FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A Wonderful Life

Book 3: Persistence

Chapter 1 Adjustments

Two Days before Sean's 19th Birthday, Federal Military Academy Conakry 1223 Military Time

Three months, three long months and Sean was still angry and reeling from his breakup with Sarah. Nothing good could have come from it and the fact that the day after their breakup Sarah had left early for college had only furthered incensed him. Having had sufficient time to "steam" Sean had, to some extent, made up his mind to the events, and, wrongly, decided that Sarah had acted irrationally and from then on he would have to learn to live without her. Unfortunately for the young fox, this was proving quite troublesome.

The problems began right away for Sean, mainly in the form of nightmares, insomnia, and, although he kept it hidden, a crying fit over love lost. However, as his father so eloquently put it to "Cowboy the fuck up" Sean made a point to at least consciously forget of Sarah in time to attend the Federal Military Academy.

One thing did aid Sean though and that was his coming into his birthright. Back on Foc he was no more special, for the most part, than any other fox, but on Conakry, in the Academy that his family had attended since it's inception, Sean became an instant sensation. Because of his family's history in the Federation, and more notably his father's exploits leading to the very creation of Sean, thrusted the young fox into the limelight and made it possible for him, at least some of the time, to forget about Sarah.

Still adjusting to the newfound fame and attention, and lack of his best friend's presence, Sean did what he did best; take charge. For today, being that everything in concept was new to the cadets, they were being drilled in what could be equated to a much more intense version of a MCSL game.

The course was as basic as it could get; a three-acre dense forest with cover and concealment every five feet, but Sean's team, blue team, wasn't going to sit and play the waiting game. He was leading them on the attack.

Still not sure of everyone's name, he singled to two male cats to take point and carefully scout out ahead. Around him he placed a single squad of varying other furries, and, one of the few humans in the freshman class of the academy this year, was placed as a rear guard with a fox to make sure the enemy didn't get a jump.

"Alright advance team move up slowly," Sean whispered into the radio, "Eye's open and ear's up."

"Some of us can't do that ya know," the human, a man name Zeke Thomas, said humorously over the radio.

"Quiet!" a small female cat yelled out to Zeke.

Sean nodded to her; she seemed like the only other natural leader in the unit.

They advanced for a good half-mile, still no targets, but Sean knew that was exactly when you would likely have an ambush.

It was a few minutes later when the cat on the forward right, an orange gruff male, thrusted his paw into the air to signal everyone to hold position. Everyone held and Sean carefully scurried to the front of the pack.

In an extremely quiet voice Sean asked, "Anything?"

Slowly the cat, Sean believed his name was Carter, raised his paw towards the far right side. Sean squinted to see what it was the cat had seen then smiled at the discovery. Slowly he turned and gestured to the rest of his unit to fan out in a half crescent line around the spot the cat designated.

Once everyone was in position Sean raised his carbine and aimed for the original spot that Carter had point out, and fired.

Instantly all twenty of the guns in Sean's unit opened up, but the fox was almost overcome with laughter as a very anger husky jumped out of the bush, grasping his tail violently right where Sean has shot it.

The sirens went off and the drill instructor, a tall, skinny coyote, was lowered on a platform about ten yards from Sean's position.

"Very good cadets, very good," the drill instructor complemented.

He walked over to the fox and nodded to each of his squad mates.

The commander of the enemy team pushed himself up off his back and walked over to the drill instructor. He was a short fennec fox, although he wasn't from Foc, Sean felt like he knew him.

"What about us sir?" the fennec asked, he had a superior look on his muzzle regardless of the fact his team had lost.

The coyote huffed, "Well you would have done okay if cadet Kowalski didn't have his tail sticking out."

"Me sir?" a tall burly husky said, still gripping his tail.

"Yes Kowalski, you," the drill sergeant replied, "And that goes for all of you," he added looking around the amassing cadets, "well those of you with tails, or any other appendages that stick out, keep that in mind. If someone sees it, there gona shoot it."

