Shadows Of The Past Novel: Stolen Heart (Jakovi Poza)

Chapter 9

As Foxy walked home, he thought he heard screaming and loud talking. Foxy became concerned, he looked around to make sure someone was following him, but he saw nothing suspicious. So he thought it was screaming in his head, but when he looked towards the house, Foxy was surprised to see all the members and Gold trying to help Dark up. Foxy quickly ran over to them with a hostile expression on his face, when Gold noticed Foxy her eyes widened.
"F..Foxy, you're back." Gold mumbled.
"What is going on here?" Foxy asked, then he noticed that
Dark was covered in mud. Did Dark fall into the swamp?
"Dark entered the marshland, he nearly drowned." Gold replied in a shaky voice.
I didn't know he was that stupid. Foxy thought mockingly Dark suddenly started coughing and bits of mud came out of his mouth.  Foxy moved away from Dark in disgust, watching Dark with satisfaction.
"If you hadn't punished him, this would never have happened!" Whiteflower growled.
"What's on your mind, Foxy?" Sting asked.
Foxy laughed, Whiteflower and Sting exchanged horrified looks, and Roxanne soothed Dark.
"Is it my fault he didn't look under his feets?" Foxy snorted furiously.
"That's not what we meant," Ella chimed in, "we all know how dangerous marshes are."
Foxy rolled his eyes, he hated when the members were complaining, Dark survived, so why are they making a big deal out of it?
"Be happy that he survived! If I had drowned because of it, I would have snatched that smile off your face for sure!" Whiteflower snorted sharply, taking on Foxy.
"Calm down, you've got Dark alive, don't hold it against me." Foxy replied curtly.
Whiteflower growled loudly in anger and walked away from Foxy, he approached Roxanne and Dark. Foxy then looked at Roxanne who was holding Dark's hands, Foxy wished Roxanne would look at him, but she seemed to be busy helping Dark.
"Aren't you going to help?"  Gold suddenly asked.
"Why should I? Roxanne is already doing it."  Foxy growled and stepped around Gold, then he entered the house.
It was already noon, Foxy was lying on his bed with a sad face. He didn't feel guilty about punishing Dark, but he was also worried about Roxanne. In the end, he wanted to get rid of Dark so that he would always satisfy himself and live as before. Suddenly he heard a knock on the door, after a while someone opened the door, Foxy looked quickly towards the door. He noticed Roxanne in the doorway with a serious face, Foxy sighed heavily and reluctantly got out of bed. He was sure that Roxanne had come to argue with him again because of Dark.
"How are you feeling?” Roxanne asked.
“Okay." Foxy answered immediately without looking at Roxanne.
"Everyone wonders why you're still sitting in your room."  Roxanne said.
Foxy snorted.
"What's the matter with them, don't think I'm sorry for what I did because it's not my fault." He replied in a grim voice.
Roxanne looked scared, she looked at Foxy with hope in her eyes. Foxy didn't understand what was going on.
“You good?"  Foxy asked.
"Y-yes, I just wanted to ask you something."  Roxanne mumbled, suddenly smiling.
Foxy looked at her calmly with interest, did she have any important message?
"I was wondering if...if I could show Dark our whole valley." Roxanne suggested. 
Foxy froze, he couldn't believe she had come to him just for that. He felt unusual rage in himself, he told himself that Roxanne has to stay away from Dark.
"Why would I let you do that?" Foxy asked as he approached Roxanne.
Roxanne jumped at this, as if she hadn't expected such an answer.
"Dark really wants to explore every corner of our valley with me." Roxanne explained quickly in a nervous voice.
Why with you? He wanted to ask Roxanne, again he felt like all the responsibility fell solely on him, he didn't want to let Roxanne go because he wanted to spend time with her.
"I'm sure there will be another person who will go with Dark." Foxy said.
Roxanne gave him a questioning look.
"Why do you think so?" she asked.
"I want you to stay here, we need to discuss the next meeting." Foxy said, giving her a kind look.
"Why now? It's a long time until the next meeting, unless you're planning another..."
"Oh, no no." Foxy interrupted. "We have to be ready for spring, remember?"
Roxanne was disappointed but she said nothing. Foxy grabbed her arm trying to comfort her.
