Like a Wounded Animal

Once again, Roy was set to laying on that cold table for long moments, staring up at the invasive light overhead… the light that he could only half see. The rest, was still just darkness. He’d given up on his eye long before then, but there were sometimes when he wished it would just work again.

Contemplating this, he heard a door open, along with heavy footsteps. He still couldn’t really move because he was strapped down, so he couldn’t shift his head to see what was going on.

The next thing he new, there was a bar just under his chin, pressing down on him with all of it’s force.

The restraints elsewhere were loosed, but before he could use his own rebuilding strength, something grabbed him from his collar and pulled him down hard from behind, slamming him on his stomach into the cold ground. As always, a leash was attached to his collar, but this time, his legs were forced up behind him at the knees, and his arms brought back behind his body. His cuffs were all secured together in a hog tie, and he was lifted by that, his leash held with no give so that he couldn’t thrash his head.

Moments later, he was brought into the room in which the fox sat, in her cage. His hogtie was undone, and his leash was held with even stricter rigidity while the fox was secured at one end of the large cage. The other, the one Roy was closest to, was opened, and he was lead in, his collar also being linked to the bars at the top of the cage. The door was shut behind him, and the fox was freed.

“Are you feeling any better?” she asked, coming over to him and nuzzling against his neck. He couldn’t answer though, thanks to his muzzle. “Oh, right…” she smiled affectionately up at him, reaching back to undo the straps of his muzzle and throw it through the bars of the cage. “There, that’s better.”

Roy nodded.

“I asked you a question,” the fox began again eyeing him up and down where he sat.

Immediately hearing that and snapping into ‘obey mode’, Roy struggled to find a word. “I suppose.”

“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you.” She told him, nuzzling against him again. “Why would I want to hurt the father of my child?”

Hearing the soft purr of her voice, Roy began to physically calm. “What is your name?”

“’Fox’” She replied simply.

To this, Roy shook his head. “No, that wasn’t… wasn’t want I meant… outside of here, what was your name?” he asked

She thought about this for a moment, before her ears started to fold back against her hair and she lowered her head in shame. “I… I don’t remember.” She muttered. “I don’t remember… outside of here at all.”

Roy felt his heart go out to this woman before him. A lost casualty with no name, no memories to call her own. He could sympathize with that.

He reached down placing his nose under her chin and gently lifting her face.

“It’s alright. Don’t worry about it, it isn’t important.”

“Do you have a name?” She asked him back, after she had had another moment to recover. “Outside of here.”

The wolf nodded. “Roy.”

The fox smiled to him. “No wonder, that is a strong name.”

When he tilted his head in question, Fox’s eyes widened a bit. “It’s just that, any other of us would have probably died… You had already been beaten, and yet, you fought, even while everything you are was at risk, and you withstood all that pain.”

Roy looked away from this, and moved to lay down, his back facing her, head laying out outstretched arms as his legs curled at his side. “It’s nothing.”

She laid beside him, on him, her arms coming over his waist and her head laying upon them.

“You’re selling yourself short, Roy.”

“No, really, I’d been through worse pains than that.” He murmured.

“Such as?”

Roy let out a sigh. “I’ve killed… people who didn’t deserve to die.”

“You were a soldier?”

Roy nodded.

One of her hands came up and traveled along his sides to his shoulder, where the scar from his stab wound was almost painfully obvious. “That explains these…” Her head still resting on the dip of his side near his ribcage, she reached up to lightly caress his left eye, and the horrid scar over it. “This too.”

When he shied away from the contact of his eye, she shook her head, through rested her hand at his shoulder. Smiling, and wanting to get him into a better mood, she drew her fangs across his skin, causing a shudder effect to ripple through Roy’s body, as well as make him give out a small, whimpering hiss of laughter.

“My, you’re ticklish, aren’t you?” She asked, looking over at his scorn-filled face, his lips having twitched slightly.

“No.” Roy murmured, but found himself wriggling under the light caresses her claws gave his stomach moments later anyway.

