FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Part 30 - From The Ashes

(Alexei)

Alexei's workshop smouldered in the streetlights' glow; the fire brigade arriving too late to prevent the flames from reducing it to a charred, broken shell. His apartment sat perched precariously above, now little more than blackened wood and brickwork accompanied by shattered windows and seared roof tiles.

Even as he sat across the street, in the back of the ambulance that arrived with the blaring parade of fire trucks, Alexei could tell that nothing of either floor had survived the blaze.

"It is all gone," he croaked tearfully, averting his eyes with a chesty cough. "Everything... gone. What will I do?"

"At least..." Erik said from just outside, drifting off as he rubbed at the bandage that nursed his burnt left paw. "...Everyone is safe." His eyeline drifted down to the floor, to which Alexei responded in kind. In doing so, the wolf exposed the patch of dressing that covered the head wound sustained from Yuri's sudden first strike.

They watched a pair of Polcian paramedics drape a thin blanket over Nathan, guiding him to a small bed organised in a protective alcove on the opposite side of the ambulance. A set of scaled-down medical equipment also sat within, providing a safe environment for those of a smaller stature to both treat and be treated.

The sight whisked Alexei back to his childhood, back to the ward he'd called home for several weeks following the car accident that claimed his parents. He remembered the Polcian doctors shuffling about, working in tandem with their Velikan colleagues and equipment as they aided his slow, but steady recovery. It'd been the truest example of Polcian and Velikan cooperation Alexei had seen before and since; all coming about to overcome pain and adversity. With his home and business in ruin, and with Nathan lying injured beside him, he couldn't help wonder whether it would be possible for this too to be overcome together.

"I want to ask..." Alexei raised his head to face Erik again, pulling the sheet covering his bare chest tighter. "How did you know to come? It is the middle of the night."

His friend's mouth twisted with a sad smile. "I overheard Yuri on his phone this evening, just as I was heading to sleep. I was in my room and he was outside, walking away from the shed in the backyard. As I've said, he's not home often these days, so I was instantly suspicious." Erik stopped to draw breath, as if trying to gather the strength to continue. "I saw what looked to be a crowbar in his paws; I guess it was to get inside the shop... my brother never has done subtle." He chuckled shortly amid awkward silence; his humour understandably falling flat. "Well... I heard him say over his phone... that you were 'going to get what you deserved'."

Hatred clenched Alexei's fists, but he didn't react otherwise.

"Soon after, a car arrived. Yuri got in and he sped away. I tried to call to warn you, but you didn't pick up."

"My phone was off," he murmured despondently, remembering how he'd sought to avoid speaking to Erik following Nathan's abduction.

"I ran here as fast as I could, but by the time I arrived... everything was burning. I cannot believe that he and his gang... that he has done this..."

The sound of yet more sirens approaching filled the night air, perking Alexei's ears. "You have called the police, also?"

"No... I only called for the fire department... I didn't want... I--"

"You would still protect him, even after this?" His growling knocked Erik aback, forcing him into a cowering backward step. "He almost killed us! Everything I own has burned to the ground, and you--"

"I _did_want to protect him," the leopard squealed, countering his retreat with a bold lurch forward, "but not anymore. Not after this. I could have stopped... if I had told police earlier... I'm sorry, Alex, Nate." He looked back down to the little Polcian alcove. "If I knew it would have come to this..."

"You didn't set the fire," Nathan replied gently from his bed, wincing as one of the paramedics, a panther, tended to his painful legs.

It took the time required for Alexei, still wheezing from the smoke, to be administered a dose of oxygen for the source of the sirens to become visible. A solitary police patrol car rolled down the street, bathing the surrounding houses with a persistent flash of blue. Taking care of the locals still rubbernecking at the scene, it pulled up a short distance away from the rear of the ambulance.

"At last," Erik grumbled.

Alexei waited for the vixen paramedic treating him to turn away, at which point he pulled the oxygen mask from his muzzle. "I thought you said you did not call them?"

"I did, Alex," Nathan chimed from below. "Don't you remember? When you headed downstairs to investigate."

"Oh," he replied, reaching to pat at the gauze covering his head wound. "No... I do not remember very much from after we woke this evening."

