Todd ponders on going back. The truth is Vixey is long gone, as are his last two mates. Kits complicate females, they come into season and leave. Friendship with Copper was never this complicated. It was simple, pure.
Even the thought of Copper makes him hunger. A weird guttural urge, deep down. No vixen could ever replace the hound dog, none could replace him.
A bear couldn't even tear them apart. Nor a man pointing a gun at him, and then his best friend. Todd had wanted Copper to come with him, to escape into the wild and them have some weird bond.
Foxes came and went, but dogs seemed to have something better. A thing humans liked them for, Maybe foxes should like dogs for it too.
He finds himself moving through brush and around trees, towards a place they both once lived in, a place both of them grew up in. It's musky today, the scent of skunks and bobcats masking any prey.
Home has been a mess, Amos doesn't upkeep and Tweed barely has the energy herself. He forgets how long it's been. Four breeding seasons. Maybe more. If they can exist together, why can't him and Copper?
The dog's scent isn't hard to catch, a strong smell with a barny odor. Like chicken coops and cows. Todd tries to track him, mimicking how Copper once tracked him long ago,
Chief raises his head, somehow still around, grayer in the muzzle. His eyes are tired, but he turns and looks off, a direction Todd follows.
At length is Copper, staring off. Todd bounds, eager to speak to him again. The wind shifts around them and his scent is caught, bringing Copper to attention. He spins on his haunches, growling at first.
"Copper,"
Those long hackle hairs lower. Recognition flashes into Copper's eyes. "Todd?"
"Yes."
He's greeted with a heightened friendliness, like Copper and him have never parted. Like they're still friends. "I've been bored and lonely a lot, I've missed you!"
"Missed you too!"
"Wanna play? Chief can't since the accident, and there's not a dog anywhere around here."
Todd wants more than play, but will happily engage in play along. "S-ure thing. What game?"
"Oh I was thinking hide-and-seek? Like old times?"
"Like old times."
His wrinkles pull back into a smile, tail wagging wildly. "Gosh, I've never been so happy to see anyone before in my life!" He sounds like the dog Todd knew long ago. Like they never fell apart. Todd braces himself. After a few games...
He'll pounce.
He's never tried to hunt down and catch a hound dog before. Not like he is going to try now.
He hopes that Copper will be easier to catch than field mice and voles. Easily to dodge and elude than fox traps. More loving than Vixey ever was.
A better friend than an enemy.
Maybe more.
"Ready?"
He tucks his white-tipped tail out of sight, paws tingling eagerly. "Ready!"
Copper's dark eyes shut, he turns his back on Todd, floppy ears smacking himself in the face.
"One... Two... Three..."
Sprinting over the grass, and scurrying. He moves for trees to look over his options. There are a lot of things different now. Todd runs, silently vowing to play a lot of tricks he's learned.
Copper's not going to know what has hit him.