“Yes you are!” she cried, chuckling herself as she got him onto his back and started to attack the sensitive area, being careful of the wounds.

“S-stop!” he whined, thrashing and laughing about on her soft blankets. “Please….”

“Nuh---uh. You look so happy like this,” she told him, as she kept on. She was right, of course. Though he was trying to get away, that didn’t change the fact that his tail was wagging fiercely under him, or that for the first time since he’d been reborn as a chimera that he had truly smiled.

“N-n-no!..... p-p-lea-a-ase…” he hissed, his laughter so hard that he could hardly breath, his chest falling hard every time he tried to take in a substantial breath.

Fox stopped then, not wanting to hurt him as she had said she hadn’t. He giggled for a few more minutes, trying to gain his breath.

When finally he fully had his breathing under control, she’d lain across his stomach, her head resting lightly on his chest. “Mn… you’re such a big softy, for a soldier.” She told him with a small smile on his face.

Roy gave her a half lidded gaze and a small smile.

“There you go.” She told him in a soft croon. “You look best when you’re smiling.” She added with a little grin.

As the wolf lay there, he felt fulfilled in some strange way. Somehow, this felt like all he could ever want.

But then, the side of him that was rational, the side that was human butted in. This wasn’t everything. He wanted his freedom back. He wanted to be home, in his bed, curled up with a woman like this… not here, not in a cage.

The smile dropped from his face.

“What’s wrong?” Fox asked, surprised by the sudden change in demeanor. She had just gotten him to be so happy, what was this?

“I want to go home.” Roy whimpered, rolling over onto his stomach again.

Fox came up beside him then, laying her head near his. Seeing the mournful look in his eyes, she nuzzled against him, wanting to make him feel better once again, wanting to see him smile.

Roy, however, didn’t want the attention, and moved away, going to the opposite end of the cage and curling up in a corner.

“Roy…” she whimpered. “It will be alright. You’ll get out of here, if you’re really that focused on going home.”

The wolf shook his head.

“Why not?”

“Because… if I leave here, I’ll be killed because of my own law. Mistress knew that when she did this to me.” He murmured.

“Have you no one that would protect you?”

Roy, very slowly, shook his head.

“You’ve got to have someone. Even one person.”

This time, thinking about it for a long moment, Roy sighed. “Well, there are a few people who would try, but I’d doubt they’d be able to hide something like this for long.”

Fox sighed, bringing one of her hands down to rest on her stomach. “There is no one that probably doesn’t think that I am dead now… I have no one to go to, should I ever leave here.” She looked from her stomach to him again. “I do not want him to have to grow in this place.”

“Neither would I.” Roy replied, reaching up to run a hand through her hair and over her ears. Suddenly, laying like this, he was reminded of Riza and Hayate, though he did not know why. She’d raised that dog up from nothing, maybe… No… he couldn’t ask her for that could he? Even if he could… even if he could get that poor little creature out of there, out of that life.

“I wish there was something I could do…”

“Why couldn’t there be?”

“For one, I don’t know if I could even get out of here, let alone get you out, or him once he’s born…” Roy confessed, running his hand still through her hair.

“Oh…” Fox told him, sighing, cuddling against his chest as if to comfort herself. She took in his scent. “Don’t worry about it.”

“But you just said-“

“Don’t worry about it, Roy. It doesn’t matter.”

“Fo-“

“Just don’t worry about it!” She hissed at him, looking up with angry eyes.

“I.. I didn’t mean…” Roy whimpered. That look, those eyes, they were just like Mistress’. He couldn’t stand it. He whimpered again.

“Oh, Roy…” Fox murmured, seeing the hurt, even scared look in his eyes. “It’s… it’s alright, I’m- I’m sorry…”

Roy flinched as she reached her hand up to caress his cheek, beginning to squirm under her to move away.

“Roy…”

But Roy had already moved to the opposite corner of the cage and had curled himself up there. He hated it here… even when he thought he had a chance to have things go his way, someone had to shoot him down. And this time, it wasn’t even the tyrant that lorded over him, it was his own mate. Why?