The Vulpine Smile chapter 4

Story by Ryubarra on SoFurry

, , , , , , , , , ,

#4 of Vulpine Smile series

So, here is chapter 4. I knew i said that this would not take so long. Technically, i wasn't lying. It only took 6 hours of writing, if you can tell. The only reason for the delay is that i couldn't obtain access to a computer until recently. I hope you enjoy

Disclaimers:

-m/m themes

-anthro on human

-age difference

-grammar, spelling, and vocabulary are all products of Hammerfist

Hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it


Fenrir POV

I looked down out of the corner of my eye at Aaron. He had fallen asleep a half hour ago and was now curled up in his seat using my arm as a pillow. It was cute sight. His hair had fallen over the left half of his face, and he had the smallest hint of a smile on his face. I was tempted to reach into his mind and see what he was dreaming of but immediately dismissed the idea. The mind is any creature's last sanctuary, and to breach that unnecessarily and uninvited is something that the A.S.O punishes severely.

I turned my attention back to the road and started to formulate the report I would have to fill out when we arrived back at HQ. I played the scene from Aaron's house back through my mind.

Aaron went to his room to look after his little brother. I watched him go and made sure he was out of earshot before I turned to his mother.

"What is your problem?" I asked her, trying not to let too much frustration seep through into my voice.

She took a breath. "Don't pretend that you know my son, you arrogant prick. I've been with him since day 1 and I will be damned if some wolf comes into my house and proceeds to tell me how to raise my son," she seethed.

My mouth acted faster than my brain and I slipped up. "Aaron tried to throw himself in front of a train a little under 5 hours ago." I tried to retract the statement, but then I realized she needed to hear this.

Her face had gone from a flushed red to a ghostly pale. "Wha. . . .why?" she finally managed after several seconds of incomprehensible spluttering.

I felt like a traitor for exposing that piece of info but felt better for getting her to shut up. "He couldn't deal with the way people have been treating him, and he didn't get the help he needed from the place he needed most," I said, letting the accusation sit in the air for a moment.

"I had no idea," she said, clearly shaken.

"Of course you didn't know. From what I've just witnessed, you are more absorbed in your own life," I scolded her.

She was now a shrunken version of what she was. "My kids are all I have left."

I felt bad for her, but she needed to get the point. "It's not fair to put that weight on your kids. It's not their responsibility to see to your happiness and comfort."

Her last pillar of delusion crumbled before my eyes. She settled for stiff-lipped silence and sat as Aaron came down the hall with his little brother. I got up to go and ruffled the little guy's hair, but not before I got a look at his animi lucem and saw the potential spark for awakening. While not as potent as his brother's, this boy would clearly become someone of importance in the future.

I blinked as I stopped at a red light and realized I hadn't exactly been paying the best attention to the road. I quickly settled back into the rhythm of driving.

I was alone in my thoughts as a tingling sensation crept around my consciousness. I quickly recognized the attempt at synchronization and seized the invasion in a grip of concentrated thoughts and memories. The stream of thought squirmed in my grip like a worm between the talons of a bird.

The connection was fragile and easily severed. Whoever was doing this wasn't experienced or well- trained but possessed the vague notion of what was supposed to happen. I followed the trail of light left by all sentient thoughts or activities. I sucked in a breath as I found the source of the 'assault' came from Aaron.

His face was no longer a peaceful mask of sleep. It was troubled and bordering on panic. I quickly released the strand and it completely retracted into the boy's mind. His face resumed its passive appearance. I felt bad for scaring the boy like that, but he had to learn that lesson before someone perceived him as a threat without him being trained.

We continued on and arrived at the airport within the hour.

I shook Aaron awake as I returned the rental car. I got our bags and we waited in the sky club members' lounge for Cain, Jet, Brandon, and Ethan to arrive.

It wasn't long before Aaron drifted back off into sleep. I guess the day had been taxing for him. Just like last time, as soon as he was soundly asleep, his consciousness began to wander and soon started to prod at other people who flinched at the foreign intrusion. I severed the connections and sent him back to his body. I knew what I was going to do couldn't wait any longer.

I cringed as I was about to do what I had not long ago consciously scolded myself for thinking about. I relaxed and let my consciousness reach out into the boy's mind. He offered no resistance as I probed his mind and started to share the information on what he had just done. He would not remember learning this, but he would know it if asked all the same. His mind pulled at the images and information and began to take it and file it away.

I started to pull out and found my way blocked. A window was in my way, and I 'saw' what Aaron was dreaming. He was sitting on a stool and talking into a mirror. The odd thing was that he had two reflections; one of them had eyes filled with untold intelligence and the other radiated passion. One of them stopped in mid-sentence and stared directly at me. The others soon followed suit. I was shocked. People usually weren't aware of others in a dream state, but here I stood with three Aarons staring straight at me. I was vaguely aware of my body slipping into a trance-like state from my absence.

I looked back upon the dreamscape and was surprised to see the Aaron outside of the Mirror walk over to me and offer me his hand. Dumbstruck at his overall capabilities, I accepted his hand and was sucked into the scene.

