FSE

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I slept peacefully for the first time in so many weeks. I was actually crying when I woke up, the joy of having rid myself of the thing' that had been haunting my nightmares for so long had me in a sort of daze. It made me skeptical about what was real and what was a dream. When I saw Felix sleeping underneath me, his perfect face almost made me pinch him to make sure he was real. That was before all the memories of the previous night had come rushing back to me.

"Huh... surprised that you're awake this early after all the noise you two made last night." Maxi said from the doorway, making me turn sluggishly in her direction before making the connection. I blushed heavily through my dark fur and smiled sheepishly before noting that she was wearing a traditional hoodie and some sweat pants while the handle of a katana poked over her right shoulder. I guessed that she was getting ready for some training and was about to get off of Felix to join her when he moaned in his sleep and wrapped his arms tighter around my waist, thrusting his hips upward as if he were reliving what had happened yesterday. I heard Maxi laugh and blushed deeper as I put a paw to his temple, letting a small current jolt him awake. His eyes popped open and he looked around in surprise before he noticed me staring down at him with my muzzle an inch from his snout.

"Oh... good morning, Hazel. Last night was... someone's in the room with us, huh?" He asked as he caught the look in my eyes. He looked to his left and saw Maxi standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, a bemused look on her face while her tail swayed slowly behind her. His eyes bulged slightly and he unwound his arms from around my waist before looking around for his clothes. I got up and stretched my arms over my head till they my shoulders popped, not caring if Maxi were still in here or not, though I did know the effect it would have on Felix as I bent down to pick up my shirt, giving him a flattering view of my flower and gem.

"I don't think that's hardly fair for him, Hazel." Maxi called over as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling when I smirked at her. I picked up the rest of my clothes and put them on while Felix struggled to get his shirt on with his wings. I sighed and used my claws to silt holes into the back where his wings could come out easily before standing infront of Maxi with my paws at my sides.

"So, how long do I have till you hand me over to Michael?" I asked seriously, wanting to bring my fighting skills up to what they used to be. Maxi shook her head and looked over at Felix, who had come to stand next to me and had an arm around my waist.

"In a little under forty-eight hours, so it would stand to reason that we should start your training right away. No offense, but after looking over your fight with Dante, you suck. Even I could beat you now." She said with a sheepish grin as I gave her a mock glare and lifted my paws infront of me in an attempt at throttling her, but Felix held me back with a single arm. I gave her a giggle and smiled.

"Okay fine, I'll go through this training, but only if it'll give me a chance to stand up against Michael."

* * *

Over the next day and a half, I went through a rigorous training regiment with Dante and Maxi, re-learning everything about CQC I'd ever learned and learned about different types of weapons so that I could be ready for anything Michael would throw at me. I was barely given anytime to see Felix in between the martial arts classes and weapons training, which struck me as odd. It was as if they didn't want me to see him before they sent me into the lion's den. It was making me angry that I couldn't see him, but I could understand why it would be necessary if... I didn't come back. To prove that I would be able to come back to him, I trained harder and pushed myself to my limits for every exercise I was in, nearly killing myself through the effort, but I wasn't going to let myself die if it was going to hurt the people that I loved. Eventually, Maxi stopped my training because she said the way I was pushing myself was going to kill me before I could even meet Michael. I strongly protested the stop she put on my training, but the minute I was put back into the same room that Felix was in, the fight left me and desire took its place. I had taken him by surprise and we ended up on the floor again, this time with him on top smiling down at me. The next few hours were some of the best in my life, messing around with the one who'd pulled me out of a spiral of off and on depression and brought the old me back to the surface. But underneath the happiness and joy lay a layer of doubt and fear at what I was going to be facing in just a few short hours.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this, Hazel?" Felix asked after our last romp session in his bedroom. I heaved a heavy sigh and nodded as he nuzzled his snout against my cheek sadly. It was taking all my self-control and restraint just to stop myself from hugging him and drawing him close to me, whispering to him that it was going to be all right. Truth was that I had a pretty good chance of being killed today and I didn't want to mar his last memory of me with false hope. He stroked my breasts lightly, as if he were touching a fragile flower, and traced a clawtip around my erect nipple; making me shudder slightly, though for the wrong reasons. The more he touched me, the more I had to repress the urge to stay here with him, to forget about Michael and stay with Felix in the safety of the ship. I slid a finger down his chest, tracing the contours of his muscles and letting my muzzle draw close to his neck to give him a soft nip.

