FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

so as promised the continuation only a few dyas later. hehe and as i said before this chapter didnt varry much from the original :/minimal fixes and adjustments for smoother flow of thoughts. thats about it haha so enjoy!

Chapter 2

Ricky thanked God that the ship was so fast; they broke through the atmosphere in under a minute, ending the violent shakes caused by the ship accelerating through the atmosphere so fast. Finally, he convinced his eyes to open themselves, and looked around shakily and slowly. The others were unbuckling themselves and jogging out of the room. Very few stayed behind, shaking in their seats. All of them were grown-ups...

"Need help? That wasn't so bad was it?" Alex asked, reaching for Ricky's buckle and stopped himself just short. "You okay? You're trembling," he noted with a worried look on his face.

"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Ricky said honestly, trying to stop his hands from shaking, and failing miserably.

"Oh!" the otter said after a moment, unbuckling the straps and lifting the alien safety apparatus from him, "This way, can you stand?"

Ricky tried, managing to slowly lift himself up from the seat, and then collapsed on the floor, heaving vomit onto the metal inches from his face, the acrid smell and awful stinging in his throat just ticking him off, on top of making him feel like shit. The otter looked stunned, leaving his side at an awkward pace.

The room started to spin around him as he sat there alone in his own mess, the walls seeming to collapse around him simultaneously. Ricky gasped with each breath, his eyes wide and watering, and his heart setting pace fit to burst from his chest. He had never felt so alone....so singled out...so terrified. Four years...about a fourth of his time already spent ALIVE, was to be spent on a foreign planet, with no way home, with no other humans his age, and with no clue how to even LIVE there. Questions, like the foods to eat, the entertainment to be had, the impending species-ism, religion, school...fuck even currency...things that he took for granted knowing on earth were all gone. He was like a baby being reborn anew in another world.

Ricky felt his body heave again, sweat dripping from his pores like crazy, his fingers going numb, and his arms still shaking with weakness. He couldn't do it; there was no way in hell that he could do this. He didn't have the mental capacity to handle this kind of stress. Somehow, the idea of just having other human kids, not even friends necessarily, made him feel better, less like a freak, but that was all gone now.

Alex returned with a bucket and a flask of what Ricky could only assume was water, "Here, drink this," he said soothingly, holding out the flask to him and placing the bucket to the side of the new puddle of half-digested foodstuffs and stomach acids.

The rust haired boy eyed the otter. He was a beast! They did this! Ricky had never really been decided about the species-ism on earth, but he knew now he had no interest to be even relatively close to them. They'd stolen his entire life! If they hadn't showed up, he would be back in his city, poor sure, but relatively safe, relatively comfortable, knowledgeable about...what effing food could be bought down the street! He had to get out. He couldn't be here, not with THEM. Not for that long in their place.

"Shush, calm down," Alex instructed, putting a hand on the youth's back. No. It wasn't a hand, it was a paw; a furry, padded, animal paw. Ricky snapped, slapping the flask to the ground were the fluids drained out. He ceased to shake, his legs finding strength from deep within himself. He pushed the otter away, staring up at him with wide, fearful eyes, scrambling back in a crawl.

"Stay away from me!" he shouted, his breathing still strained with the gasping, his heart somehow still managing to pick up the pace.

The otter looked genuinely concerned, standing slowly, paws held up in surrender, "Hey, hey, take it easy now...I'm trying to help you."

"Stay away!" Ricky shouted again, looking behind him to locate an escape. To his surprise, his turning made the room spin violently around him, bringing him to the ground again, and restarting the disgusting heaving, his stomach already emptied of its limited content. Why was this happening? Why him? Why did everything he ever took for granted leave him? One after another, every time he got used to, or even got to the point of loving something it left him. His mom, his home, his friends, the comfort of having a father figure, it was all gone. He felt tears streaming down his face, but Ricky was unsure if they were from frustration or real sorrow. Hell he didn't know if it was just another symptom of panic.

He felt the paw on his back again, warm and comforting, but still off putting and terrifying. "I said no!" He managed weakly, standing and running out the door in front of him. The hallway was long, wide and metallic; the wall to the outside was all transparent, allowing him to view the darkness of space and the stars. Somehow he felt so little at the same time that he felt claustrophobic, the hall seeming to get longer and closer with each panicked sprint, the space beyond the glass like window seeming to expand further and forget him.