The entire scene was black with a single spot of light on the mirror. Aaron guided me over to it and sat down on a stool and offered me one that appeared from the depths of his mind. I sat down and gazed into the mirror.

The reflections were still there and they both regarded me simultaneously. Then I noticed that they weren't reflections but two different copies of Aaron.

The one to the left had cold, dark, intelligent eyes. He regarded me coolly and with calculation. His landscape was different from Aarons. Instead of black there was an office building setting with a computer in the background. The one on the right smiled at me and waved. I watched as he too regarded me, but he was more like a kid looking at the most exciting thing in the world.

"I'm Acumen," said the one on the left in an expressionless voice. "I am the chosen embodiment of Aaron's wisdom and logic"

"I'm Ardor," said the one on the left. "I am lover boy's body of passion and emotion."

Aaron picked up a previously nonexistent pebble and smashed the mirror before I could ask anything.

The shards flew and turned to stars in the sky at the flick of a wrist from Aaron.

"Sorry about that, Ardor doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. He means well but is mostly a pain in the ass," Aaron explained.

Unseen lights turned on and showed us to be in the middle of a hall with doors on both sides.

"Aaron, how are you doing this? It's not physically possible," I said, knowing it was a dream. One thing taught to dream walkers is that you never tell a person they are dreaming for two reasons: they will wake up before any further information can be extracted, and they will come to the harsh and unfriendly reality that even a person's mind is not completely safe. The latter was my concern.

"Physics aren't exactly a priority in dreams," Aaron explained simply as we began walking down the hall. I guess it was too late for aforementioned precautions. "Remember how I told you I was a lucid dreamer?" he asked.

"Yes," I said at once. No!

Aaron studied me closely before speaking again. "It's strange. You don't seem like any of the other NPCs. It's like you are made of something else."

"NPCs?" I asked.

He flushed a bit. "Videogame terminology, it means Non Playable Character. I don't have any control of the people here. Stranger still is they don't possess a sense of curiosity."

I decided to throw the kid a bone. "It's me. Do you remember the synch?" I asked.

"Vaguely," he responded.

"Well, this is a more advanced version of the technique called dream walking."

"So the whole time this was you?" He thought a bit and then cursed under his breath. "I'm going to kill Ardor!"

I just chuckled at the little outburst and allowed him to fume and mutter very explicit things involving knives and torture in an attempt to silence, 'that good for nothing blabber mouthing sack o' shit'.

He straightened up and faced me again. "Would you like me to show you around?" he asked.

"Sounds like it would be interesting," I said and followed him down a seemingly endless corridor. We walked past door after door covered in strange markings that were supposed to act in place of letters.

"Pick one and I will tell you about it," Aaron said.

I laughed and pointed at one door that was right next to us.

Aaron looked at it for a few seconds. "That door is marked as 'juvenile humor'. It contains a bunch of immature jokes that I still find funny to some extent."

He pulled a key from his pocket and opened the door. I stepped in and saw a file cabinet. At his invitation, I pulled open a drawer and pulled out a file. I opened it and couldn't help but smile.

!!!!YOUR mom!!!!

I cocked an eyebrow at him and he shrugged sheepishly. "I told you they were immature."

I put the file back and closed the drawer before walking back out into the hall.

"Next?" he asked.

I walked down the hall a few steps and stopped at another door with the same kind of symbols. "What's this one say?"

"Good smells," Aaron said with a smile and unlocked the door. "I spent a lot of time preparing this room," he explained.

He led us into a room decorated with flowers in several seemingly random groups. I walked up to a bouquet on a pedestal and picked up a purple flower and inhaled. The relaxing scent of lavender wafted through my nose. I put it back and picked up a cream colored one and smelt chicken dumplings. I did a double take and got the same result.

Aaron laughed at my obvious confusion. "Each room has its own theme; it keeps things organized. So a few things aren't exactly going to match up with what they appear to be."

"So there is a method to this madness?" I quipped.

"Certainly," Aaron said.

I placed the flower back and followed Aaron from the room. Once again, he locked it. We explored a myriad of rooms, and with each one I learned something new about Aaron and his life.

We came to another door that I inquired about.

Aaron grew flustered after reading the door and began to cough to hide his discomfort.

I had picked up on the arrangement and shape of the symbols to figure out what the door read, but I didn't believe what I was reading. When I was absolutely sure about what it said, I laughed.

Embarrassing Childhood Memories

Aaron burned brighter and tried to walk away, but I grabbed his arm and stopped his escape. I reached for the key and he yanked away.

"Come on, I have to see this one." I joked as I began to, once again, try and retrieve the key.

"That has nothing to do with you!" Aaron exclaimed.

I got behind him and grabbed him around the waist. "The more you resist, the more I know something interesting has got to be in there," I whispered in his ear.

Aaron seemed to give in. "If I show you, will you be happy?"

I chuckled into his ear. "Yes," I breathed.