Everyone nodded.

"Sergeant Jones," Sean began, "What's next?"

"Eager Cadet Reynolds?" the coyote smiled, he was very intrigued with the concept of training the son of the formal Councilor, "Alright we'll head back to the center. Drop off your gear and report to the mess hall."

Sean nodded, "Roger that Sergeant," to fox turned to the other cadets, "Alright you heard him, move out."

They nodded and began marching back to the center, the gear up room for the training fields. It didn't take long for them to repack all their guns and gear and get down to the mess hall; they had been training since seven o'clock. Sean sat down first alone at a table but, as usual, the table was populated by as many other furries and humans as it could hold.

His better friend at the academy, the fennec named Christopher Davis, came over and pushed a collie out of the seat across the table from Sean.

"So that went well... hmmm... what's the score so far?" Sean said humorously.

Chris frowned and replied, "4-0 you."

"And what was our bet?" Sean added, now grinning.

"10-0 you," the fennec sighed, starting to believe that Sean hadn't been bluffing.

"Hey it's not your fault," Sean said, "I'm apparently 'destined' to do this well."

Chris cocked an eyebrow at that but shrugged, "Ehh, well how come your dad doesn't teach here? He's certainly the type."

"Not really actually," Sean said taking a bite of food, "I know what the textbooks say, what everyone thinks but he's... I don't know, not that into the military."

Everyone at the table didn't believe that, the stories of Steve Reynolds had become legendary in even just the past eighteen years, made even more renowned in the Academy.

Seeing their disbelief Sean sighed and added, "He's just a regular guy."

"Yeah okay," Chris replied with a chuckle, "and General Osing's statue is built to scale."

Zeke laughed and asked, "And what about the other guy who helped you dad? The fox. How come he doesn't teach her either? He just a regular guy to?"

Sean stopped eating and froze mid bite. As hard as he tried the thought of Sarah thrusted itself into his mind. He instantly felt angry and made a conscious effort to push her out of his mind.

Clearing his throat Sean replied, "Yeah he's the same way."

Everyone had noticed his falter but didn't dare call him on it.

Once lunch was over Sean's unit, which was called Class B, went to their next schedule task which was a series of two classes, military history and advanced anthropology, and back outside for an orientation on night operations without the aid of night optics.

Needless to say Sean enjoyed the latter part of the day better, and although he'd never done a battle at night, he took to it well and further raised his score with Chris to 5-0.

The cadets assembled once again in the mess hall for dinner but Sean was out of it. He thought back to Sarah, trying not to but not able to help it. He wondered if anyone knew. His birth and, to his dismay, conception, were well known in the Federation, but he wondered if Sarah's was. Probably not he figured, but still he didn't want to deal with talking to anyone about her.

Then he remembered, his birthday was two days from now, he then remembered Sarah's promise. Sean wondered how serious she was. Thinking of that he remembered the exact promise itself, then realized what that entailed, and he actually felt himself looking forward to that, and not so much of seeing Sarah. He wasn't so interested in just sex but he certainly wasn't going to pass up a chance to have some.

Two Day's Later, Officer's Club FMC 1812 Military Time

One advantage that came with his name Sean did like was that the instructors, most of them officers, took quite a liking to him immediately and let him accompany him to the Academy's Officer Club. It wasn't so much to drink, as it was to be around real officers that made Sean more than happy to accompany his instructors.

This time it was Major Senguay, the commander of the legal department at the Academy, who brought Sean to the bar. She was a rather bookwormish looking Raccoon that had taken a liking to Sean's argumentative nature, although some of Sean's friends already thought it was another reason she was interested in him, yet he was sure that it was purely because he'd mentioned it was his nineteenth birthday today in class.

They sat down at the bar and the Major ordered them both drinks. That was the other nice thing, normally cadets weren't allowed to consume alcohol while on the Academy grounds, but since an officer was giving him it, an exception was made.

The fox downed the shot of scotch quickly, holding his breath for a moment to keep the fire down. Sean sighed and his ears calmed down on the sides of his head, and for a moment he let his mind wander.