A pair of uniformed officers, a big elk and a smaller otter, climbed slowly from the car. After taking a brief glance at the burnt out building, the larger of the two began speaking into his radio. His partner meanwhile padded over towards the group of firefighters tidying their equipment away into their trucks.

"Too bad you couldn't get here before, huh!?"

Alexei's gaze bolted downwards, spotting Nathan now leaning to peer outside from atop his bed. "You should've gone and arrested the psychos responsible for this long before now!"

The elk stowed his radio, turning to the ambulance.

"Nate," he whined. "This will not help."

Nathan stopped, but only to choke out a cough. "If you didn't hate us Polcians so much, this wouldn't have happened!"

Walking back to the car, the shorter otter joined his partner in glaring into the ambulance.

"If you'd done something... If you'd just done something! Tell me I'm wrong!"

"Sir," the tall elk gruffed, "we will come for your questions at hospital."

"Nate, please!" Alexei pleaded. "After all that has happened... Do not get into trouble."

Nathan finally glanced upward with folded ears, letting out another, smaller cough. "S-sorry, Alex."

The officers soon turned to engage in conversation together, any risk of the evening becoming even worse by their taking exception to the angry husky seemingly dissipating.

Another set of strobing blue lights soon grabbed the attention of Nathan, Alexei and Erik, pulling their collective gaze back towards the end of the street.

"What the hell's going on?" the leopard muttered, still standing by the ambulance's rear door. A large police transporter parted the thinning crowd of onlookers, wailing to a halt beside the parked squad car. "Why do they need one of those--?"

"Get off me!" A loud scuffle echoed out from the dark alleyway beside Alexei's ruined home, the grinding of resistant footsteps upon concrete growing ever louder. "I have done nothing!"

A trio of silhouetted figures soon emerged from the smoky alley, wading out into the cold glare of the surrounding streetlights. Another pair of police officers, a broad brown bull and an even larger polar bear, each had their arms wrapped around a viciously flailing, visibly outraged tiger. Yuri.

"I was not trying to hide away," he bellowed, thrashing away in a futile attempt to get free of his escort. "I would like to see the proof you have that I am the one responsible for this!"

"There is plenty, Yuri!" A scowl flashed across Erik's muzzle. "You are getting what you deserve for this."

"Erik?" Yuri searched the street, eventually finding his brother beside the ambulance. A slideshow of shock, sorrow then rage played out upon the tiger's face. "You... fucking Polcian lover! You are as bad as them!"

"Y-you're fucked in the head," Erik cried in response, the anger in his own voice wavering. As much as he'd been hurt by him, mentally if not physically, to watch his blood being carted off by the police couldn't have been easy. "Ever since... I... don't even recognise you any more."

Yuri didn't respond, focusing his energy on lashing out at the bulky police officers manhandling him towards the waiting transporter.

"Looks like trying to get even with me cost him in the end," Nathan muttered. "Too busy stepping on me instead of running away with the rest of those pricks."

"Wait." Alexei's ears folded. "He stepped on you?"

The little husky's ears followed suit. "Just before Erik showed up... That's how I hurt my legs."

"Oh my gods." Ignoring the vixen paramedic returning to his bedside, as well as the two smaller medical workers below, he removed his mask and stood up from the bed.

"Sir!" squeaked one of the Polcians, a ferret, just as Alexei planted his footpaws down behind him. "Please, watch your step."

"Excuse me," he replied, crouching down towards the compartment his husky lied within. "This will take just a moment." With a single finger, he rubbed at Nathan's rounded little stomach until he drew from him a contented murmur. "I am so sorry you have to suffer that--"

"Return to the bed, please," commanded the Velikan vixen, soft yet forcefully. "You both need further treatment."

"I'll be okay, Alex," Nathan said softly, reaching his little arms up to hug at the wolf's digit.

"Still... I--"

"Please. We must treat you further for the smoke you have inhaled."

In the end, Alexei had no choice but to comply with the medical team's demands, returning to his bed just in time to see Yuri struggling with even greater vigour beside the police van.

