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Days flew into weeks of halcyon contentment for the young lovers, and it seemed that each tender thing they learned about each other pushed them closer. With intimacy came argument, but they argued well, and the evenings after a fight just seemed all the sweeter for resolution.

Jim and the Professor worked tirelessly on refining the Clockwork Falcon, and the time was invaluable to the young husky's training in planning his own version. For, as much as he wanted to take Jenny with him on a flight, it was clear that the Professor always wanted to be present in the machine when it was in the air.

Honestly, Jim couldn't fault him on it, considering how important the ornithopter was to him. So instead, the young husky began working on designs for his own flier at his flat, drawing sketch after doodle in his free time trying to make something special for himself. Soon, his jumbled ideas for improvements to the Falcon dissolved away into a solution of clarity, and he quickly came up with something from scratch.

He realized that there was still something missing from the Professor's design, an integration with the machine that was repelled by the mass of levers and buttons controlling it. Jim saw in his mind's eye the perfection of a brand new ornithopter, but he felt that without his own Guilty Gear device it would just have to remain a theory. Until one day...

"Jim, my boy, have you finished with the repairs to that damn boiler yet?" The Professor called with jovial gruffness when he heard Jim returning to the workshop.

"Yes, sir, although I don't think the Smith family believed me when I said it was fixed," Jim laughed back as he worked his way to the Professor.

"Those folks and their kin have never been good clients in all the many times they've called on my services," the old hound chuckled grumpily, "I think the last time I spent the better part of a day just explaining what I was going to do before they'd let me change the tumblers on that creaking carriage of theirs."

"Well, what's done is done," Jim grinned back, "And, they even managed to pay me in full this time. Although not before making me wait until it was heated all the way," he said with an irritated laugh as he put the small bag of coins on the table, "Any other jobs you had planned ahead for today?"

"Well, not really as such," the inventor said with a glittering eye, "But since you mentioned pay, I've been meaning to bring up your wages."

"Oh, I haven't had any trouble with my living, sir," Jim assured even as he hoped for a raise. He wanted to take Jenny out for more than a decent meal and the occasional visit to the music hall or public theatre.

"That's good of you to say, even if it's not really true," the Professor intoned with a small smile, "An apprentice's wage isn't really enough for a young man who wants to treat his sweetheart to a good time."

Jim nodded sheepishly, "Well, now that you mention it, sir, a couple more copper a day wouldn't be too much for my pride to handle."

The old hound's eyes glittered more fiercely, "I wasn't thinking about increasing your wages, actually. I was thinking about giving you the materials to build your own flier," he chuckled at Jim's astonishment, "It's your birthday coming up the Friday next, and I've already constructed you another prototype of the Guilty Gear."

Jim couldn't believe it, he stammered in delighted confusion, "Oh, sir, but that's too much. I couldn't possibly..."

"Hush, lad," the hound interrupted with a proud wave, "You've already become more than an apprentice to me, and it's time that I start treating you that way."

"Sir, I..." Jim couldn't think of how to respond.

"You see, my Emma and I...we never had children," the Professor continued regretfully as old pain broke across his grumpy face, "And when I saw you at the Academy and heard about your parents...Well, I thought I'd give you a chance, and myself as well," he rubbed his cheek in thought. "You became like the son I never had, Jim. And it's taken me a while to admit this, but you...you made me feel like..." a tear dripped down his cheek, "...You made me feel like I hadn't missed out after all; like I hadn't lost the chance to see myself in someone I couldn't be more proud of."

Jim couldn't speak, his lips just tightened as he tried to hold back tears of his own. His mind yelled at him: Just say how he's made you proud of yourself. Say how his approval is everything. Say that you love him because he's the father you would have chosen.

"Professor...I...," he faltered, "I...You saved me. You found me and gave me a life that has made me happier than I ever thought possible...I..." but he fell silent and looked at the floor tearfully.