"I know this isn't something either of us want, Felix, but I can't just let my uncle get away with what he's doing to the poor furs he has at his compound. Look at what he did to Dante, to me. I can't have him do that to anyone else; my conscience would plague me endlessly until I did something about it." I whispered sadly as I kissed the hollow on his throat, feeling his jugular move as he swallowed hard. He hugged me closer to him and I rested my head against his shoulder, the tears that he was shedding for me dripping off his cheek and into my hair. It took me a second to realize that I was crying too, my tears directed inward as well as outward. I didn't want to let him know that I thought I wasn't going to make it through this to see him again, so my tears were a good way to cover up the certainty that I was going to die. We stayed like that for a good thirty minutes longer before he tilted my chin up and wiped away the tears still on my cheeks with a finger before giving me gentle yet passionate kiss on the lips, our lips sealed in a sort of goodbye that was unfinished. I caressed his cheek with the palm of my paw and tried to drag out the kiss for as long as I could before I heard a knock at his door. We broke away from each other, longing for more time together as we got dressed in silence. When we were both ready, we shared a brief kiss before we walked paw in paw together to the rear of the ship, where Maxi and Dante were waiting in their flight attire.

"Felix isn't coming with us, is he?" I asked in a tiny, nervous voice as I looked at the straight jacket that Dante was holding in his paws. Maxi shook her head and held up a paw as if to signal someone when a crushing blow hit the back of my neck, pitching me forward onto the floor as my vision blacked out. I knew Felix had done it and I didn't feel betrayed in the least because we had discussed the plan thoroughly before hand.

"Did she prove to be too much trouble for you?" A voice that was poorly masking the obvious excitement that the speaker felt asked while an appraising paw stroked my cheek. I tried to lift my head to see who was talking, but the horrible headache Felix had given me was taking its toll and even the slightest movements were hurting me. The paw on my cheek ran casually through my hair and touched my shoulder in an almost fatherly way before the smell of cigarette smoke entered my nostrils, making my senses alert while my body was still sluggish to react.

"She wasn't to much trouble the closer we got here, though she did put up a wicked fight when we pulled her out of the containment room." Maxi whispered in a strained voice as her paw touched my head. I involuntarily stiffened against her touch and groaned painfully as my head lolled to the side, making the headache even worse.

"Seems she's awake. Give me the lead, Maxi. Your services are no longer required." Michael spoke right next to my ear, as if he had wanted me to hear what he was saying. At the mere mention of the word lead, I wanted to take off running and not look back, but I had to stay in order to do what I came here to do. I opened my eyes and was blinded for a second by the arc lamps lighting the enormous room we were standing in. Infront of me stood Michael, his orange fur strikingly contrasting with the white lab coat and blue jeans he was wearing. His eyes were a strange combination of hazel and green while a scar ran vertically across his left eye, making me shiver as he caught me staring at him. A dark smirk graced his lips and he took the cigarette out of his mouth to blow a cloud of smoke into the air above his head before crushing the spent cig underfoot. "Welcome to your final resting place, my dear. Your mother would've been proud of your sacrifice had she not died so tragically." He said with a sharp tug of the lead, making me yelp painfully as I was dragged forward onto my knees infront of him. I looked up to him with a withering glare in my eyes, but he just laughed and pulled me to my feet with a single paw, staring into my eyes with his as a disapproving sneer claimed his smug features.

"Oh, what's wrong, Michael? Expecting someone else?" I mocked as I struggled against the bonds of the straight jacket. A look of pure hatred flashed in his eyes, but it was gone within the space of a second and a genuine smile took the place of the sneer. The smile caught me off guard and my indifferent fade faltered slightly when he walked around behind me and started unbuckling the restraints on my back.

"It wasn't that at all, Hazel, it's just... I don't know. I guess I got flustered when I saw you looking different than you did when you talked to me before. It almost made me believe that Maxi had tried to pull one over on me. But with that little outburst, I know it's you. Sasha will be so happy that you made it to her awakening." He muttered as the last of the buckles came undone, letting the jacket fall heavily onto the ground. I stretched my arms up until my shoulders popped, my right arm covered with a cloth bracer covering the entirety of the arm up until the fingerless glove covered paw to keep him in the dark about my lost infection. I turned to see him already walking off towards a set of double doors and I quickly jogged after him, not liking to be in the open like that so deep in an unknown building.

