Hi all, I am sorry it has taken me this long to finish the story. Life has just got the better of me and time is something I rarely have now. This will most likely be my last big story, at least for the foreseeable future. I will try and come back, but I can't promise anything. Thank you all for your support through the years. This platform has been one of the best ways I've found when it comes to dealing with personal struggles.


"The truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for some time, but it ain't goin' away"

Elvis Presly


The air was still, Vixey had started to sob as she looked over to the group of kits that had just arrived. She knew she had to be strong for her kits. How do I put this in a way that does not make Copper out as the bad person. This is not a question she had prepared for.

"I would like to say..." Copper started before being interrupted by Fyre, still fuming at the situation around him.

"You do not get a say, not after what you did! YOU CAUSED ALL THIS!"

The young kit look over at the tan hound with an expression of pure anger. His lack of understanding as to how the events unfolded shrouded his judgment.

Skye and his siblings backed up and sat next to Chief, unsure of what was happening. Vixey might have been their mother,, but they have never seen her in such a distraught mood. Copper seemed to be a target at this point in time and Fyre was the one throwing the weighting around right now. He needed answers, wanting them more than anything else, not caring for anything else happening around them.

All he wanted at this point in time was a straight answer from his mother. Vixey's sobbing vanished at this point. She had to compose herself, she would have to defuse the situation as Copper was now shaken by the sudden aggression toward him from a kit he had help bring up almost as if that kit was his own flesh and blood.

"Fyre, look at me," Tod said gently, trying to give his son an answer as Vixey composed herself. The young kit swiveled his ear before turning his head to face the older fox calling him. Although Fyre had already deduced that that must have been his father, he had no proof.

"If you are my father, tell me how you died. I've been told too many stories to know what is real."

Taken a bit aback he looked up at Copper, the hound stared right back at his eyes, pleading with his friend's soul to tell the young kit the truth. Skye looked over at brother and then to her mother, waiting for the answer to be confirmed, but the vixen did not respond, her gaze locked on the figure of her lover.

"I fell off a cliff saving Copper's life," Tod said.

"Then why did I have to hear from a porcupine that he was chasing you and mom?" Fyre enquired as he stood up and faced the rest of his small body to face his father.

Copper looked over to his friend, a puzzled expression on his face, followed by Vixey and Chief. The only porcupine they know of is the one that stuck Fyre by the waterfall.

"When I was let go in the sanctuary, I had never lived outside in the woods before. I was lost and confused. I then met a porcupine that kindly let me spend a night with him. The next day I met your mother and she showed me how to survive"

"How does that explain why uncle Copper was chasing you?" Fyre piped up as he sat down.

"Their master was a hunter and he used to hunt me as he always used to. Copper tried to distract his master because we used to be friends. Chief didn't stop, until he was hit by a train and became injured. Copper thought I was the one that hurt him so he chased me because he was angry. That's when I was let go in the woods."

"But you were both friends, why did he chase you in the first place?"

"Forever is a long, long time, and time has a way of changing things."

Fyre had heard this statement himself a few times when Big Mama would try and console him, but he never really understood it. To him, he has been rolling through the motions as he never really saw anything change, he was always with the same group of kits in the same environment.

As the young kit sat there, he looked over at the old hound who used to tell him that you can't always run from your past. Fyre knew that hunting is a thing most dogs in the area did, but never put two and two together. Now though, he understood fully. His fore legs started trembling and he looked back at his fathers figure.

"What is going to happen to you now? Are you just going to leave us here again?" the young kit piped up.

"I do not know. I never thought I would get back in the first place." he said as he looked over to the group of young kits and hounds, "but I am here now, and I've seen everything. My, my, I didn't even greet you guys." as he started pacing slowly towards his young ones.

They all waited for one of them to make the first move, and to their surprise, Tod was the first of them to walk towards the older fox approaching them. As his father reached him, his body sank a little lower as the older fox looked down at him. "I can see why you were named after me." Tod said as he placed his head down to nuzzle the kit below him.

The rest of the kits had no more restraints as they all ran up and overpowered the much bigger fox. They jumped up all over him, all wanting to be recognized by Tod. While most of them were busy showing affection to their long lost father, Fyre was still sitting, but now facing the Bloodhound ahead of him.

He slowly padded over with his ears tucked down, feeling bad about what he had accused the hound of doing something so sinister. He stood up and slowly approached Copper and rubbed himself against the younger hound. "I'm sorry Uncle Copper," was all the young kit could muster before sobbing deeply.

Copped did not know how to react, but pulled the kit into him and helped the embrace. As he looked over at Vixey, he could see that she was finally at peace with her kits. They all had a chance to meet their father, even if it was only for a few moments.

"Okay little ones, let your father up," Vixey said as she could see Tod was completely overwhelmed. They all got off and ran straight to their mother, allowing Tod to slowly get up as he glanced over at his childhood friend holding one of his kits. He slowly made his way over to the pair, completely unaware of the approaching fox.

"How is your leg feeling?" Tod asked as he reached Copper, causing the tan hound to get a slight fright as he was pulled out of his embrace with the young kit. Looking up, his only response was, "It will get better." With most of the bleeding stopped, it looked like it might take a few weeks to heal properly.

Fyre heard the voice from behind him. He turned to see his father at eye level with him, his mind told him he should not acknowledge him, but his heart needed this more than he could understand. Instinctually he stood up to embrace his father, and landed right up against the older foxes muzzle.

"I'm sorry," is all that his mouth could form before he broke into a full hearted sob. His mind had given up on fighting him as his body took over. Tod said nothing, only embracing the kit more. It was not his fault, he just didn't know how to process all this information.

As the embrace came to an end, Tod stood up and walked over to his mate and leaned in for another embrace as Vixey did the same, only for her body to pass right through his soul. The lack of warmth indicated something was going to happen. "What's happening?" Vixey asked as her mate started to glow again, getting brighter by the second.

"I guess my time here is up," Tod said as he looked bewilderedly as his mate. Although his time back was short, it was enough to help remedy any situation the kits had. As he walked to the center of the group, he looked at everyone as his glow was now becoming almost too bright. "I love you all" he said as his feet started disappearing and before long, his image was gone.