"Thank you, lad," the Professor whispered as he put a paw on Jim's narrow shoulder, "Thank you for making an old dog very happy too..."

"Ahem," the hound cleared his throat wiped his cheek hurriedly, "But I...also need to get you to stop badgering me about taking this vixen of yours up in my Clockwork Falcon," the Professor said with a grumpy smile, "So what say you, my boy? Will you accept a Guilty Gear device of your very own?"

Jim quickly ground his paws against his eyes and looked back up with beaming appreciation, "I would like that very much. Thank you..." then more heartily, "And she's a wolf, not a vixen, sir."

The Professor barked a laugh and clapped his paw on Jim's shoulder again, "Well why don't you invite her to supper tomorrow so I can see for myself. Although, I expressly forbid you from putting me off my meal with any nauseating displays of puerile affection," he said with twinkling grouchiness. "For now, lets go look at some of your ideas for your own machine."

And so the mentor and his apprentice went about planning Jim's very own flying machine, with the ecstatic husky eagerly gushing his ideas and theories long into the afternoon. The Professor let Jim off work early to ask Jenny to an evening meal the next day, and he eagerly rushed to her bakery with thoughts of flying with her speeding him forward.

Unfortunately, Jim arrived at the bakery not to joyous celebration, but more tears.

"Jenny! Jenny, sweetheart!" Jim called happily into the shop.

"Back here, my love..." he heard from the kitchen. Jenny's voice was raspy as if she had been crying, and Jim noticed with a start that the usually bustling shop was quite empty.

"Darling? What's wrong?" he asked softly as he went through to the kitchen.

Jenny was sitting with her sister on the bench at the back, they were holding each other as Julie dried her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Julie's husband has been injured in combat, the Lowtack Empire has started an invasion of the outlying provinces," Jenny answered tearfully.

"Oh, Julie, I'm so sorry," Jim rushed forward and kneeled in front of the older wolf, "Do they know if he'll be alright?" he asked gently as he picked up her paw.

Julie sniffled into the handkerchief, "Oh, my dear, I don't know why I'm making such a fuss," she said wetly, "They have him in hospital and he should be alright...I'm just...I'm so worried about him..." she wept softly again.

"I'm glad he's okay, Julie," Jim said patting her paw while not quite sure why she seemed so inconsolable. Then something Jenny had said clicked in his mind, "Holy Hell, did you say Lowtack's invaded?" He said worriedly, "Why haven't we heard about this? I just passed the newsstand and there wasn't any word of an invasion!"

"It's not that kind of war, dear," Julie sniffled, "The Imperium and Lowtack have been eyeing each other for the better part of a decade, and this first real conflict...didn't go well for our side," Julie seemed to settle a bit as she explained, "I only found out because Marcus sent an immediate post to say he was still alive, but the government seems to want to keep it hushed as long as they can."

"But why? Why wouldn't they want the people to be ready for war?" Jim asked dumbfounded.

"Oh, it'll get out soon enough, dear. They don't want to send everyone in a tizzy over the new weapons Lowtack has," Julie continued nervously, "It seems they have some kind of fast war machine that flies through the air and can drop explosives on whatever...whoever they want..." she started crying again.

Jim was numb. Lowtack had flying machines? How? Of course they must've been working on something like that for a while, just like he and the Professor. But the fact that they were revealed in combat within weeks of finishing the Clockwork Falcon...that couldn't be a coincidence, could it? As if guessing his train of thought, Jenny put her paw on his cheek.

"Jim, do you know anything about this? You and the Professor just made a flying machine too..."

Jim was flabbergasted. What was she saying? Did she think that the Professor could have given technology to an enemy empire? No...No, that's not what she meant. She's upset, I'm upset too; she just wants to know the same things I do.