He ran past some of soldiers gazing out the window, if you could call the fast stumbling gait a run. Without looking he knew the beast would follow, so at his first chance he turned a corner and picked up the pace.

His legs were slowly regaining their power and balance, his only concern in the world, or in this case, the universe, was escaping the monster that followed him. Ricky had taken a single glance behind himself to see the otter in pursuit, his short legged swimmers body not doing much for him on land, he barely managed a jog, but Ricky knew it might be enough to catch him if his own legs didn't return to normal strength soon.

He rounded another corner and, praising lady luck for the confusing hallways, managed to make two more turns almost immediately after, but that didn't throw off the pursuit. Ricky kept running, he ran as if the trek would somehow return him to Earth. It was like if he ran from this, everything would go on as well as they had before, in the same place as before and with all the comforts of before. Tears welled in his eyes again, somehow, the realization of the helpless inevitability only made his legs move all the faster, propelling him around another corner, and then tumbling to the ground as he cannoned into another body.

A large furred one.

Ricky looked up dazed. The Bull he had hit looked down on him with a calm curiosity, his pure body mass made Ricky think his 'tackle' had felt like he'd been struck with a pillow, not a person. His face was large as were the horns on his head; his fur was black, making him, even in military uniform, look like a Minotaur out of Greek mythology. It would have been terrifying without the panic attack rushing through him, the adrenaline and fear made it petrifying. The Bull stood a bit above seven feet, his shoulders wide and muscled, and his natural disposition not exactly the most inviting.

Ricky stared back at the bull, his heart in his throat, mind muddled, feeling for the entire world like a baby compared to the Varius. "You okay?" The large creature asked in a deep, controlling voice. Ricky felt his hair on his neck stand on end, his terror catapulting past petrified. Without a word he took off again in the direction he came from, finding another route, desperately trying to escape from them all.

It soon became apparent that the bull would not be his only run in with the Varius, it was their ship after all. From then on, every other corner he turned was met with voices, people or dead ends, and eventually they added up. Ricky, while back-tracking a dead end saw the otter that had been following him, beginning the chase anew, but now with his legs ready to give way beneath him from non-stop sprints. How the otter had managed to keep pace was beyond him, but honestly, that wasn't the main thing on his mind. He had switched his thought process to hide, not run, knowing he would lose in that aspect. He opted to enter the first room he saw when the otter was out of sight.

And then all the options vanished, the hallway he had chosen next was a straight shot. There hadn't been any turning options; or doors, since the otter was back in his sights, and there was another Varius in the hall ahead of him as well. "Damn it," he breathed under a strained breath, realizing that running past the tall yellow creature was his only option at further escape. At least the Varius wasn't looking at him; he was focused on the floor in front of him.

"Maze!" Alex called from behind him, making the lion in the hall turn to face Ricky, "Stop him!"

The lion went wide eyed, glancing behind himself at the ground and the blocking the hall. "Kid slow down! The floor-!"

Ricky was a good ten feet from the lion who blocked the hall in an 'X' shape with his legs and arms held out. There were very few options. One was surrender, but that was immediately pushed from his panicked mind. The second would be to fake out the lion, the success fate was low, but it was efficient. Third was to turn around and try his luck with the otter...

And just like that, Ricky learned a panicked mind was not as efficient as he might have hoped. He thought fast, efficiently and fluidly, but was distracted from the real life in front of him. Next thing he knew he had run straight into the lion before enacting a plan at all, who on instinct wrapped his massive arms around the kid to catch him, but the inertia produced was too much for the lion's weak wide and tall stance, and the two went barrelling to the ground...and sliding!

Ricky looked up, his panic now split between the lion face in front of him, and the fact that they were sliding fast down the hallway on the large cats back. The Varius beneath him was in a panic as well, his eyes wide, and trying desperately to look behind him at where they were barrelling exactly.

Ricky let out a scream, how could this be happening what the hell was happening exactly? Why were they slipping down this impossible long hallway, and why the fuck was the lion still holding on to him?! Ricky tried to get out of the cats vice like grip, failing miserably to make the arm so much as budge. "Let go!" he yelled, seeing now that there were other Varius in rooms in the hall watching out at the probably hilarious scene.