"You think I'm the only one?" the tiger cried at no-one in particular, pushing his foot against the vehicle's wheel arch to prevent the officers from pushing him around to the rear. "It is not just me who feels this way! You may be happy to watch Polcians come here, sit back as they push us out of work and into poverty. People like you, like my father, you are as bad as them! I tell you, people like me won't let it happen. People like me will take a stand, because no-one else will! The VPU will be in power one day-- Get the fuck off!"

The bulky patrolmen holding Yuri finally ceased his jabbering rant, literally lifting him up and shoving him into the police transport before climbing inside themselves.

Screaming sirens and flashes of blue returned to the fill the street, the police van chugging into life before speeding off into the night.

Alexei, Nathan and Erik all looked to one another, the only sound punctuating the sterile air of the ambulance being that of the paramedics going about their business of care.

"It's probably best that I didn't understand all that, right?" the husky muttered from his bed below.

"He... was just ranting," Erik replied, visibly shaken by the scene. "Not worth thinking about."

"It is over now, Nate," Alexei added. "For good this time." He turned to look outside. "I want to thank you, Erik... For saving our lives." Doing his best to force a smile amid the pain of the present, he sat up and offered out a paw.

"You're welcome." Erik smiled back, stepping up into the ambulance. "I'm just glad you're alright. Both of you." They grasped paws firmly, eyes locking resolutely.

"I'm sorry, sir," stated the vixen tending Alexei. "You cannot be in here."

He quickly retreated outside, crouching to bring his sorrowful eyes closer to Nathan's level. "Nate... again, I'm sorry for what my brother did... for not trying to stop him before all of this happened."

Alexei looked down to his husky just as the little Polcian medics finished up administering him his own dose of oxygen.

"And again, you didn't do this." Nathan, too, extended a paw, prompting Erik to smile and offer out a finger for him to grab and shake. "If it wasn't for you... I'd... we'd... Thank you, Erik."

Erik's happy expression faded as he returned to stand. "It's time I did what I should have done a long time before." He glanced over to the two officers beside their patrol car. "I'll talk to them before they leave to speak to you at the hospital."

"About Yuri?" Alexei cocked his head. "He is already in custody."

"Yes... but I want to tell them what I know." Erik's glum face gave away the heaviness in his heart. "Even with that outburst just now, I can't risk him getting away with what he's done... Not any more."

Without out another word, he paced over to the officers, quickly winning their attention. Before being carted further into the ambulance, the last thing Alexei saw of them was the otter purposefully whipping out his notebook in reaction to Erik's words.

"We will leave for the hospital shortly," the vixen medic stated gently, locking the wheels of the bed. "One more round of oxygen before this."

Alexei remained quiet as the mask returned to cover his muzzle, peering down at Nathan while he too received a final dose.

"So," the husky muttered at the ferret removing his mask. "Are you here because none of the Velikans'll touch me?"

"Standard procedure for Polcian callouts," answered the medic. "Allows for easier treatment, given the size difference."

"Make sense, I guess... How many callouts do you get for Polcians attacked by Velikans."

The paramedic didn't reply straight off, turning to help his partner pack both the mask and the oxygen canisters away within the alcove. "Honestly, not many at all."

"Really?"

"Most Polcians don't often venture off outside the districts or downtown areas."

"Right. So, we're okay here, as long as we stay in our bubble and don't interact with the _real_Velika?" Nathan gave a large sigh, shifting in his bed. "What kind of life is that?"

Alexei's ears dipped, sensing his husky's hostility. He wanted to come forth with a reply that would offer Nathan reassurance; one that would help improve his opinion of Velika, its people and their treatment of Polcians. As hard as he tried however, Alexei just couldn't muster a means to do that; not while everything he owned still smouldered outside.

After a minute or so, the Polcian medics finished clearing their equipment away. Turning from the storage cabinets along the wall, the panther returned to Nathan's bedside. "You and your friend are going to be fine, but we'll take you to hospital to get you both checked out properly and make sure there's no lasting damage."

"The lasting damage will be to Alex's home... his livelihood," the husky muttered quietly to himself, only just audible to the wolf's sharp ears. "It's all gone and it's all my fault."

