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Kyria Shinzy and Suichi Bezelius © Armand Zimmerman (me) Giné Callarant © Coryn Ragsdale First Draft: December, 2005. Current Draft submitted July 19th, 2005. Locations and technology inspired by Namco's Ace Combat Series (AC04: Shattered Skies and AC5: The Unsung War in particular). * * *

Chapter I: Am I awake, or am I still dreaming? "Surely, one's insanity is by no means uncharted territory..." he said to himself, his voice barely above a whisper. The clock at his bedside read half past three. For the past several nights, his sleep was restless, plagued with ill thoughts and dreams. Tonight was yet another night in which he woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air in a panic from his troubled slumber. "Why is this happening?" he asked himself as he propped himself up with furred hands. Moonlight reflected in his eyes, shimmering lilac swirled with a touch of honey gold. Wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his arm, he pushed himself up out of bed and sluggishly made his way to the bathroom. He flicked on the lights and looked at himself in the mirror, noticing a small gash on his left cheek that was oozing blood ever so slowly. He touched the cut that graced the white fur of his cheeks, causing him to wince in a rush of pain. "This can't be real, how can it be? There's been no one here for days other than myself, after all. But it must be. It stings too much to not be real..." He grabbed a washcloth off the counter and moistened it in the sink, dabbing it across both the white fur of his muzzle and the arctic-blue fur right below his right eye where the gash lie, making him wince yet again. Holding in the stinging pain the cloth gave him, he opened the medicine cabinet above the sink and grabbed a bottle of liquid bandages, applying the substance to the wound groggily... Pushing back his ruffled lilac hair with a hand and clad in nothing but the fur on his body and a pair of boxers, he headed out to the living room, slumping down into his leather recliner. He sat there, pondering what all of this meant, his mind working over the previous nightmare... He replayed it in his mind the best he could. It was nighttime, he recalled, and he was alone, naked. The scene still fresh in his mind, it was rather easy to piece together. Out in the city, Suichi fell to his knees on the asphalt as a voice pierced through the monotonous whirr of the empty cityscape around him... "Suichi, Oui lyh'd buccepmo feh...!" It bellowed in a language unbeknownst to him. He had looked around, bewildered, his heart beating quickly as a panic struck him. He was holding his head, the voice booming against his sensitive eardrums. "Hu syddan fryd oui dno, drec femm uhmo palusa suna byehvim, Suichi!" the voice had boomed once more. "What does it all mean?" he thought. "Why now? I just don't get it." He lifted himself up again, shuffling slowly to his kitchen. He opened the refrigerator door, rummaging for something to eat, to at least fill the void in his stomach in lieu of filling the void in his heart and mind. He fixed himself a sandwich of cheddar, pepper jack, and mozzarella cheeses, topped with brown mustard and a glass of milk. He would decide that he would seek some help, perhaps even some answers, in his quest to see what was happening to him -- why these visions kept haunting his sleep, eating as many questions raced through his mind. But this he would do in the morning, when the sun broke through the darkness of the sky; when he was refreshed. He finished up his meal and put the glass and plate into the dishwasher, trudging back to his bed to snuggle under the thick blankets once more. "Who knows," he said to himself. "Maybe hir and I will finally be able to live in peace together... if I just knew what was going on." He let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and grasped the covers, wrapping himself within them. Slowly but surely, he drifted into unconsciousness once more... * * * He cracked his neck whilst climbing out of bed to curiously peek outside the window of his condominium; an ambulance was heading down the street quickly with a fire truck tailing it closely - the sirens had been what awakened him at 6:32 this morning, and usually did so every other morning. "Wonder who got hurt this time..." he mumbled to himself, the grog still in his eyes. He stretched himself a bit with a lengthy yawn and tugged on a wrinkled pair of olive green slacks he grabbed off the floor, which fitted a little loosely on him - and put his arms through the sleeves of a green hibiscus-patterned button-down as he headed towards the door. The phone rang suddenly, startling him as he nearly trip over a box of random junk he had yet to move elsewhere. "Hello?" he said, mildly surprised that someone was actually calling him so early in the morning. An urgent voice replied; it was a deep Slavic accent and that of someone he knew. "Suichi, you've got to come down to the hospital!" "Giné, is that you? What happened?" His voice trembled, a twinge of panic in his body. "It's Kyria. Shi's been... Well, there was a 911 call near hir house last night, Suichi. Just come down as soon as you can!" The phone clicked, leaving only an ominous dial tone emanating from the receiver. "Kyria..." Suichi hung up the phone, grabbed his car keys and rushed out the door as quickly as his feet would take him. Down the narrow hallway of his building he ran, nearly stumbling down the two flights of stairs to the little two-car "garage" he was assigned when he moved into the condominium. He hurriedly made his way into the driver's seat of his car, a dark green four-door sedan that had gotten a good deal of gas mileage before the Ordean government passed a law stating new cars be required to be built with hydrogen-engines and all old cars retrofitted to meet said law a year ago. The car started up smoothly when he turned the ignition, and Suichi made his way out on to the streets. Usually, he'd always be somewhat surprised how quietly the car ran after he had had it retrofitted, but his mind was racing as he tried to figure out the quickest route to the hospital. Speeding down the street, he made his way to the freeway; it'd be a 15 minute drive, even at 112 kilometer an hour. Finally making his way there, he ran as fast as he could through the front entrance of the St. Verandale Hospital, getting only a few short words out between gasps. "Kyria... Shinzy... Where is shi?" he asked as he put his hands on the reception desk in the lobby. The human receptionist looked at him for a second, typing quickly on the terminal in front of her. "Kyria Shinzy? Shi's on the third