But, with a high pitched screech of claws to metal, they began to slow down, ending the ride, eventually coming to a halt, but regardless of their speed, the lion refused to relinquish his grip.

"Get off of me! Stupid cat! Let go!" Ricky managed, the paws wrapped around him making it hard to speak clearly as he tried to move them.

"I got him Alex," he called right into Ricky's ears, completely ignoring his protests and keeping the small kid to his chest with minimum effort, "What's up?"

More tears welled in Ricky's eyes as he continued to struggle. Alex was by their side in a moment, walking carefully on the apparently slippery surface beneath them. "Probably a panic attack Maze, he just found out he would be the only one his age from back home for the four years and it must have freaked him out," Alex said with genuine concern.

"He's still shaking," the lion pointed out, sitting up, "Back to your rooms guys! Nothing to see here!" Ricky still couldn't turn to see it, but he was sure that this was drawing quite a crowd, and groaned with embarrassment on top of the fear, giving up his pointless struggles, submitting to the seriously depressing way of thought that came with horribly saddening news, along with the feelings of isolation and betrayal. "Should we take him to the doctors or something?" The lion continued. Ricky shuddered; he hated doctors on Earth who studied for years to learn the human body's foibles, the idea of an alien doctor who at most could have studied for a few months freaked him out even more.

Alex also saw a bucket and mop like thing back were the lion had been, so obviously the floors were clean and waxy smooth before, eliciting the reaction. Great, he was in the mighty hands of the janitor! Who would deliver him to the crazy doctor.

"No, there isn't a point, we can't do anything for a panic attack but calm him down and make him feel comfortable."

"So should we just get him to his room to chill out?"

Ricky listened to the two, talking back and forth without actually focusing on the words; not as angry as he should have been as they talked like he wasn't there. He had already heard enough. It was strange how he could be panicking but thinking rationally at the same time. He knew for a fact that he had to get over this and that fighting them would only make him seem weak, but he panicked all the same.

The boy in Maze's arms fell very quiet and still, like he wasn't really acknowledging the two he had just ran from screaming. "Hey, Ricky, did you hear us? Ricky we're taking you to your room now okay?" The lion let go of the kid experimentally, watching as he didn't even attempt to sit up a little. The lion looked at the otter with concern in his eyes.

Alex shrugged, "Depression after a panic attack? I really don't know." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the odd couple, "Poor kid, I guess we just take him to his room and watch the door. Nothing much more we can do."