"This will be enough for now," stated the vixen treating Alexei, slipping the mask from his muzzle.

He could feel his eyes tearing up, the weight of everything pressing down and crushing him with emotion. He wiped his face, sniffling loud enough for Nathan to hear it.

"I'm so sorry for this, Alex," the little husky whined, staring up with bloodshot blue eyes. "If it wasn't for me yelling at those guys in the first place..."

Alexei winced, processing that for the briefest of seconds. "No... what has happened tonight is not your fault. You yelled at them, yes, but they are the ones who caused the fire. Never apologise for it again."

"Not only that... I couldn't do what Erik did. I couldn't pick you up and pull you to safety. If not for him... you..."

"Perhaps, but... I could hear you. At least... I think so. I could hear you calling out, but I could not wake." Alexei sighed, taking another wipe at his watery eyes. "Even though I would never wish for you to get hurt by doing something so silly... You came for me, and you stayed with me. It is more than most would have done. Your size did not stop you from doing this."

Nathan's eyes brightened, a ray of happiness breaking through the clouds of his sorrow. "I wouldn't have left you alone in there. Never in a million years!"

Alexei waited until the two Polcian paramedics moved to the other side of their compartment again. Against his better judgement, he promptly sat up from his bed and leaned down, scooping his husky up from his bed with the gentlest of touches.

"Hey!" the ferret squeaked. "We're trying to work here, damn it!"

"Please!" groaned his partner. "He needs to be here for when we travel to the hospital!"

The wolf ignored the pleas from the little medics below, bringing Nathan up to his chest ruff. For the first time in what seemed a lifetime, he gave a sigh of contentment, moving to nose at his husky's ears.

"I don't think they could stop a big, strong wolf like you," Nathan whispered with a chuckle, licking at Alexei's nose.

"I am thinking you are right," he replied, licking back at his husky's muzzle. "Even if they were my size, they could not."

"Sir," the Velikan vixen grumbled. "Please let your friend return to the Polcian section."

"He is not my friend," Alexei retorted sternly. "He is my boyfriend."

"Is... this you formally asking me out?"

He didn't answer with words, nosing Nathan's snout until their tips met. With no regard to their surroundings, they locked together in a kiss until the protestations and problems around them faded into nothing.

"Let me through!" a familiar voice snarled from outside, quickly approaching the open doors of the ambulance. Even so, Alexei didn't break early, only turning to the doorway once his smiling husky had pulled away with a loving grumble.

If the kiss hadn't succeeded in sending his heart racing, the sight that greeted him from outside certainly did. "Grandfather?"

Maxim's expression quickly switched from one of concern to shock. "...A-Alexei."

Neither the younger wolf nor his husky replied, their affectionate embrace continuing long after their kiss had ended.

"For the final time," the vixen medic moaned. "You both need to be in your own beds."

The couple gazed deeply into one another's eyes, rubbing noses until Alexei begrudgingly lowered Nathan back down to his bed.

"What... what has happened here?" Maxim muttered, despair gripping his voice. "What has happened to our store? Are... you okay?"

Alexei's ears folded, the absence of his ruined home and livelihood from his mind lasting but a moment. "How did you know of this?"

"Erik called me..." The elder wolf looked close to tears himself. "How... has this happened?"

'Seems Erik called everyone but the police,' Alexei grumbled internally, though he did genuinely appreciate his grandfather's presence in this time of need. After their heated argument, he'd begun to wonder if he'd ever see him again. "It was--"

"Sir, you cannot be in here," the vixen stated, cutting him off. "We are leaving now."

"I am his grandfather!" Maxim roared, setting himself down defiantly upon the ledge built into the interior wall. "I will travel with him."

"Fine, okay," the medic groaned, signalling to the driver with an exasperated wave.

The elder wolf grunted, unable to hide a sneer as he cast his green-yellow eyes down to Nathan in the Polcian alcove. "So..." He turned expectantly towards his grandson, expression softening. "What has happened here?"

"I will tell you," Alexei muttered, jolting in shock at the ambulance doors slamming. In that moment, he wondered just how much of his grandfather's despair had been over the sight of him kissing Nathan again. "I will tell you... all that has happened."