His heel slammed down on my foot and I yelped. He turned around and pressed his lips against mine. I was shocked at his forwardness but decided I didn't care. I let my tongue wrap around his, and soon we were both out of breath. "Sorry, but the answer is still no," he said, his face flushed for an entirely different reason than before.

I smiled down at him. "Oddly enough, I am okay with that."

We walked down the hall. I looked left and right at the doors and stopped in front of one that stood broken on its hinges.

Aaron took my paw and squeezed it. I looked down and saw his face white with terror. He pointed to a sign hanging on the door by a single nail.

"Fear," he said simply.

I was wondering why it was in such disrepair, and then it hit me. "I did this?" I asked him.

"That's what Acumen thinks," he replied. I was about to apologize when he stopped me. "He also thinks it was necessary and Ardor agreed with him. The fact that those two agreed was about as big of a surprise as anything. They usually fight like cats and dogs."

"How long will it take to fix?" I asked, still feeling bad about the whole ordeal. I knew the consequences, but seeing it in something like this made it all the more real.

He shook his head. "I don't know. It has never happened before. This room took forever to construct and even longer to get everything into it. I hate to think of what is going to happen in the future, but what's done is done."

As we walked past the door, a shadow detached itself from the wall and got in Aaron's way.

Aaron regained a bit of his color. "Hello Avarice."

A set of sharp, white teeth appeared as the shadow smiled and performed something that resembled a bow. "Hello Master Aaron," it replied sarcastically. "You are aware that your little prison is now... ineffectual?"

Aaron now looked like his normal self. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"How do you plan on remedying this?" Avarice asked testily.

Aaron shrugged his shoulders and continued walking. "I'm sure you'll think of something, you always do."

The shadow lost form and slithered back into the room with the broken door.

I was confused about what had just transpired, but before I could inquire, Aaron had disappeared. The walls were beginning to fade and loose definition, and soon everything was similar to the dark room I had first seen. I realized that the dream cycle was drawing to an abrupt end, which usually meant one thing: someone had woken the dreamer. This is bad news for whoever is inside of the dream with him because everything becomes unstable, and it becomes difficult to navigate your way back out again. The dreamscape was still stable enough for me to find my way out again. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my own, seemingly distant, animi lucem.

***Change of View***

I opened my eyes to a vigorous shaking from Jet. I blinked my eyes lazily and tried to gather my bearings.

Cain gently slapped my cheek. "It's time to get up, kid. Our plane is getting ready to board."

I shook my head and stretched as my senses returned to me. I looked to my left and saw Fenrir doing the same thing. I remembered the dream and wondered if any of the past little while was real or if I was going crazy. I looked at him and he winked at me. 'So much for that idea.' We all got up and headed to the plane. To my surprise, we all had first- class tickets. I sat down in a window seat and tuned out the overly perky flight attendant who went over all of the safety instructions. 30 minutes later, we were taking off, and I watched as the landing gear was tucked into the belly of the plane. After that, I pulled the shade down to block the glare of the late afternoon sun. It was another 15 minutes before passengers were allowed to move about the cabin. The stewardesses began their rounds up and down the aisles, offering drinks and snacks to the coach passengers and 5 star meals for the upper class. One particular woman with Blond hair kept in ringlets down her back decided to get to know us, or specifically the smoking hot wolf next to the twerp. It feels good to be appreciated. (I don't suppose that I've listed my enmity for flight attendants, have I?)

She took our orders and gave them to someone on her return trip. She then started to talk, or flirt as the case may be, to Fenrir. After exchanging pleasantries, she began to talk about her life and her likes and dislikes. It could have passed as general friendliness if she didn't keep batting her eyes at him and staring at his crotch every 30 seconds. I can't honestly say that I blame her for the latter. Fenrir was being polite and kept up with conversation, but he didn't respond to any of her advances. Soon, I guess she grew impatient with her game and 'accidentally' slipped and ended up grinding her ass into Fenrir's crotch.

"I'm sorry," she said, with fake innocence.

I had begun to tap away at the monitor in front of me. It was touch screen and acted as TV, radio, and electronic menu.

Fenrir growled softly in irritation. Jet, like a true friend, got up out of his seat and got the stewardess out of Fenrir's lap, saying that he needed assistance. The little bimbo, seeing a chance at another anthro, gladly followed.

"She can't take a hint, can she?" Fenrir said.

"I have no clue what you mean," I responded, not looking at him as I continued to mess with the screen in front of me.

"Well, for star-," he trailed off as he saw that I wasn't even looking at him. He saw me smiling and decided to inquire, "What are you doing?"

I adjusted the screen so he could see it. "Passenger evaluation of airline staff," I explained. He saw a picture of the same women and the report.

"Inappropriate conduct? That's all you have to say?" he asked.

"Prostitution, sexual harassment, and public indecency are apparently not on the list of 'appropriate critique'," I said.

Fenrir barked out a laugh and continued to chuckle to himself for the rest of the, thankfully, uneventful flight.