Fox Ball
The Living Dead

I didn’t know how to feel. Part of me was ecstatic that my brother was indeed alive. The other part of me was consumed with sadness at the thought of losing my love. I looked over to where Guide had been standing during the fight, only to see that he was already staring at me. Actually, so was Derek and Talia. Their eyebrows were raised in something akin to astonishment and a wee bit of anger. I could only sigh, running a hand through my matted hair. Exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks and I fell to my back as my legs gave out, the breath leaving my lungs. I sat up, trying to catch my breath with my arms over my head, closing my eyes. I opened them with a start as glowing green eyes, the eyes that raised me, the eyes that loved me, the eyes that no longer showed any sign of my brother, appeared behind my lids. A wave of depression hit me all at once, I was truly alone in this world. I had no family left.

By the time I had gathered my breath, Guide, Talia, and Derek were surrounding me, looks of concern marring the elder’s face as well as my best friend’s, frustration and worry working over the younger’s. I knew what he felt, not knowing what was happening to his sister. Not knowing if she’s going to come back alive or mutated in some way. We truly had no idea what was occurring behind the stone walls of the castle.

“What the hell was that?” Derek was the first one to speak up. His voice was warbled with frustration and anger. I tried hard not to fault him for that. “We almost had the beast. Why did you make us stop?”

I took a deep breath, unsure how I was going to explain what I had seen in my vision. I decided to just start at the beginning. “I had a vision a couple days ago, before we came to get you from Earth, that showed all of you being destroyed by the fox. Rose,” pain flashed across his face at the mention of his missing sister, “said something to it. I didn’t know what she had said until today. She had said ‘Hello Tyler’.”

“So what you’re saying is that…thing is actually your brother?” Guide spoke from my right.

I nodded in acquiescence, before looking back to the ground, digging my nails into the fabric of my dirty jeans. You would think that the thought of Tyler being alive would fill me with a sense of relief and joy, but the thought only made dread and something akin to sadness fill my stomach. Just the thought was enough to make me want to lose my lunch.

“But that doesn’t make sense. We saw Peter kill him with our own eyes. How is he that creature?”

I could only shrug, that’s what I was trying to figure out myself. There was no way that Tyler could be alive, is there?

Guide continued speaking as if he hadn’t seen my shrug. “Unless…”

This piqued my interest. “Unless what?”

“Unless he was using an illusion to make us think that Tyler had been killed.” A thoughtful expression marred his features. He was silent for a couple moments, lost in thought. “It’s possible, that’s for sure.”

The dread that had already spread throughout my stomach began shifting into every atom of my body. If Peter could alter our realities in such a way, there was no telling what else he could do. “There’s no way we’re going to defeat him, is there?” My voice caught with emotion as tears filled my eyes. I had to beat him, if not for myself, but for my family. For all the families of those that Peter has destroyed. He couldn’t be allowed to play God.

An air of defeat singed the world around us as our gazes all fell downward. Derek thinking of his sister, me my brother, Talia was probably thinking of ways to break every bone in Peter’s body, and Guide…there was no telling what he was thinking. Derek was once again the first to break the silence. “If your brother is that fox-beast, then Peter had to have created him. If he created him, there must be some way of turning him back.” Hope glistened in his voice, causing me to look up at him.

“That thing may have once been my brother, but there is nothing of him left. He would never hurt anyone, even if he was brainwashed or programmed or whatever. There is no way he could hurt me.” The scratches that had once been scarring my back burned. I knew there was no longer anything there, but it felt as though I had been attacked all over again.

“That brings me to my original question then. Why did you make us stop when we could have killed that thing?” Frustration mingled with his tone.

“I just…I…” I couldn’t think of any reason that didn’t sound completely self-serving and selfish. I decided to just go with the truth. “I just…I couldn’t watch him die again. Not again.” My voice caught on the word ‘die’, a single tear rolling down the planes of my face.

“Well, because of you, now my sister is gone.” He spat with acid dripping from every word. He started walking away, Talia making quick work to follow him. She glanced back at me, worry etching her brows before facing the opposite direction and following him down toward the beach.

This only brought a small smile to my face. Talia had always been the softy. Sure, she looked intimidating and she could definitely bite if someone she loved got hurt, but she has always been the one, out of the two of us, that wanted to help others, especially if they were in pain. It’s one of the things I admired most about her.

Guide seemed to break out of his trance in that moment. “Don’t let him bring you down. You did what any one of us would have done given the situation.”

I could only sigh. I knew that, but I couldn’t help the twinge of guilt that pulled at my heartstrings at the thought of Rose. “He’s not wrong though…” was all I could say.

Guide seemed to understand because he didn’t say anything else on the subject.

“So what did you find out when you went on your little thinking expedition?” I tried to make light of the situation, but it fell on deaf ears. Guide only gave me a flat look before looking toward where the sun was setting. A cool breeze began to waft through the air, tangling my already matted hair against my skull and causing goosebumps to erupt across my flesh. I only sighed again, looking back toward the weed encompassed earth.

“If he was using an illusion to make us think that Tyler had died,” another pang of sadness plummeted my heart into my stomach, “then that means he’s a lot more powerful than we originally thought. That level of illusion is almost impossible for someone harboring a dark spirit. You see, Nogitsunes thrive on the reality of their cruelties, they are not one for illusions. The fact that he could do that makes me shudder thinking of what else he could do.”

This did actually make me shudder. I didn’t even want to think about it.

“We will have to be extremely careful if we are to defeat this man and make it out alive. We can’t allow anything to cloud our judgment. He could be watching us right now and we wouldn’t even know it. With this level of illusion, he could be standing before you and you wouldn’t even know it.”

Fear mingled with the sadness that had made it’s home in the pit of my stomach. I had no idea how we were going to do this. It all seemed so impossible. The thought of my family popped into my mind, giving me the blind courage to speak. “We know he has one weakness; the Kitsune’s Ball. We just have to find that, and destroy it. Sounds easy enough.” Even to my own ears, I could tell that I didn’t even believe the words I was saying, much less having enough conviction to convince Guide.

Guide smiled at that, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. “You already know what and where they are, don’t you, dear child?”

This time, when I smiled, it actually reached my eyes. “You bet your last remaining hip on it.”

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