Survive the Flames | VelvetFrost

Part 4

Ant's POV

"Ant? Red? You're alive?"

"Fundy?"

Fundy stared back at them with surprise apparent in his eyes, "I thought I heard you but I wasn't sure if it was actually you, I'm so happy you're alive," he said.

"We thought you died too, but we were hoping for the best," Ant said with joy in his voice.

"What happened?" Red asked.

Fundy looked down to his feet, "some of us were able to escape, but most people are missing, including the minors so we don't know exactly what happened here, but our best guess is that the fire spread over here."

"The minors are missing? How?" Red asked incredulously.

Fundy looked back up and said, "I already said they went missing, but we don't think they died because there were no dead bodies here when we checked four days ago."

"How could you let this happen?" Asked Red, starting to get angry.

Fundy sighed, and Ant realized that there were tear tracks on his fur and the skin underneath. Reaching out, he pulled Fundy into a hug. Before telling Red not to grill Fundy so hard.

"Where have you been staying?" Ant asked, breaking the tension.

Fundy's lips tilted up a little as he spoke, "We set up a new campsite near the redwoods."

"We?" Asked Ant with a certain franticness thickly lacing his voice. "Who's left?"

Fundy paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully before simply saying, "Niki, Wilbur, and Sam."

Pain filled Ant's eyes, and he muttered under his breath, "Tommy, Tubbo, Puffy, Schlatt, Quackity, and Foolish, six people missing."

"Did you not try to save them?" Spoke Red, with a fury, "they matter too!"

"We did!" Fundy yelled back, "they were nowhere to be found and we needed a new home base for them to come home to."

"Red, please calm down," Ant said comparatively quietly, "Fundy too."

Realizing that yelling wasn't going to help, they both calmed down though Red clearly had more steam that he needed to burn off.

"Fundy," addressed Ant, with a certain insistent layer to his voice, "can you show us to the new camp?"

Fundy nodded before dashing off into the woods. Ant pounced after him, darting through the trees, his tail dancing behind him. Ant heard Red sigh, abruptly and tersely, before the loud crunch of his footsteps on the ground filled the air, the speed and ferocity of them reminding him how useless his hybridization was.

Soon enough though, Ant fell way behind his friends. Even with Red's injuries, Ant's injuries and weak genetics won out, leaving him in the dust while Fundy, walking at a normal pace, and Red, running at a speedy injured individual's pace, went far ahead. The only reason he was able to successfully limp to the camp was due to his adept hearing and Fundy's distinctive accent while he spoke to Red.

As soon as Ant entered the camp, his breath caught in his throat. The large tents that had once resided around the center of the camp were back again, just in a smaller form. The blankets draped upon the sturdy branches to make the tents were of the same fabric as before, just more dirty and worn looking. The small fire in the middle, persevering, sat there warming up the area with all the strength it could muster. The camp was back to being home.

"Are you okay cutie?" Asked Red, watching his movements.

Ant nodded, before glancing at Red's obvious injuries. Red glanced down at himself before being interrupted by a loud ahem.

"Ant, you and Red should probably go visit Niki, she has set up a makeshift hospital over there," said Wilbur motioning over to the river, with a grimace clearly painted on his face.

Ant stumbled after Red who walked at a similar pace, constantly glancing back at his lover. Keeping a smile painted on his face, Ant walked through the trees behind Red, trying his best not to stumble, while sleep fought for control of his mind. Unfortunately, life wasn't as friendly as people seemed to think, Ant felt his foot hit a log strewn on the floor.

He could feel a dull pain in his foot as he pitched towards the steadily approaching floor.