"Your place is here, okay?" Foxy asked firmly.
Roxanne thought for a moment, then she sighed softly.
"Yes, Foxy.” She replied reluctantly.
Roxanne then left Foxy's room with her head down, Foxy felt a little bad about it but knew she was doing Roxanne well. Foxy left his room, he stood in the doorway for a moment, staring ahead, but not thinking about Roxanne anymore, he quickly went down the stairs. Once he went downstairs, he noticed Gold talking to Ella. Foxy looked for Roxanne, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey how are you?"  Sting suddenly surprised him.
"It's okay, have you seen Roxanne?" Foxy asked.
"No, why you ask?" Sting said.
Foxy then thought Roxanne had gone to her room, so he calmed down and took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Nevermind, do you want to go for a walk?" Foxy suggested politely.
Sting smiled and nodded happily as they put on warm clothes and left the house, walking through the woods.  Sting looked ahead, walking faster, while Foxy watched the snow-covered forest. He felt relaxed hearing the soft and calm sound of the wind.
"You know what, that was a pretty good idea." Sting said vigorously.
Foxy chuckled.
"I'd like to ask you something." Sting said in a slightly scared voice.
Foxy gave Sting a friendly look, he was sure that his friend wanted to ask him for advice.
"Today I want to tell Gold how much I love her!" Sting confessed.
Foxy felt proud that his friend wanted to open up now, he lightly slapped his elbow with his hand, smiling.
"Okay, what's your plan?” Foxy asked in a cunning tone.
Sting then looked down at his legs.
"I don't know! I just want to finally love her without hiding anything!" Sting squealed like a kid who got his dream present.
"Want some good advice?"  Foxy asked expectantly.
Sting immediately nodded, looking pleadingly at Foxy.  Foxy thought for a moment about what he should advise his friend, he always wanted to give the advice that Gold once gave him.  Foxy stopped standing in front of Sting, Sting also stopped looking at Foxy.
"Above all, you have to be yourself and be persuasive."  Foxy said.
"You've given me that advice more than once!" Sting noticed.
"Because I hope you'll finally listen to me." Foxy said with amusement.
Sting didn't answer, he just rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"And you must respect Gold's every decision." Foxy said.
Sting looked unsure for a moment, then he nodded.
"You think a look has to be convincing too?" Sting asked smiling broadly.
Foxy laughed and nodded.
"You learn very quickly." Foxy joked.
Sting straightened up proudly and closed his eyes as if he was waiting for an important moment, Foxy laughed softly at this. Sting suddenly took a battle stance as if he was about to attack an intruder.
"Got to find Gold! I'll be fine…I'll…be fine." Sting repeated nervously to himself.
"Everything will be fine, remember that you managed to save Alex in the swamp area?" Foxy asked.
"Yeah...I'll be fine." Sting replied in a more serious voice.
"I'll be watching your conversation." Foxy suggested.
Sting was about to protest, but nodded. Then Sting and Foxy turned back towards the house, Sting running much faster than Foxy. Foxy was amazed at Sting's speed, but he thought it because of stress. As he ran he felt the wind blowing against his face as they reached the house Sting braked sharply. Foxy stopped closer to the house, shooting Sting an amused look. Sting straightened up again and started toward the house, but stopped at the door, hesitating. Foxy saw this, walked over to Sting, said, "You'll be fine, come on."
Sting stood looking at the door for a moment, but smiled and opened the door, then stepped inside. Foxy followed him in, closing the door behind him. Sting, however, did not take off his jacket, but only took off his shoes. Foxy was confused, he quickly moved towards the living room and noticed Gold there and Sting was standing near her.  Foxy quickly hid behind the wall, eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Hey Gold."  Sting greeted her, a slight terror was in his voice.
"Oh hi, Sting!" Gold said fiercely. "Where have you been?"
"On a walk with Foxy." Sting replied.
Foxy glanced slightly over the wall, he saw Sting take a seat next to Gold. Foxy hid behind the wall again so Gold wouldn't notice him.
"And where is Foxy now?" Gold asked suspiciously.
"In the territory of the Tall Tree.” Sting replied quickly, Foxy annoyed at Sting's high-pitched tone. Can't he lie around Gold? Foxy wondered amusingly.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to the forest." Sting said suddenly calmly.