"Look who it is," a voice said behind him.

Sean turned slowly and crushed the shot glass in his paw. It was Sarah. Turns out she had been serious.

"Hey," she said quietly.

Sean just stared at her, feeling mixed emotions. He still wasn't sure how to feel about her, he still felt as though she had wronged him.

All Sarah could think was "Damn," she had been going through much mental torment over whether or not she should show up on Sean's birthday. Aside from their very stressful and violent breakup, Sarah wasn't sure how seriously Sean had taken her on her "oath." In all seriousness Sarah wasn't sure how serious she had been over her promise to be with him on his birthdays. Her pride demanded that she confirm it, which was why she had tracked Sean down to this bar on his nineteenth birthday.

Major Senguay looked over her shoulder and saw the uncomfortable rabbit in a staring contest with Sean. She waited a moment then tapped Sean on the shoulder.

"Whose this cadet?" the raccoon asked.

As if coming out of a trance Sean stared blankly at Major Senguay then answered, "Uh... ya this is Sarah-"

"Atric," the rabbit finished, making sure Sean was still aware of her hostility.

Sensing the obvious tension, Major Senguay nodded and turned back to the bar, but listened carefully.

Turning back to Sarah, Sean let out a low, "Sooooo, you were serious about this huh?"

"I won't let you catch me in a lie," Sarah replied bitterly.

Sean was starting to get the idea, rather reaffirm the idea that it was quite possible that all those years that Sarah had been so loving with him had been a lie unto itself.

"And your willing to do..." the fox raised an eyebrow, "Do that just to prove it?"

The rabbit gritted her teeth, "Not happily."

She finally realized she was screwed, literally and metaphorically. If she backed down it would prove to Sean, as far as she saw it, that she was weak and had no way of backing up what she said, which could prove to him she hadn't meant what she had said. If she continued though, she we do something pointlessly and aimlessly, in an awkward situation that made her feel sick even now. The only thing that made this remotely okay was that, admittedly, Sarah still enjoyed and wanted sex, and being that she never masturbated, not once, she had no way of getting "relief" and at the moment this appeared to be the only way.

While Sarah was considering all this Sean watched her, having his own thoughts, but the fact he'd been without sex for a longer amount of time than he'd done for almost six years was weighing much on his mind. Coupled with the fact that he had a sense of need to get even with Sarah, and this seemed like a minor way how.

"Alright," he said finally and drank the last of his scotch, "Major Senguay, my," the fox considered it for a moment, "friend I guess, and I are gona head out."

A slight look of disappointment could be noticed on the raccoons face but she nodded and Sean and Sarah went on their way.

They couldn't go to Sean's room, aside from the fact his roommate wouldn't approve of it, it was against the rules to have a member of the opposite sex in a cadet's room with the door closed, for obvious reasons. So, not planning on missing this, they went off base to the nearest motel.

Wasting no time, as soon as the door was shut the clothes were dropped and within a second Sean was humping away. The sex was a blur to them both, angry from both points of view. Moreover it was done with intentions to annoy and bother the other. Sean made it a point to not let Sarah cum and Sarah made sure to put her weight into her drops when she was on top.

They didn't kiss or waste time in any foreplay, which to their more animalistic needs, was quite sufficient.

In the end however they both came, although they both refused to tie regardless on how much, deep down, they wanted to. They feel asleep not so much in each other's paws as they did just side by side. They both however, felt a deep sense of emptiness in the act, and were barely satisfied by its end result.

***

In a rare instance Sean dreamed this night. He usually didn't, he usually went to bed at night mentally content but this sexual encounter with Sarah had stirred something else up within his mind.

He dreamed of the old times with his former lover. He remembered her smiling, he remembered her enjoying the sex at a deeper level, but most of all her remembered, and longed for, how her attitude changed when she was around him. The way she had been this night was like she was normally, like she had been before they had started a relationship; strong, dominating, and competitive, no submission at all.

