Twinkle's Story: Chapter 41

*Hey guys. I kinda (kinda) feel less like a fail after hearing the news. But I'm scared for my first day of working at camp (especially in the group I got- why me idek).*
*I was on the website called Oatmeal something something for a few hours today. XD*
*I have so many-- wait, hold on. There's a commercial about people singing about buffering (idek bruh o-o). Never mind. I have so many (traditional) drawings that I wanna show you guys. But the catch is I don't have a scanner, my computer's basically broken, and my phone's picture quality isn't that great. Help.*
*Wh-Why am I typing about my life here? idek.*
*Oh wait, this is a chapter post. (Totally knew that.)*
*The two "Anonymous POV"s in this chapter are different, obviously. The one in the end is easy to guess, but the first one is impossible (I think). That character never actually appears... for now. Much, much later. And yes, I intentionally made them in third-person view rather than first-person view. >:D*
*This chapter (hopefully) is more exciting and intense and "feels" than last chapter.*
*Poor characters. :'(*
*Now read! >:O*
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ANONYMOUS POV

The young boy frantically ran through the maze of hallways, one after the other after the other. Tears soaked either side of his face, but he kept on running. He had to. He had to run.

Brother, where are you? You can't leave yet, you can't! I have to see you before you go! Please don't go!

The boy still running in circles, remembers a conversation he had with some business-looking adults a few days ago.  He can't stop running; he has nowhere else to go. Not after today.

He remembers the conversation he had with the adults in their conservative suits- black, white; expressionless. He wanted to know why, but they provided no answers.

"Why am I not being tested with him?" he asked.

"Why is my younger brother being a subject, and not me?" he asked.

"Why are you guys turning him into something he's not?" he asked.

"Why are you changing him into something he's not?" he asked.

"Why are you making them lose their humanity?" he asked.

"Why are you turning them all into animals?" he asked.

"Where are you taking them?" he asked.

"Would I be able to see him again?" he asked.

"Is he gonna remember us?" he asked.

"Why are you forcing them to forget everything they know?" he asked.

"Why are you feeding them lies about their pasts once they reach there?" he asked.

"How can you possibly live with yourself?" he asked.

The boy wiped the right side of his face with the back of his hand. He could practically sense his brother, only a toddler, desperately crying out to him. He didn't even know anything. He didn't know anything at all.

His brother was a subject, one of many. They were selected by all those official people, scientists and all types of people involved in the government, and they were being put into an experiment. The experiment was to determine if humanity could be preserved that way. It didn't make sense though- they created a world for the experiment to take place in where humans turned into animals. But they did it, anyways. Since they were subjects, like his brother, who were like "beta testers", the adults kept on referring to the subjects as the Others. Well, what else could they be called? They were no longer humans yet not exactly foxes, the animal they chose for the experiment. Once there, the Others would no longer be able to remember anything about their lives when they were still humans. Memories of their family, friends, home, who they used to be... all completely gone. Every single memory would be faded away. They didn't even know they used to be humans.

Used to, that is.

His brother, so young and innocent, was going to be taken away. He couldn't live with that. His life depended on him taking care for his little brother. They needed each other. They only had each other.

And soon his own brother, the only person he had left, would leave and forget him. Every trace of their lives together completely vanished. With not a single trace left.

The boy, now tired from running, bends over with his hands nearly on top of his knees. He sniffs and wipes his tear-stained eyes on the back of his hand.

"I know you won't be able to remember me, and I'm not exactly sure how long you'll be gone. But despite that, I know you'll come back some day. No matter how long, I'll remember you always. I'll be waiting for you until you come back."

The boy lowers his voice to be barely audible. He knows his brother can't hear him anymore, but he says it anyways.

"We've been through a lot together. We can handle whatever life throws our way. Just remember that I will always remember you. I love you, Danny."

When he speaks his brother's name, he hugs his legs. He pushes his dark-brown-nearly-black shaggy hair out of his face and tucks it behind his ears.