Foxy was concerned by the sudden silence around them, is Gold hesitating over her decision? Foxy wanted to look over the wall, but he was afraid that Gold would notice him.
"Sure, let's go."  She replied in a tired and polite tone.
As Foxy heard footsteps coming towards him, he quickly used a spell to make himself invisible, then he followed Gold and Sting. As they both left the house, Foxy rushed through the door like a ghost, seeing that he was left behind, he rushed towards them. Sting stayed close to Gold with a friendly look while Gold stared straight ahead with a serious expression. Foxy was afraid that Gold wouldn't take Sting's confession seriously, causing Sting to lose faith in himself. I hope that everything goes well.  Foxy thought as he followed them with a menacing expression. He noticed that they are going west from Tall Tree's territory, does Sting want to take her to the border with their valley? Why there? As he walked a bit further away from them, he heard Sting say something, but he didn't catch it. He approached them while still invisible, Gold was silent looking straight ahead. As they left the forest, Foxy noticed that they were already on the rocks of silence. Then Sting stopped, he looked calmly at Gold.  Gold, seeing that Sting stops too, she stood in front of him.
"It's a nice place, isn't it?" Sting asked.
Gold looked at the snow-covered rocks until she finally said, "Yeah, I haven't been here for a while."
"Do you want to sit down for a while?" Sting said, brushing snow off one of the rocks.
Gold smiled and shook her head. Foxy stood a bit further away from them, watching the situation.
"I suspect there's a reason you brought me here." Gold said in an interesting voice.
"Yeah,…that's a pretty good reason." Sting mumbled.
Foxy suddenly noticed that Sting blushed then. Focus!  Be yourself! Foxy screamed in his mind, hoping Sting would hear him.
"So, I'm listening." Gold said in an amused tone.
Sting smiled kindly and looked towards the forest as if he saw Foxy. Foxy's heart began to beat faster, now the moment of truth will come whether Gold will agree to be with him or not.
"Have you ever considered having a boyfriend?"  Sting asked quickly.
Gold raised one eyebrow.
"No? I never thought about it." Gold replied uncertainly.
Sting hesitated, Foxy was fearing his friend was about to turn his back on his plan. Don't give up now! Foxy screamed in his mind.
"Why do you ask?"  Gold asked suddenly.
"Because..because I hid for a long time that I love you."  Sting mumbled, looking cutely at Gold.
Gold took a step back in shock, Foxy sighed in relief, he was proud that Sting had dared to confess to Gold that he loved her.
"Always when you are with me I feel happy, I love you because you are an amazing girl." Sting said.
Gold was silent for a moment, not looking at Sting, but after a moment she made a worried face.
"Sting,... I understand that you see me as your girlfriend, but believe me, I see you as a good friend." Gold replied.
Foxy felt as if his advice had been in vain, he felt pity for Sting. Sting, hearing this, looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"Gold, but...I love you." Sting stuttered desperately.
"I'm sorry, Sting." Gold said softly. "But I'm sure you'll find someone who loves you too, but I'm not that person."
Gold was about to walk towards the forest, but Sting grabbed her wrist.
"No! Please…d-don't go yet!" Sting screamed, tears already streaming down his cheeks.
Foxy felt bad looking at all this, is that what Roxanne would have told him if she didn't love him? He dreamed of hugging his friend so that he would not blame himself.
"I have to go now, Sting. I promised Ella we'd play truth or dare together." Gold said.
She walked past Sting with a grim expression as she neared the forest, she looked one last time at Sting who was looking at her with pain in his eyes.
"Forgive me." She said loudly, then she disappeared into the forest.
Sting started to cry loudly, Foxy entered the forest for a while and used a spell to make himself visible. He quickly ran out of the forest and looked at Sting.
"Hey,...are you okay?" Foxy asked calmly.
"I knew she wouldn't agree, because I'm the worst!" Sting screamed, then he dodged Foxy and ran into the woods.
Foxy didn't run after him, he just took a deep breath and exhaled. He felt guilty, but he knows his friend needs to be alone. Foxy walked slowly into the forest, thinking about something else now. He remembered how Levis had told him that The Sisters lived in Starforest, Foxy smiled slightly as a plan formed in his head. I'll go find The Sisters and no one will stop me.