Sean awoke with a mild startle but yawned, felt his tail uncoil from beneath him and he reached over with his paw for Sarah but found nothing but tossed up sheets. As his eyes adjusted he confirmed what he already realized, the rabbit was gone.

"Not even a good-bye," Sean whispered to himself, shrugging it off as a further slating to against him by the stubborn rabbit. .

Sean concluded to himself that, although he already was sure no one at the academy could ever replace Sarah on any level, sexually or mentally, he was happy enough with the fact he wouldn't have to go the next four years with no sex, and he wouldn't waste any thought for or against where he was going to get it from.

Chapter 2 Twenty

One Year Later, Predator II Range Conakry 1621 Military Time

It wasn't the first time a second-year was given the privilege to use the Predator II armor, but it was a rare enough occurrence that a significant portion of the academy's student body came to watch to the fox's trials.

In fairness to Sean, he was not the normal cadet. Aside from his unique strength and leadership ability, his pedigree demanded that more was expected, and hence more privileges would be bestowed upon him.

To even be considered for training in the elite use of the Predator armor system Sean would have to pass the rigorous obstacle course. It was very similar to the one that almost thirty years before his father, Steve Reynolds, had competed on to gain acceptance into the original Predator training program and this Reynolds, Sean, was just as eager to take it on.

One thing that was bearing on his mind was, with no surprise, Sarah. It was his birthday and it had been a long year full of tension, made worse by the fact Sean thought of sex almost nonstop. Not so much of having sex with Sarah but of the mere act itself.

Still, the fox wouldn't let that stop him, not in something so important. He stretched the armor to its max, making sure he was as comfortable as possible and loaded his rifle. Carefully he scanned the obstacle course, making notations and getting ideas on how to handle each obstacle.

What Sean didn't realize, or care for that matter, was that among the hundreds of furries and humans watching the trials, Sarah sat in a bleacher watching with great interest.

The past year had been no easier for her, but for different reasons. Sarah was still to inflexible and to stubborn to realize what was really going on, rather what had happened. Sarah had convinced herself that she was right, and that no matter what happened she was right and Sean was wrong. That's all she saw it as, right and wrong. She refused to take into account or even consider that there situation wasn't one that could easily be described in terms of right or wrong, much less that she had made a mistake.

Still, the rabbit was interested, if only sexually, with Sean, although she wouldn't even admit that to herself. She tricked herself into the thought line that she was refusing to break a promise and look lowly or scared in front of Sean, which had some grounding in truth but hardly was the real reason she was again showing up on his birthday.

Down on the course Sean did his final stretches. He had the unique experience back home on Foc of using the Predator system class I, so the Predator II wasn't so new, but it was a clear jump in technology. Apparently it could survive a direct barrage from a starship, protect the user from any edged weapon, and gave enough strength to the user to literally knock through any defenses that any army in the galaxy had thought up yet.

The red warning lights went on and the protective shields drop around the training field. Sean kneeled and watched as the yellow light flickered to life, and took a deep breath as he saw the first glow of the green go light. It actually seemed slower to him than it should. It didn't matter; about a second later Sean was moving and fast.

Moments later he thrusted over a ten foot concrete wall, but noticing how powerful he felt in the armor, decided to go through the next two sets of walls, running through at a full dash of roughly 50 mph.

The fox ducked and rolled under a long stretch of barbed wire, about 40 feet long. He just barely cleared it, nicking some of the fur off his exposed tail. It didn't faze him though and he made a sharp right turn around the oddest part of the course, a seemingly clear run around half of the outer edge of the course, which was about half a mile long.

Sean figured it was a test of speed so he ran as hard as he could, appearing to be little more than a gray flash with a red streak behind him. He did the half-mile in about 20 seconds.

The next obstacle was really the one for show for the audience but most interesting for the approval board; the live fire exercise. As soon as Sean entered the large square area of mock houses and buildings made from plywood explosions, missiles, machine guns, and every in between opened up on the fox. In reality, the biggest injury he could sustain would be those to his tail which, for his own reasons, Sean refused to encase in the armor, but the real test would be his diligence and ability to move under fire and understanding that incased in the armor he was safe to do his job.