"I haven't a clue, sweetheart. I was just thinking how impossible it was that the Prof' and I could make our prototype so close to when Lowtack attacked us," he brow furrowed in thought, "It's very strange...I need to know what their design looks like. But Julie," he implored her with his eyes, "You have to believe the Professor and I had nothing to do with this--"

She halted him with her gaze, "Jim...Jim, my dear, You mustn't think I could ever suspect...I know you would never help in something like this. And if your Professor is anything at all like you, I'd stake my life on the same for him. I'm worried for you, dear. I'm worried for my Marcus...I'm worried about..." her tears began again and she quickly buried her face in the handkerchief.

Jenny rubbed her shoulder gently as she held back her own tears, "Jim, my love. I hope I don't have to say that I'm not accusing you either...This is just really scary because Julie is planning to go stay with Marcus...and they don't know where these new machines could strike next," she bit her lip as the gravity of never seeing her sister again surfaced as a possibility.

"Oh, Julie..." Jim couldn't think of what to say, yet again. Should he encourage her to go? Should he say it was too dangerous? It wasn't his decision, what could he say...

"I know it's not ideal," Julie whispered as some of her customary determination resurfaced, "But I have to go to Marcus, I have to be there for my husband and they can't risk moving him from the hospital yet," she wiped her nose, "But I'll be alright, my dears. I've had to get out of more than one scrape in my life," she said with a wet smile.

Jim didn't think that there was much one could do against death dropped from the sky, but he gave her a bracing smile and leaned forward to embrace her.

Julie patted his head appreciatively, and he felt a tear working into the fur of his neck. But when he pulled away, she had not lost her determination, "Well, my darlings, I think I've had enough of a sog for this evening," she sniffled despite herself, "Now I've got to go pack; I'm leaving on the earliest train I can tonight before the word gets out and floods the lines."

The sombre trio stood and went up to the flat to help her get ready.

"I am sorry to be leaving you in the lurch like this again, dearie," Julie said with forced levity as a cab attendant started loading her luggage into the carriage, "Here I am not a month back from holiday and I'm off again on another one."

"It couldn't be anything farther from another holiday, dearheart," Jenny whispered as she embraced her sister.

"Yes, but all the same," Julie replied as she angrily fought back more tears, "I'll write as often as I can, but I won't be able to say too much about what's happening and they might not be able to get letters back to us...So I'd better not come back and find out that you haven't taken a day for yourself to go larking about with this gorper here," she chortled sadly as she took Jim's paw in her own, "Just put up a note saying you're redecorating or something. I need to know my precious little couple aren't going to lose each other on my account," she finished with a teary smile.

"I was already planning to scarper with her tomorrow for supper," Jim said with forced cheer, "We might as well make a day of it."

Jenny smiled, but the corners of her mouth were quickly jerked down as she held back from weeping, "Give this one an inch..." she tried to joke before rushing back into Julies arms, "Please...please stay safe...please..." she whispered into her shoulder.

"Oh, dearie...my darling Jennifer," the lady wolf sighed through renewed tears on her face, "Now come on, the train's not going to wait all day," she said as she gently kissed her muzzle and nudged her towards Jim, "I love you, darling, and I'll be back before you can even miss me."

Jim wrapped his arms around Jenny but kept facing her sister, "Goodbye, Julie. Tell Marcus I said to heal soon and good luck."

"Good bye, dearheart, I love you," Jenny gasped as Julie climbed into the cab.

The young coupled waved at the darkened carriage as the cab began to carry Julie off into the night.

"I'm so glad you're, here, my love," Jenny whispered softly, "I don't know if I could've said goodbye to her on my own."

"She'll be fine, you'll see," Jim said through his own uncertainty, "Lowtack's no peach, but they'd be mad to attack a hospital. She'll be fine, I'm certain.

Jenny turned into him and buried her head in his chest, "Stay with me tonight...please...I don't want to be alone..."

Jim snorted as if insulted, "And I was just about to invite myself up. Can't a bloke get a word in edgewise around here?"

She smiled into his shirt dolefully and they went back into the bakery together.