"So... what do you do in here by yourself, Michael?" I asked, honestly curious about the experiments' I had heard about in Maxi's memories. The double doors had opened into a dark hallway and it was near pitchblack when the doors closed behind us. I heard a whirr from all around us and felt a tingle run up my entire body as something scanned the both of us. After a couple of minutes the lights glared harshly down onto us and standing there with her hands cupped infront of her was an arctic vixen with silver blonde hair dressed in a black jacket and a pair of jean shorts.

"Welcome, Mrs. Eros and welcome to Master's compound. We have been waiting to meet you for some time." The vixen said with a bow of her head, her voice sounding dead, as if she had completely given up on life. Michael walked towards the vixen and I saw her flinch as he passed, her eyes betraying her horrible fear towards him before the indifferent look was back onto her face.

"Hazel, I'd like you to meet Amber Setzuka. She's going to be your escort around the complex until I need you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some things to take care of for tonight." He said without turning to talk to either of us. I watched him walk away until he turned a corner and let out a heavy sigh of relief as I relaxed a little, letting my shoulders slump slightly and my leg muscles relax.

"Would you like me to show you to your room?" Amber asked, not having moved from her spot since he had left. I was deeply disturbed by the way she was acting and nodded as I walked over to her. Now that I was closer, I could see that she was trembling with fear or anticipation. I gently put my paw on her shoulder and was about to ask what had her so frightened, but she jerked away from me and started walking at a brisk pace down a connecting hallway, only looking back to see if I was still with her or not. I followed her anxiously, wondering what kind of stuff was going on here to turn her into such a scared girl, and nearly didn't see her when she stopped abruptly in the middle of the hall. Before I could do anything, she had broken down into tears against my chest and was hugging me around the waist.

"Umm... I don't know what to say..." I whispered shyly, my arms hovering over her shoulders as I decided to hug her back or not. I decided to hug her and smoothed down her hair while I whispered consoling things to her, not knowing what I was trying to console her of. Amber looked up at me; her eyes rimmed with unshed tears while her shoulders were still trembling. I looked around for anything that seemed suspicious before helping her straighten up. "Tell me all about it once we get to my room, alright? I have a feeling someone's eavesdropping." I whispered as I gently turned her around to the way she was facing. She wiped her eyes on her paw and started walking forward, taking furtive looks back at me every few steps to see if I was still following her before stopping at a door embedded seamlessly into the steel wall. At first, I had to squint to find the door, but as soon as I got near it, the door slid open silently to reveal a sparsely furnished bedroom with a bed, a desk set against the far left corner and a connecting door that probably led to a bathroom. I walked quietly inside and waited for Amber to join me before sitting on the bed with her, my arms automatically around her shoulders to draw her close to me in a comforting embrace.

"Is it okay if I talk now?" She asked in a timid voice, her copper colored eyes staring sadly into mine.

"I'm pretty sure you can, Amber. How come you broke down like that in the hallway? What did he do to you that made you this way?" I asked in a hushed whisper, still holding her close to me. She sucked in a strangled breath and let it out as a choked sob before looking at me with her oddly colored eyes.

"He said it was for science, for the greater good. I don't know why I listened to him... There were so many experiments and so much pain. He hurt us if we didn't give him the results he wanted. Some didn't make it through the first week and those of us who did were stuck in cells until he wanted us for his experiments. He had put me into a cell with a husky named James at first, giving me someone to talk to through the hellish experience. We talked about our lives before this and we had grown pretty close in those weeks together, becoming friends through circumstance, but all that changed when he was taken while I was sleeping." She looked away at the ground and I felt her shoulders shudder under the strain of keeping her emotions bottled up. "I'd woken up alone and feared the worst for him, but he came back only a couple of minutes after I'd gotten up; his white and gray fur all covered in patches of blood while he walked with a limp. I remember asking him if he were all right, but he didn't even seem to acknowledge my existence. He just stared blankly at me and said that everything was fine. I've never been more afraid of a fur in my life, but the look on his face; that blank stare and the dull colored eyes made me have nightmares every night since. I can't even stand to look at him without crying." She sobbed as she leaned against my shoulder and hugged me tightly around the waist, soaking the sleeve of my shirt with her tears.

