The Afterward

Chapter Eight - Wherever They Are

FOXY POV.

Light... too much light... hurts eyes...

Ow...

What...happened..?

I can sit up. My body feels really, really sore. Yowch, feels like I've been hit by a giant bat. The light turns out to be a window, and I've been placed on a bed right by the windowsill and it's daytime. The room itself is bright, and it's littered with books and paper and a couple of certificates. How long have I been here exactly? No idea. So the first thing I do is take a look at myself.

"Oh my word." I'm covered in lacerations. A couple of things, like my leg that got shot earlier, have been bandaged up, but the pain's till there and the fear's still there and I'm still unable to walk. I hear footsteps. You better not be here to hurt me. Not that anyone's that stupid, right?

Someone's at the door, and I can see a bit of bright blue hair poking from behind the door. "Are you awake?" they ask feebly."I don't know, you tell me," I say to them, and they enter the room. It turns out to be a tall guy, makeup on, blue hair, and casual clothes, making him look like an idiot. Just to be clear, it's a clown dressing like he's going out with friends.

He's got a wet cloth in his hand and I shrink back, hissing. "You drugged me or something, didn't you?" He looks at it, confused. "What?"

"You know, the thing people do in the movies, when they put that cloth over people's faces and it knocks them out."

"And why would I do that?"

"I don't know, tell me!"

"Do you really think I just go around and kidnap random guys?" He tosses the cloth on the floor. "Fine, then! You can clean yourself up! That's what cats do, right?" I keep my guard up, positive he's a bad guy. "I'm a fox," I say with gritted teeth. "And I will clean myself up, thanks."

He leaves in a huff. "Felix, he's up and he's not listening to me."

Felix! That does it. He thunders into the room and instantly bear-hugs me (I swear I could hear a couple of bones crack, but okay) and he starts to launch into a big-brother breakdown. "Foxy! Where were you? What happened? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I laugh it off, "It's okay. I didn't die or anything while I was at it." The clown comes back and stands there like an idiot. Everything that happened rushes back in a mad headache and I lean back against the window and groan. "Ow." Felix, like the awesome brother he is, goes to get me a drink of water. The clown sits where he is and stares at me. "Are you going to apologize yet?" Ugh. He's really getting on my nerves. He sounds sort of feeble when he says that, like he's offering me to, not telling me to. I play dumb, to try and get out of having to talk with him. "Apologize for what?"

"For accusing me of kidnapping you," he says a bit more forcibly, "You were unconscious and a dog was with you--"

"That dog!" I suddenly remember him. I had to get back to my friends! And the Force needed me too, I couldn't wait here any longer. What if Kitty, Parth and that Tundra girl got arrested... or worse? "Where's that dog at?"

He shrugs. "He got you out of there, and I was there when he was running out with you. He ran to me and he told me to get you to safety, out of the area. And so I did what I was told; since I knew the carnival is a very uncommon place for anyone to break in, I drove you here."

"Still not a good enough explanation," I fire back as Felix enters the room, "I want to get back there! I'm busy and I don't have time to stay!" As he places the water on the windowsill, Felix's brows are creased in a very clear sign of worry. "Foxy, please. Be reasonable. This is Clowny, my performing friend. I've told you about him, haven't I?"

Oh, right. Crap. That's Felix's best friend; and I've just accused him of kidnapping, yelled in his face, and I was a jerk overall. Great. Well, might as well say sorry. "...Sorry, Clowny..." I trail off, reluctantly saying the words and then taking a very sudden gulp of water. He was annoying me, what does Felix expect? But fine, if he's Felix's friend, I guess I could suffer a little longer... "Right. I should be going soon." I tried standing, but the sharp pains only made me fall backward. "Nngh."

I wish I could move. I wish Clowny would move, because then Felix leaves again and he sits next to me. He's... really tall.

"Are you hurt?"

"NNNNNNNGH," I groan and shuffle to the far end of the bed. "Can you leave me alone? I've got to alert the Rebels. Wherever they are."

Clowny perks up, as if he'd heard of them before. "I'm a rebel." Oh, great. I can't believe it. "Really?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, last I recalled, rebels aren't so annoying."

. . .

It's been a few more hours. A few long, painful hours of which I waste trying to stand up and walk. The bullet wound doesn't help much, but it's not anything too serious. Just an unlucky hit, that's all. Clowny occasionally watches me, but he's occupied with cleaning the place and tidying up. I eventually manage to stand up and limp my way to the kitchen, and then lean on a bench while I start preparing food. Eggs. I need eggs, and I think they're on the top shelf. Holy cow, does everything need to be up in the top cabinets here? I can't jump to get them, so I awkwardly climb on the bench and try to get them that way. "You need help there?" asks Clowny, chuckling like an idiot, "You look really weird doing that."

He reaches past me and bring the entire tray down, takes four eggs, and then puts it back as I sit on the bench. "Show off..." I say to him, sliiiiightly thankful. "Wait, I don't need four eggs, I need two." Clowny points to the eggs. "You need more stamina. Two eggs aren't gonna cut it."

I hop down, elbowing him. "I'm not really hungry."

He elbows me back, and then we're trying to knock each other over, cracking up. Felix opens the door, and looks inside to see me finally manage to push the clown over. "You let me win!"

Clowny shrugs. "It wouldn't help if I knocked you over." That's an annoyingly good point. "Yeah, yeah." He actually smiles at me for a split second, and he's not as annoying as I think he is. That's an improvement.

I wonder what the Rebellion's doing now. Or what happened to Tundra, Parth and kitty. Did they even make it out alive?