Only then does he fall apart.

"DANNY," he shrieks, "COME BACK, COME BACK!"

Danny didn't come back.

Months passed, years passed, decades passed.

A century passed.

They were never reunited.

Even though the brothers both died, he wouldn't stop waiting.

He would never stop waiting.

Because he knew that one day, they would be reunited.

No matter what.


ARDERE

Instinct told me to go search for the other ones with Elemental Powers. I knew I couldn't shake this one off. I have to find the rest of them.

I know we're technically enemies. They're supposedly all foxes, while I'm merely just a wolf pup.

But I don't care about that. I have to warn them. People are going after them, no us, to exterminate us. They have to be warned! For their sake, for my sake.

Once night falls, I plan to sneak out of wolf territory and enter fox territory in search of the foxes with the Elemental Powers.

I'm sorry, Autumn, but I've got to leave. I'll be back soon, and I'll play with you later. I promise.


TWINKLE

"Why is the fox government coming to the East City, mommy? They don't bother to visit here and care about us."

"Don't act like that! Be polite when they arrive!"

"Did I do something wrong, mommy?"

"No, you did nothing wrong, sweetie."

"Then why do they look so mad and scary?"

"They are very busy people. Maybe a prisoner escaped?"

I slowly close my eyes again, blocking out the commotion of people's conversations in the far distance.

The next time I open my eyes, a ray of sunlight hits me in the face. I flinch and use my right paw to shield my eyes from the sun. Since that isn't too successful, I adjust my position from lying down on my back to sitting up. I take a long breath. Ah, that feels better.

I hold back a giggle as I hear Duke stumble onto the hard ground. Well, that's what he gets for using me as a pillow... I giggle.

Duke pats his pants and stands up. "G-Good morning to you, too," he says right before he yawns. He rubs the side on top of his head, the part of his body that had the most impact as it suddenly crashed onto the ground.

"Well, you should've at least been more aware in your surroundings," I say as I stand up.

"Unlike you, I was sleeping!" Duke says with a hint of stubbornness in his voice.

Wow, he's acting completely different from yesterday, let alone last night. Was that just Fierdan communicating through Duke? He sounded years older last night compared to right now. Definitely more mature than right now, anyways.

I roll my eyes and sigh as I hear Duke complain, "Geez Twinkle, that hurt! You could've at least told me you were gonna sit up!"

My reply is just a single blink at him.

Am I sure this dude is the same dude as last night? Because it surely doesn't sound that way.

I decide to ask this Duke here who won't stop fussing over hitting his head on the ground a question. "Okay Duke, do you remember anything from last night? Anything at all?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I do!"

Since I'm not sure if Duke can remember, I say, "Then tell me what you remember."

Duke stretches his arms above his head and says, "Well, uh, let's see..."

"It's okay if you don't remember."

"N-No, I do!"

"Then what happened?"

"Well, we slept last night. Do you mean what we did last afternoon?"

I feel my cheeks heating up in embarrassment. "Y-Yeah, I meant that. Duh!"

Duke says with a straight face, "I was being awesome and yelling at this annoying kid because, he well, annoyed me. But then you forcefully dragged me into this abandoned alley. L-Like a place where harassers take their victims or something. So then we were there and crying for no reason. Then the shoulders of our jackets became too wet in tears, so we took our jackets off. And then we made out, of course."

When he says "of course", I punch him square in the face. "You're completely off, you dimwit!" I yell at him.

Duke just shakes his head. "No, I'm pretty sure that's what happened. We m--"

I interrupt him. "We didn't 'make out', stupid!"

Duke gives me a perplexed look. "I'm pretty sure--"

I punch him in the face again, but with a softer punch. I don't want to damage his beautiful face.

What the heck...

I decide to explain to Duke what really happened, "You suddenly kissed me, and then I kissed you back. Then we couldn't stop kissing each other, and then we felt each other's heartbeats, and then we fell asleep. I swear, you better--"

"Haha, I was sleeping! I'm just kidding with you," Duke says with a smile on his face.