"It's going to be okay, Amber," I whispered comfortingly as I hugged her closer to me. "Everything is going to be alright. Do you mind telling me a little bit about yourself?" I asked quietly, trying to keep her occupied and take her mind off of James. She sniffled a little as she tried to talk coherently, muddling up a couple words with a few sobs but I could understand her for the most part.

"I'm... eighteen this week... and was born on Katina. I was an okay student in school, though I could've done better... My parents didn't want anything to do with me... when I was born, so I had abuse issues growing up... My little brother was born five years after me and I protected him from our awful parents, though looking at the mess I'm in now, I should've let them beat me..." She said with a humorless laugh as she dried her eyes. "I ran away with him when I was sixteen, determined to get away from our terrible life. We stayed on the run for a couple of months before they caught up with us. They took Nathan away from me and left me alone in the broken down hovel of a building we were using as a home at the time. I thought I was going to die from the pain I felt when I watched them drive away with the only true family I had left. I wandered the streets aimlessly for the next few days after that, trying to sort out what I was going to do with myself when he came into my life. It was somewhat clich, but he saved me from a couple of thugs trying to rape me in a back alley. At first, I thought it was just another thug trying to keep me for himself, but when I saw that he was a badger with a weird, crimson striped muzzle, my doubt went away. He told me his name was Jasper and offered to take me in off the streets. I couldn't think of anything better, cause I was sleeping in a park at the time, so I took him up on his offer and he let me stay with him in his apartment. He got me a job working at a music store with him and we started getting pretty close." I stiffened slightly when she said that but I quickly smothered the feeling, letting her continue.

"Did he ever tell you an excerpt from the play Loveless?" I asked quietly, holding out that it he wouldn't betray that thing we had together. A distant look formed in her eyes before she nodded.

"Yeah, he did. My love, my light, I am blind without you. You make me whole when I am broken and you bring warmth to my cold existence. We dance together in a corona of love and happiness where time means little. We complete one another and not even death will tear us apart. My blade is sheathed in honour of our peace and our hearts beat in synchrony. My love, my light, I hold you close to my heart...' Hazel are... are you crying?" Amber asked, looking up at me with concern in her eyes as I cried silent tears onto the floor. He shared one of the most intimate things we had in common with her. I felt betrayed and hurt, feeling as if all of the time I'd spent obsessing over how my feelings would play out if I ever met him again was for nothing.

"Did Jasper tell you he loved you, Amber?" I asked quietly, my voice barely above a whisper as I stared straight ahead, my body tensing in anticipation for the bomb to be dropped on it. She stayed quiet for a few minutes, as if trying to work out why I had such a reaction to this news.

"He did." She said in a quiet breath. With those two words, my soul seemed to shatter into a million irreparable pieces, leaving the raw core that was still Felix's to claim and build a new shelter for it. I knew Felix was waiting for me when I was done with what I had to do here, but the damage was already done and would fester in me until I met him again. To me, that seemed to be an eternity away. "Did you know Jasper, Hazel?" Amber asked, fearing that she had said something to hurt me. I looked down at her with a destroyed look in my eyes while a hurt smile appeared on my face. I told her about everything me and Jasper had been through together, even the numerous fights we'd gotten into during our friendship. I felt even with my friend's new love sitting next to me cradled in my arms, I found that I couldn't stop loving him. This love was going to stay with me until I died and it wasn't going to let me forget about him any time soon. By the time I reached the part about the last night we'd spent together in the tower, it felt as if part of my soul had been taped back together. It helped me move on knowing that if I could, I would save Amber and make sure that she and Jasper were reunited.

"That's why I reacted so sadly when you told me the excerpt he had said had been his favorite. I agreed with him because it was the final declaration of love between Genesis and his other half, Ashe. It's a beautiful play and when we get out of here, I want you to ask him if he could take you to go see it for me. Could you do that for me, Amber?" I asked, feeling as if Ashe were living through me and I was walking towards the final act; her death at the hands of the one she loved from the start. She nodded and I smiled through my tears as I wiped them away with the back of my paw. There was a soft knock at the door that made us both look up and I saw a husky standing in the doorway with his soulless gray eyes boring their way into mine. I felt Amber stiffen next to me, but I kept a reassuring arm around in case she started crying again.

