a sound. She turned it again, nothing. The car battery must have been drained. That fucking idiot left the car running, didn't he?

Something that had been hiding within her suddenly boiled to the surface in full force, and she bashed the steering wheel with her fist, causing the car to honk. She repeatedly slammed her fist against the horn with all her might, her face contorted in anger.

"Why can't anything work in this fucking town!" She chanted with every slam of her fist. The cat eventually stopped, her anger now replaced with an overwhelming sadness, and she began to cry. Her head collapsed onto the steering wheel as she let it all out, horn blaring. Just a moment later she lifted her head up, feeling that part of the weight that dwelled on her mind had been lifted, and she whipped the tears away.

"I'll just call a mechanic." She sighed while she shrugged. Suddenly 3 sharp knocks on the car's window rang out, and she tilted her head to the side to see who it was.

End

Hey guess what? 2 things:

1: I'm gonna start posting this fic onto Wattpad (and also AO3)

2: Someone is gonna be drawing this fic's rendition of Casey for the 100 views mark we just hit, props!

Oh and guess what? I know that there's 15ish dudes who are reading this fic consistently yet aren't following, so please be sure to do that! Be sure to follow if you like the story, and if you don't then leave a review saying why! Have a great day/night!