A Splash Of Paint (MCYT Oneshots)

🔘 Mother Dearest (Fundy-centric)

(A/N: do ppl like this series very much? no. will I stop writing it? no. this is MY emotional support series you can't take this away from me-
also I got the human sally the salmon au from twitter by @andypluquack so)

The village was an ordinary one. There was nothing special or unusual about it. To anyone else, if would just be another village beside a well-walked path, just another village among hundreds of other villages.

To Fundy, however, it was so much more than that.

The kitsune wore an orange hooded cloak and a simple white shirt and brown trousers as he strolled through Coastalience Village's marketplace. The soles of his black boots were muddied with the mud and dirt, but he didn't mind it. In one hand he held a basket filled with food he had been buying from the marketplace.

No one seemed to recognise him, which was expected, considering the fact that he hadn't shown his face outside of public events, and even then he wore a mask. It had also been long since he came to this village for anything other than to visit a certain someone.

He paid a few coins to the kind baker, and munched on a piece of custard bread as he headed for the house on the hill, waving at any villagers who waved at him back, though never straying from his path.

The house on the hill was slightly different than the rest of the village houses. For one, it was built next to the start of a waterfall. For another, it belonged to a lone woman, unlike the other houses where there were at least two people living in one.

Fundy climbed the stairs that led to the house, idly swinging the basket he held back and forth. Once at the top, he spotted a woman with long orange-brown hair, humming as she hung up her clothes that needed to be dried.

Their eyes met, and Fundy's mother gasped as she rushed to him. She held him in her warm embrace, and Fundy relaxed for the first time in many weeks.

"Oh, my darling son," his mother sighed. She cupped his face gently, pushing down his hood. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine, ma," Fundy smiled, holding up his basket. "Sorry for not visiting you for so long; there were a lot of things that happened, so I brought you some food to say sorry."

"As long as I know you're still alive, you don't need to do anything," his mother gently told him, tugging him along with one hand. "Come inside, you must be hungry."

As Fundy walked into his childhood home while his mother prepared some food, he looked around. He had missed staying here.

"How's Wilbur doing, hmm?" his mother asked him. "Has he been doing well?"

"He's fine, ma," Fundy glanced at a small framed picture on the table, which showed him, his mother, and Wilbur, all smiling brightly with a river in the background. His mother hummed as she placed down the plates of food.

"That's nice. I wish he visits more, it's been so long since I've seen him again..." his mother's sentenced trailed off, getting lost in memories once again.

To get out of the melancholic atmosphere his mother's question had put them in, Fundy changed the topic.

"How's life for you, ma?" he asked. "Are the sales doing good?"

His mother nodded. "I had to get some help from the water nymphs a few times, but sales have been going pretty well. What have you been doing?"

They chatted about their lives while eating. Fundy made sure to not spill any secrets about what he was doing, although he did go for more details than he'd normally say on some stories. After eating, they headed off to the rivers, where he helped his mother catch some more fish to be sold at the marketplace tomorrow. Then, they headed back home and chatted some more.

As the sun set, Fundy bid his mother goodbye, tugging his hood back up again as he walked down the flight of stairs. Instead of continuing on the path, however he started walking to the forest.

There was the sound of feathers flapping coming from behind him as he stopped walking.

"Fundy," even without looking, he knew Eret had been waiting for him. "We should go. Best not to let anyone know what you have here."

Sighing, the kitsune turned around to meet the other's eyes. "Let's go, then."

And the fox and the crow dashed off into the forest, where they knew they'd end up at the Ruler's castle soon enough.