"Mrs. Eros, Michael is ready to see you now. He asked me to come escort you to the operating room." He stated in a monotone, his face not showing any emotion as he waited for me to follow. I heard Amber gasp, but this was just what I had been seeing in my head for the last few hours. I unlaced my arms from around her shoulders and pried hers from around my waist before giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead and following him out into the hallway. I put my paw on his shoulder to stop him and took off the dog tags that still had Fox's and my names on them before going back into the room to give them to Amber. I placed them in her paw and closed her fingers over them with a smile on my face as I caught her confused look.

"Think of it as a present from me to you and Jasper. He'll know what they mean when he sees them. And when you hear two loud explosions, go to the hanger bay and wait for a dragon named Felix. He'll know what to do." I whispered before going back into the hall and towards my fate. For better or worse, I was going to get Amber back to Jasper. He was my friend and I didn't want him to suffer as he did waiting for me. I'll miss you Jasper, more than you'll know, but I'll miss you all the same... I thought somberly as I followed James into the depths of the facility.

* * *

"Ah, Hazel... so glad that you could make it for the awakening." Michael greeted me with an exuberant hug and a bright smile. It shocked me that he wasn't smoking a cigarette, but I guessed that he didn't want to taint the proceedings with smoke.

"May I ask what part I play in this, Michael?" I asked calmly, but he wasn't paying any attention to me as I stared at a pair of operating tables gleaming sterilely in the lights beaming down onto the entire room. I noticed the tray full of surgical instruments and took note of each one; sizing them up for potential weapon use but deciding that if it came down to it, I'd have to fight him paw to paw.

"You'll find out in due time, my young niece. We are still waiting for the other participant to be brought in." He said cryptically, making me wonder if Sasha were the other participant he was talking about. I felt anxious standing next to him when he was wearing surgical scrubs, though I had resigned to my fate the moment I had agreed to the plan to begin with. A loud clattering noise drew my attention from the tables to the far right wall and I watched as a blue cylinder filled to the brim with stasis gel seemed to float up from a hole in the ground, a wolfess floating in it with her eyes closed and an oxygen mask strapped to her muzzle to keep her alive. The light in the stasis pod made her look as if she had silver hair, where in reality she probably had the same color hair as her fur. I walked over to the tank and put my paw against it, feeling a strange sense of dvu come over me as I stared at her face. I couldn't quite place it, but I knew her from somewhere. I saw Michael's reflection in the glass of the pod and turned to see him motioning to the operating tables. I moved silently towards the closet one and sat down on to its polished surface as I watched him drain the pod and take the wolfess out of it before carrying her over to the table next to me, placing her gently on its surface before smoothing down her hair with a tender look in his eyes. I was anxious to start the plan, but I had to wait for the signal or else the whole thing would be ruined. He walked around to my right side and laid me down onto the tabletop with a guiding paw on my shoulder before putting a mask over my muzzle. The effects of the anesthesia were almost instantaneous and I was feeling light headed before he had even put his surgical mask on.

"You may feel a slight pinch, Hazel, but that will go away after a couple of seconds. Are you ready?" Michael asked as I watched him pick up a scalpel and wondered what he was going to use it for. I gave him a tired nod and focused on keeping my body awake with gentle pulses of electricity. He reached for my bracer and as if on cue, two explosions simultaneously ripped through the complex, setting off every alarm in the place, making my ears ring painfully as Michael look around in surprise. I sat up and wrenched the mask off my face before sliding my arm up the bracer to pull out a foot long combat knife with a black blade on it. I lashed out with it towards his exposed neck to stick it in between his shoulder blades and was surprised to find that I couldn't shove the tip down into his flesh, it just hovered their on the edge of his scrubs. I tried to drive the point down farther, but the knife and my paw wouldn't move no matter how hard I tried.

"What the hell?" I breathed as I brought my other paw around to wrench against the other forcefully, trying to get it to move but it wouldn't budge. I hadn't noticed Michael chuckling, but when he started taking his scrubs off to reveal his creamy white furred chest and black cloth pants, I started paying attention. "What did you do?" I growled through my teeth as I let go of my frozen paw and ignited the other one.