floor recovery ward. The elevator is to your left." The receptionist smiled warmly at Suichi as she noticed his expression relax considerably. Suichi nodded with a quick "thanks" and darted off to the elevator. As the elevator doors closed, his thoughts were much calmer than those of the trip over here. "The recovery room the receptionist said; surely that could only mean Kyria will be better, right?" A sigh escaped his lips, pleasant memories of days long past flooding back, as though they were happening right then and there. Suichi stepped out as the doors opened with a ding, immediately noticing how much the hallway reminded him of his childhood home. The walls were adorned with paintings and landscape portraits; flowers and other such things. This was indeed a fine hospital, he would tell himself later. He approached a nearby nurse and asked where he might find Kyria - she pointed to a bed surrounded by a few modest bouquets of flowers and sympathetic cards. Lo and behold, there shi was. He noted to himself, even bandaged up, Kyria was still absolutely gorgeous; auburn hair to the length of the bottom of hir ribs, the fur covering hir shapely body a light orange that faded into a creamy white around the lower half of hir muzzle, around the middle of hir torso and tip of hir tail, soft and silky to the touch though a little matted with blood in places at the time being. Vulpine like Suichi, Kyria was definitely one you couldn't help but notice; Suichi had always had a thing for those that combined both beauty and cuteness, and not only that, Kyria had been the first of at least partially the opposite sex to actually want to be with him in a manner of more than just mere friends, though he was at the time, in dire need of a good friend. For this, he had a special place in his heart and thoughts for hir, more than willing to return any and all the things shi'd done for him, to make sure shi would end up being well once more. He walked up to hir, a sad smile crossing his face as he reached out to stroke hir cheek. "Kyria, you'll be alright. I'll make sure of that, I promise you." he whispered as he stroked hir cheeks and gave a soft kiss to hir forehead. Kyria, albeit unconscious, let out a soft, comforted murr - shi knew those lips all too well, even in hir sleep. The smile on Suichi's lips widened at the sight, when rather suddenly he turned about with a start as he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. "Giné... Thank goodness you called me." Suichi exhaled deeply as his body relaxed and beamed a sad glance towards the husky, who was a good half foot taller than he; whose eyes shone with countless stories, of travels near and far, in their radiant crystal blue glory. It was easy to be put in a daze by those eyes, if you weren't careful. "Shi's going to be alright, Suichi. I just talked to one of the doctors that worked on hir. They said shi's in stable condition, but won't be out of here for about a month," Giné told him with a smile as he wrapped an arm around Suichi and squeezed his whole body. "That- that's wonderful, Giné, but- you're crushing me!" Suichi squeaked out, pinned between Giné's arm and body. Giné was oblivious at first, but quickly eased up as he looked down at the fox pinned under his powerful arm. "Sorry about that... I guess I don't my own strength sometimes, y'know?" "I guess not." Suichi said, glancing back at Kyria. "At least Kyria's going to be alright. I don't know what I would've done if I lost hir..." A question arose in his mind, and he turned his head to ask Giné what was on his mind. "Say, did the doctors tell you? About what happened to hir? I've never seen hir in such a state before..." Suichi was relieved that Kyria would be alright, but he wanted to know what happened; Giné took a moment to recollect what he had been told. "Well, they said Kyria was ambushed before shi got home. By a bunch of those Human Supremacist members that have cropped up since the war escalated... Four stab wounds - all of which managed to avoid hir major organs, surprisingly enough - as well as a few broken bones." Suichi was dismayed; he didn't understand the need for such hatred between the 'Naturals' as they called themselves, and the animal-humanoids; 'Furs' as many referred to them as, though there were plenty of derogatory names for them as well. "Verandale help us all, Giné. I never thought we'd all be reduced to this... this meaningless violence. I thank the heavens that shi is still alive, I really do. You know I'm not a religious man, but... If there is someone watching, I thank them dearly for sparing hir." Suichi said as he went to brush back his vixen's hair, sniffling softly as he did so. He lowered his head down to Kyria's and whispered softly to hir. "I'll stay here with you whenever I can, sweetheart. Like I said before, I'll make sure you get better, my sweet vixen." He gave hir a soft kiss on the cheek before whispering "I love you." into hir ear. Lifting his head once more, he smiled, teary eyed. With a good deal of effort, Kyria opened hir eyes, and beamed a weak smile at hir precious Su. "I love you too, my dear foxy... I love you too..." Kyria said coarsely. The smile that had appeared on Suichi's face right then couldn't have been wider even if he tried. Shi tried to lift hirself up, wincing as shi did so. "Kyria, are you okay? You should stay down for now..." Suichi said, helping hir lay back down. "I... I know, but... I'd like to be in your arms right now, if I could." Kyria mumbled out, sighing in resignation. "I would too, my dear. I would love that dearly, but... for now, just rest. I don't have to be anywhere anytime soon, so just take it easy, alright?" Suichi ran a hand-paw through hir hair, giving hir a light kiss on the lips. Kyria merely nodded with another sigh. "Thank you for being here for me, Su. Thank you so much." Shi said with tears in hir eyes. Suichi stroked hir arm, Giné leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. A small grin crept across his face, and he whispered low enough so the two couldn't hear. "You're a good man, Suichi... Even with everything you've been through in the past, you still manage to have a warm heart. Don't ever lose that, my friend... It's what the world needs most in these times..." With that, Giné walked up to Suichi and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned his head and blinked. "I'm gonna head out, Su. I've got things to finish up back home. You keep Kyria safe now, alright?" He said with a smile as he turned to leave. "Thanks, Giné. I don't know what I'd do without a friend like you." Giné just chuckled, closing the door behind him and walking down the hallway to the elevator.