Maze nodded, lifting the light kid up with him in one smooth and easy manoeuvre and followed the otter, the little human boy in his arms.

~~~~

Pence sat back in his comfy chair, humming a little song to himself and staring at the ceiling, his claws impatiently tapping away at the side table to his right. Where was he? It was never like his dad to be late, especially on the first day of traveling when all kids needed parental consent to leave the cabins during flight.

"Come on..." he groaned to himself, willing his father to appear soon. Knowing his mother wasn't due back for hours it was pointless waiting for her. By now almost EVERYONE would be walking the halls or in the lounge or SOMETHING! And apparently some lizard had found a way to connect a PS3 to the holo-screen in the kids lounge! Or so the rumour went. Maybe the kid could find a way to charge his iPod...or at least move the songs over to a com system.

Pence got up for the third time to resume his pacing, walking across the small living room to the bathroom door, up three stairs into the kitchen and dining area, and back down the stairs too either of the two bedrooms along the one wall, and back to the comfy chair. He laughed to himself. On Earth, the lions had been strong and fierce sure, but they were also lazy as hell, and took naps for literally the better half of a day. There was no way they could be related to the lions of 'The Heart.' Not that they were hyperactive, or needed hourly exercise, but they stayed up and average amount of time, and weren't total lazy asses, for the most part anyway.

Finally, like a holy beacon from the lord, the door beeped, sliding open, allowing Pence's dad to enter, but something was wrong. His dad was normally so full of energy, peppy, excited. Something was on his mind and Pence knew it, but he only had this realization AFTER he was attacking his father.

"Thank god! What took yah?" he asked, taping a finger to an imaginary watch with a playful grin, which dropped quickly in the realization his dad was distressed. "Is something wrong dad? You don't seem yourself. Did you take your flight sickness pills?"

The lion looked up with a fake smile, "It's nothing, it's just this...he, he, I guess it is something," he admitted, flopping back on his own chair, legs over the one arm, neck rested on the other. "And yes I took my pills! I'm not a cub who forgets like SOMEONE here." He boomed with a stuck out tongue."

"Oh my god it was one time!" Pence replied with a blush, remembering how sick he had been...and all over the...his mom had been pissed.

"You know how we are taking the humans to the Heart? Well apparently there is like, one kid about your age."

Pence took a pause, waiting for more, "What? What did he do?"

His dad looked confused but figured it out, "No I mean there is ONE kid your age Pence, as in only one. One kid under the age of like, twenty five or something, and I guess his own parents completely neglected to tell him jack-shit about that before they left." He growled.

Pence made an exaggerated shocked face and gasp "Mr Maze Katorei, cussing?! I never thought I'd see the day!" he joked, but it was pretty true. His dad was a very soft spoken and gentle cat by nature; he honestly just avoided it, but accepted it. Pence could get away with 'shit' 'damn' crap' 'smart ass' and in very special situations 'fuck'...okay, not the last one, that would get him a mouthful of soap, but the point was he cussed more than his dad.

Maze smiled at his son, "Shut up. You want consent right?" he teased, both of them knowing for a fact he couldn't make a threat to save his life, his nature was to kind.

Regardless, Pence played along, "Yes father. Very much so..." he said in as innocent a voice he could muster.

"Fine, you have the consent, on one condition," Maze said, holding up a clawed finger to the smaller lion, getting a bit of a surprised face.

"A condition? Since when do you give conditions? That's a mom thing!" he teased, not getting a laugh from his dad, "Ok, I'll take it seriously," Pence huffed, dropping into his own chair beside his father's.

"Okay good, that human kid, his name is Ricky, I want you to go to his room later and check on him, maybe invite him over for dinner." Pence groaned, "No buts, this is a small favour, I just don't want him to be depressed, from a feeling of isolation as he eats alone in his room at night. I can't imagine he got too Varius social on Earth, the schools did an awful job. Now he is being forced to interact with us."

Pence would have groaned more, but honestly the sooner he got to the kids room for the invite, the sooner he could get down to the game room. The lion got up ready to leave when his dad's voice stopped him again, "And he has to say yes!" he called, stopping Pence in the hallway who let out a loud groan and shook his fur like he was having a temper tantrum.

"Of course he does," he said under his breath, any hopes that this would be easy were killed then and there. All he could think was that he didn't want this kid to be a total sad sack who would ignore him or fear him. "What room is he in?"

~~~~

Ricky sat in the dark room where Maze had left him, not even bothering to move beneath the covers or to crawl up to the pillows right above his head; all in all, being a VERY sad sack. He had been staring at the same dresser for the past twenty minutes, his eyes glazed over in deep thought, his breathing the only sound to accompany the sounds of the engines vibrating beneath the ship.

Why did everything turn out this way? Why didn't his father freaking tell him he would be the only kid for years? He realized now that even if he had been told, the information would not have countered the loneliness he felt now. His dad really did just do it so he could spend his last days on Earth in greater comfort, even if the outcome was awful, Ricky knew the heart was there.

He didn't even flinch when the door opened, a knocking being heard even though whoever it was had already entered, "Ricky?" the voiced called out, at a whisper, "I'm not in the wrong room right?"

Pence walked into the room almost identical to his own, seeing the bed to his right. 'Was he sleeping?' Pence wondered, walking in as quietly as he could, his eyes adjusting well to the darkness, and although they did not give him colour, they gave him forms and details, he saw the kid in the bed as defined as in the day, but the key description to be sure it was Ricky was the hair colour...

Pence groaned again, rolling his eyes, he wasn't exactly the patient type. He sat on the bed and with a careful paw, tried shaking the boy gently awake, "Kid, Ricky? Wake up, will yah?"

Ricky tilted his head to indicate he was awake, but said nothing, not even bothering to check the guy's species. "Oh you're up," the voice noted a bit more cheerfully, "My dad wanted me to invite you to have dinner with us tonight. We don't think you should eat alone."