"Temper, temper, Hazel. Wouldn't want you flying off the handle, now do we?" He asked as he pointed at me. I was about to laugh when both my arms were forced out to my sides and my paws dangled uselessly in tight fists. He waved his paw towards one of the walls higher up and I was launched through a glass windowpane out onto the observation deck, shattered glass showering around me and cutting into my body mercilessly. I groaned and crawled to my feet using a nearby chair for support before cupping my paws to my ears to keep the deafening sound of the many alarms from doing any permanent damage. I saw a shadow move on the wall in front of me and brought the knife up in time to catch the blade of a katana that seemed to have appeared out of thin air. It flew away from me after I pushed it back and heard Michael's chuckle ring out around me as the sword, along with a host of daggers and other projectiles, came flying towards me from different parts of the shadowy room. I dove to the floor and covered my head as the weapons flew overhead, thudding metallically against the steel wall as they were embedded into it. I looked up, hoping that the worst of it was over, and was rewarded with the crackle of a fire as a bright white flame erupted on a spot next to my head. I rolled to my side as more jets of flame shot up out of the floor and jumped to my feet before starting a backlash flame to burn out the others before making my way to the doors that meant freedom, not seeing the sickle that spun towards me before it was too late. I screamed in pain as the blade stuck into my side but struggled on until I was in the hallway, leaning against the adjacent wall as I gingerly pulled the sickle out of my side, feeling the injury already knitting itself together as I put a small flame to it to seal it shut.

"How the hell did he do that?!" I gasped as I threw the curved blade down onto the ground with a clatter, panting in pain as a small whir took me off guard. I looked down the length of the hall behind me and saw a grid of twelve lasers appear at the end, the orange beams gleaming evilly in the bright light. "Oh you have got to be kidding me?!" I exclaimed as I built up a charge in my paw and slammed it against the wall, sending thousands of volts through the system to short it out. The laser grid fizzled and died before an eerie glow lit the hall as the emergency lights came on, splashing everything in a soft blue light. When I was sure I wasn't going to collapse from the injury, I started jogging down to the opposite end of the hallway to a closed door that seemed to be my only way out of here. I built up enough of a charge in my palm to activate the door panel and turned it on as I brandished my knife infront of me with the blade backpawed.

The door opened slowly to let me into another hallway, though this one was lined with glass on either side that let me see into the cell that surrounded it. I stepped through tentatively and heard the door slide closed behind me with a low buzzing sound that meant it wasn't going to open again for the time being. I took a couple steps forward and heard a deep, rattling sort of breathing come from my right. I looked out one of the windows and found myself staring at a misty room that wouldn't let me see more than three feet infront of me. I heard the breathing again and looked up at the ceiling this time, but again I couldn't find anything. I felt shivers go down my spine and started walking a little faster towards the end of the hallway, my breath coming out as mist itself the farther I went.

"Oh, what's the matter Hazey... don't you want to stay a while with your father?" A crazed, forebodingly familiar voice asked from just outside the glass wall to my left. I froze in mid-step, remembering the night all to clearly and turned slowly to face my father's demented face, a psychotic smile lighting up his muzzle while his claws dug into the glass between us. His clothes were in tatters while the metallic substance covered every part of his body except for half of his face. I took a step back from him as I heard the glass start to crack under the strain and sprinted away from him down towards the end of the hallway, the sound of shattering glass booming in my ears as he roared excitedly after me. I chanced a look behind me and urged my feet to go faster as I saw him easily catching up to me on all fours. I didn't know how close the door was and slammed into it with a heavy thud that had me back pedaling right into my father's waiting arms. His claws raked my back before I had a chance to roll out of his reach, sending searing waves of pain through my body as I sliced backwards with the knife, catching him on the tip of his muzzle. He laughed cruelly and lunged back at me, but this time I was ready for him. I turned slightly to avoid his charge and let my paw grab the side of his head before slamming it into the glass wall, a spider web of cracks coming from where his head hit. He started struggling against my grip but I held onto him and smashed his head into the wall repeatedly until the wall broke beneath the force of the pounding, sending us both out onto the ground on the other side amid fake grass and other things. I was huddled into a ball on the ground, crying horribly at the fact that I had just killed my father, but that mentality was soon shattered when I heard his rasping breathes again. I looked up to see him crawling towards me; the infected side of his skull destroyed and gave me a look at the sad look in his eyes. I rolled away from him and onto my feet while I held the knife in my paws towards him, the blade wavering as I sobbed at the state he was in. "Kill me... Hazel... Let me... die... I miss your mother..." He said in a sad growl, as he got closer, the forlorn look in his eyes making me cry even harder. I brought the knife up above my head when he was close enough and stabbed it through his skull, easily piercing the thin layer of the infection and into his brain. I wrenched the knife out of his head and quickly dropped the bloody thing onto the ground as I realized what I had just done. I heard a beep and looked back to see that the door had unlocked itself, but I just dropped to my knees and hugged my shoulders, sobbing from both the pain on my back and from the pain in my heart When I cried my fill and couldn't feel any more tears on the way, I wiped my father's blood off onto the grass and ripped off my bracer so I could put the knife back before walking sluggishly towards the hole in the glass and through the open door, leaving my dead father without anyone by his side when he passed on.