I feel my face getting even hotter. "It wasn't funny," I say stubbornly. My face feels like it's made up of ice-flames when Duke quickly kisses my cheek.

When he steps back, he has a smirk on his face. "What can I say? I'm a teenage boy after all." He shrugs.

My eyes widen and my ears perk up as I hear a voice announce something in the distance.

This isn't the time for Duke to be joking around like a fool. Oh gosh...

"They have arrived! They have arrived in the East City!" I hear someone announce.

My heart skips a beat as I see a tall fox in a business suit  walk close to the alley.

"They're here," I hear him whisper into his walkie-talkie.

I hear footsteps heading toward Duke and me. H-How did they know where to find us?!

The next thing I remember seeing are two male foxes in business suits, both with a pistol in one paw and a set of pawcuffs in the other.

Only then does Duke act somewhat like he did yesterday.

When one closes in on me from behind, Duke screeches, "DON'T YOU EVEN DARE LAY A FINGER ON HER! DO IT AND I'LL BURN YOUR FREAKING PAW OFF! SHE'S ONLY MINE!"

The tips of Duke's fur have fiery sparks on them. This time, however, no fiery wings shoot out.

He takes a deep breath and says in a much calmer voice, "Arrest me, for I deserve it. But please, don't hurt Twinkle. She's the only one I truly loved."

The fire from within him dies out as he cooperatively allows the guy in front of him to put pawcuffs on him.

A few seconds pass, and I stand still anxiously waiting for Duke to suddenly roundhouse kick the two guys.

But he doesn't.

In fact, Duke is allowing them to take him away.

They're gonna do something bad to him, I'm sure of it...

I shriek, "DUKE, DON'T GO! THEY'RE BAD, BAD PEOPLE! THEY'RE GONNA KILL YOU! ESCAPE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"

Wait, how did I know that they came here to kill us?!

I swear I hear Duke's voice in the raging wind.

"Maybe I want to die."


ANONYMOUS POV

Good, good. Die so this curse can finally end.

A fox, though he has brown and white fur, is covered in black goop. He sits alone in the black goop, completely isolated from the world. He's actually been isolated for nearly his entire life.

No one would dare to open up to him- fear of being his next victim spread throughout everyone. Which made him a very isolated person.

Suddenly the lonely fox receives an electric shock internally. It sends jolts to all his organs in his body, including the less important ones. The fox has learned to hold in his cry of pure terror. Instead, he just gulps down air.

His heart, lungs, and brain feel all compressed inside. For the intense pressure to ease off, he admits defeat by allowing those organs to "pop" and turn black.

"Oh Fierdan, Fierdan. Stop turning soft," an eerie voice murmurs as the voice's owner cradles his head with two ghostly translucent paws between the layer of fur, skin, and fat; and bone. The layer of soul, of identity, of conscience is being cradled. The other layers don't matter; only this layer matters.

"Revenge is all you want, my sweet. Your heart will fade to black, and you'll know your real motives. Seek vengeance. Kill anyone until you get your way. Hate, hate the world!"

Since he's such an isolated person, not a single soul has been around him in this state.

"NO, SOULLESS, NO! I'VE DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE ALREADY! I GOT MY REVENGE!"

The voice laughs wickedly. "No, it's never enough. Killing everything is your motive. Kill everyone until it's just you and me."

Then the most powerful explosion erupts in his chest and head. Only then does he let out that petrified shriek, one that sounds like a person's insides about to explode while being electrocuted.

Not a single other soul has heard him, even after so many years.

He's trapped in his own hell, one he made himself.

And that's why nobody else hears the screams. The screams that have turned a weak, heartbroken boy into a murderous demon.

Once the pain subsides, the fox now has the other voice and their "body" combined with his own. He looks up, his brown eyes fading into a dark purple.

"I am Fierdan," he snarls, "Welcome to my hell."