The first words to Ricky's mind were not the kindest, or the smartest considering his predicament. The last thing he wanted was to seem was species-ist in a world of different species. The word 'alone' weighed down in his mind heavily. Alone, no friends...no pets...no comfort...no trust, father, teacher, helper, mother. Just that word, it was just him all ALONE.

"Leave me be," he muttered, just audible, even to the cats super powerful ears, "I just want my space for now." He cut the thought short, not wanting to speak.

Of course it couldn't just be easy, why would that happen? Pence thought to him-self. "Ricky look, I sorta need you to come to this dinner, so, is there anything I-"

"You can get out," Ricky stated, finishing the impending question.

"Aside from that," the lion pressed, his mood switching to one more aggressive with this kid's ability to shut him out. Why wouldn't he want to be with others anyhow? Sure he was human and he was Varius, but did that really matter to him? If so, Pence's mom might kill him before he had to worry about those at 'The HEART' at all, "Anything?"

Ricky let out a condescending laugh, weak but bitter, "Go back in time and make sure your ship never finds Earth." The boy knew it was the BEAST'S entire fault. Right now he should be worried about the clothes to wear to school and the awful teachers and the parties he should get to and where to find a job. His mind should be focused on girls not survival, Video games and who to beat, not the concern of if his 'home' would have a TV, or even an outlet.

Pence huffed, "You know talking like that is no way to make friends," he said, standing up to turn on the lights, this kid was infuriating. "And don't lie and say you don't want friends at 'The Heart,' you just don't want your friend's to see you as a minority or weak." He proclaimed, standing at the door. Ricky finally looked up, his eyes widening at the lion, he couldn't be much older the Ricky himself, but his face shone with a calm fury that a parent carries when scolding a child.

"Sorry if I don't want to be the only one of my kind, my age on the entire planet!" Ricky shouted, sitting up, "You have no right to judge me! You had others when you went to our schools, I have strict militant men and women who all have jobs to keep ME company." Of course the lion wouldn't understand, not ever; this new lion would not understand how it feels to be so alone and betrayed.

Pence crossed his arms in front of his chest, ignoring the point that he couldn't know how to counter, "And what wrong with male and females in the military?" he demanded, "That's where my parents are, and they still get to see and love me!" He shouted without thinking, the boy looking hurt. But to be honest it kinda felt good to make the little kid feel something, blank stared annoyed him, "That's right, daddy didn't tell you, 'oh no I have trust issues' 'oh no I'm moving' 'oh no I'm different' Grow the hell up!" Pence fumed staring Ricky down with vicious primal eyes. "You won't get stronger sitting here moping, and you will just be miserable." He paused again, "I don't want a weak, quitter to eat with MY family. We can share tables with failures who tried, over scaredy cats and cowards any day."

The rust haired boy was completely unsure how to respond to the boldness of the lion. In that moment he...he was so human, so normal. He didn't try to wear a mask of perfection and total selfless kindness, he spoke his mind. The wonder of that moment didn't wear off immediately.

Honestly, this lion, the one that screamed at him and essentially told him his dad and him were too distant to do jack shit, and he was a coward was the first Varius he ever felt comfortable around, even if it was just for a moment, and just a minute amount of comfort. He didn't feel like a crazy was hidden away about to strike, no, he held nothing back.

Never the less, tears welled in his eyes as Ricky sat there defeated. Pence was angry, but he wasn't cold, sitting back down on the bed, "I'm sorry, just stop being all doom and gloom okay? My name is Pence, dinner is at seven in room 24-98. My mom likes punctuality," he noted, standing up again to leave, "And by the way, all of your bags are out here, take your time, it's only like, one thirty."

Ricky said nothing as the lion left the room, the door sliding shut with a soft click. Then again he didn't need to say anything, all that needed to be said was said, not sugar coated in the least by that Varius. He had been right of course, Ricky knew, getting up to look at his room for the next few days. Moping wouldn't change anything; now that he got the panic out of his system he knew he needed to at least attempt to be social...or at least productive.

Still even that idea scared him. For the first time in a long time he wished his dad was there to at least be scared with him. Companionship seemed almost holy and sacred now that all forms had been sacrificed. He was the unwilling lamb to the Earth's sin; and these Varius were the all powerful.

With a deep breath he clenched the necklace at his chest, the familiar shape of the hook falling into place in his palm, "Give me strength."