The door had led me into another sterile hallway, but this one was much shorter and that came to me as a relief because I was exhausted. I shambled quickly along its length, using the wall as a support to keep myself from falling over. I heard a deep bass humming come from the walls around me and hobbled along to the door quickly before three laser turrets popped up directly above me, swiveling to see where the intruder was. I crouched painfully down and put both paws to the ground, letting electricity pour out of them and short circuit the power in the hallway, the turrets dying instantly with no power flowing through them. I stood back up and powered the door panel up again to let me through and I was thrilled to feel the outside air on my cheeks. I stumbled out into the inky night and looked around at the unfamiliar terrain surrounding me before I started to the west, hugging to the walls so that I'd make my way to the hanger eventually. I kept walking for what seemed like hours thanks to my clawed back, but I finally rounded a corner and found what I was looking for in the form of two giant holes in the wall that looked as if something had taken huge bites out of it. I shuffled along as fast as I could, knowing that the sooner I made the trip, the sooner I could see Felix again and have my back tended to. I made it to the nearest hole and walked into the destroyed hanger bay to find Michael standing in the middle of the room holding Amber off the ground in his paw, her legs barely moving as she struggled for air. He tossed her aside when he noticed me standing there and gave me a smirk as he drew the katana that had attacked me in the observation deck. I growled as I drew the knife and stepped gingerly over to face him, keeping my back from him so he couldn't end this quickly. He struck suddenly and I had to put all my strength behind blocking him to keep from being pushed back. I took my paw off my knife and sent an electric shock into his chest, but he merely brushed it off as nothing and grabbed my paw before throwing me away from him, landing on the floor and sliding across it on my back, leaving a trail of blood behind me as I came to rest against Amber's rasping form. I painfully got back up onto my feet and felt the back side of his paw slam into my chin, knocking me off balance for a few steps before his fist crumpled my stomach, making me sink to my knees infront of him. He pulls me up to a standing position by my hair and hits me with the bottom of the swords handle, feeling a couple of my ribs break on impact.

"Oh come on, Hazel, you have to do better than that if you want to live. I meant what I said when this would be your final resting place, now prove to me that I was wrong and earn your right to live." He hissed into my ear as he let go of my arm and drilled his knee into the bruised flesh of my stomach, making my eyes go wide with fright as I fell down onto my back. I blinked the tears of pain out of my eyes and stiffly got up from the ground before bringing the knife to bear infront of me, my vision swimming as black spots started to appear infront of me while my breath became more labored to maintain. Everything was swaying as I saw him take a few steps back and make as if to sheathe his sword when he slashed it out across my stomach, the blade nowhere near me but a shockwave connected with my chest and sent me flying into a crate, my back arching around the curve of the box and making a nice indent in it to mold around me. I slid from the indent and fell onto all fours, panting hoarsely from the pain and looked up to see Michael walking slowly over to me, the tip of his blade dragging idly against the steel floor; sparks trailing each time it hit. I tried to get up to meet him, but my body wouldn't respond. "Get up."

"I can't... move..." I whimpered as I felt the edge of his blade against my neck. I saw Amber get up out of the corner of my eye, but there wasn't anything I could do for her now.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way, my dear, but if I have to end your life for Sasha to live, then I will do just that. Goodbye Hazel, tell my brother I said hello." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice as he raised the sword slightly to get a clean cut through my spine. I closed my eyes in acceptance and waited for the blade to fall when he gave me a savage kick in the ribcage, knocking me down onto the side as my vision started to fade again. "You don't deserve death yet, Hazel... but I will be there waiting to take what is mine." He whispered next to my ear before running off towards some other part of the complex, leaving Amber and me alone in the hanger to wait for the others to get there. I groaned in pain and vomited up blood as I tried to get up, my broken ribs grating painfully against each other as I stood up and took a couple of steps towards Amber, who was still clutching at her throat as if Michael were still choking her. I stopped a couple of steps away from her and looked down to see a blade coming through my stomach. The blade came free from my stomach with a quick pull and I fell face first onto the unforgiving floor, blood spurting out of my mouth as a broken rib punctured one of my lungs.

I could feel my life leaving my body as my blood started to pool on the floor underneath me and felt my vision cloud then brighten. I looked around and found that I wasn't in any pain anymore. I looked down and saw myself staring at my bloodied and broken body lying on the floor, Amber trying to keep my alive while Michael slowly slinked away into the shadows. I looked away from me and saw Felix running over to my body, his eyes wide with disbelief while he was still dressed in the clothes I'd last seen him in. I watched him cradle my head in his arms as he kneeled down next to me and I felt a pang of guilt for dying on him, but I knew it was going to happen. There was a bright light over my head and I looked up to see that the ceiling was gone, replaced with clouds and an all-consuming light. I shaded my eyes against the light and saw someone coming down to greet me, though I wasn't all that sure if I wanted to be dead yet. There was still so much of my life that I hadn't lived yet, so many things I wanted to do. But my grips on reality started to fade as I looked down at myself one last time, seeing my peaceful face as my arm reached for my body, but I decided it was for the best and let myself be yanked back into the painful world that was my life.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Look, she's coming too." I heard Dante whisper to someone as I groaned in horrible pain and weakly opened my eyes to find that I was back in Felix's bedroom, surrounded by Maxi, Dante, Felix and Amber; all of them looking anxious and sleep deprived. I tried to sit up and instantly went back down when the head rush from the pounding my body had been put through caught up to me, making the blood pound in my ears and threaten to make me throw up. I put my paw to my head and blinked a couple of times before attempting to sit up again, this time Felix helped me up slowly and sat down next to me to keep me from falling over.

"Ugh... how long was I out for?" I rasped, my mouth dry from going so long with anything to drink. Felix handed me a glass of water and I gratefully cupped my paws around it, seeing them bandaged slightly from where the glass had cut into them.

"For a couple of days. We never should've let you go down their alone, Hazel. Next time-" Maxi started, but I gave her a stern glare and she shut her mouth.

"There won't be a next time, guys. Michael made it abundantly clear by using me as an example that we can't stop him. I made out alive because he wants something from me. I don't know what it is, but it has to be something worth keeping me alive for. I don't want any of you going after him without telling me first, got it?" I said angrily, covering up my fear and pain with anger. There was a smattering agreement and I was glad that they would listen to me. Felix cleared his throat and got up off of the bed before he made a big show of ushering everyone out of his room.

"Okay guys, Hazel answered all your questions, but you need to let her rest. Go on get out. It's still my room and I did help pay for a third of this ship, so leave. That means you too, Maxi, now go." He said to all of them as the door closed behind the others. He waited until he was sure that everyone was gone on the other side of the door before locking it with a code he tapped into a keypad next to the door and coming back over to sit next to me, a tortured look on his face as he looked over the injuries I'd suffered during my brief stay with my uncle. I took a sip from the water and waited for my stomach to do flips and make me vomit, so when I didn't, I downed the entire glass and put it back onto the bedside table before looking at Felix and then down at the bandages on my paws, ashamed to look at him. "What are you thinking about, Hazel?" He asked in a quiet voice, his paw sliding over to take mine in his. I looked up with tears rimming my eyes and wiped them away with the back of my bandaged paw before caressing his cheek with my palm.

"Our future and mostly what I would've done if I had died that day. It would've been boring without you there with me." I said quietly, bringing my head closer to his. He smiled gently and caressed my cheek with his free paw.

"Well, we have a long while till we have that hurdle to jump, don't we?" He asked as I tilted my head to the side a little and pressed my lips against his. He was right, we had a long time before either of us died and I wanted to spend as much of the time we had together with him as I possibly could.

I'm sorry for putting you through this but... there is a little bit more to the story than that... enjoy the epilogue/prologue for the next in the series.