The fox made it through with no problem and the final obstacle, a shooting range, was the one that Sean was actually looking forward to. The rule was he couldn't use the gun's own sights, he had to use the armor's integrated targeting sights, which wasn't terribly hard other than the fact that Sean had 1 clip for a standard assault rifle and had to have 100% accuracy.

The case holding the gun unlocked and with lightning precision assembled the rifle and loaded it. The green light for the range started and every second 1 target went up and down, only being exposed for about a second and a half, more than enough for Sean without the suits aid, but he made it look even scarier as to how fast he engaged all fifty targets perfectly.

The silence that followed his final shot was eerie, yet to the officers observing the his progress it was a sound to triumph, the son was like his father, Sean Reynolds was just as able a soldier as Steve Reynolds had been and would serve the Federation well and, as Sean knew even now, would be able to use the Predator II armor system.

It took a few seconds but clapping soon began in the observation platform, as it was obvious to everyone Sean had passed with flying colors. Alone in the stands though Sarah didn't clap, in a weird way she had hoped he would fail, she didn't know why, but she wished that he hadn't done so well.

On the course Sean lowered the armor and instantly gripped his tail, checking it to make sure it was okay. Aside from a few scratches and missing patches of fur it was fine. Finally he became aware of the applause and his ears danced on his head as he listened to it.

The officer on duty called out over the loud speaker for all the cadets to report back to their scheduled tasks, although a few of Sean's closer friends ignored it to congratulate him.

Sarah waited for everyone to clear out except the officers and technicians that went over the final things with Sean. Once they were done she followed him along the halls and passages into the cadet sleeping quarters where Sean's room was.

He shut the door behind him and Sarah waited outside and listened. She heard another door open and a shower start. The next thought managed to force a smile on the rabbit's face, and she kneeled down in front of the door, and with a medical knife she always carried with her, Sarah managed to pick the lock on Sean's door and slipped inside.

It was obvious Sean had the rest of the day off, so Sarah figured that they could do their thing and she could slip out before dawn. Things were getting back to their old routine. Well, almost like their old routine.

Sarah shut the door behind her and thought for a moment what to do. She figured the best way to get this over with would be to just wait in his bedroom till he came out of the shower and, although she knew it was about as slutty as she could be, but Sarah would "present" herself and just submit to his will.

Agreeing on that, Sarah sat down at his desk and waited and listened. Sean took long enough in the shower that it became an annoyance to Sarah and her mind was able to wander. For some reason a memory of Mrs. Reynolds worked it's way into Sarah's mind. She remembered how the vixen always was so nice to her, even in contrast to her own mother. That isn't to say Sarah like Cathy more than her mom, but there was defiantly something about Mrs. Reynolds that appealed to her in a way that she missed her terribly.

The rabbit sighted in annoyance and straddled the chair. Her mind wandered again, this time it was more of a comparison of memories. She thought about her medical school, and thought of how different it was to high school. It felt bleaker and more like what school "should" be. Also it felt more lonely, but naturally so. In high school, Sarah figured, furs really didn't care much about doing the job as much as getting the job done, whereas in Med School her classmates were much more interested in doing a job right, and doing it again and again if needed to understand it. She missed the more carefree approach to learning of high school, the rabbit was sure she learned better that way.

A few more minutes went by and Sarah found herself getting angry.

"What the hell..." she whispered to herself and the rabbit got up and burst into the bathroom.

She found Sean sitting on the floor of his shower, head pressed between the red matted fur on his knees.

The fox looked up, stared at her for a moment smiling involuntarily, then the memories of years past hit him and his smile faded.

"Hey," Sean said quietly.

"Hey," Sarah replied quietly.

"What are you doing here?" the fox asked, his mind still stuck on the Predator II armor.

Unable to help herself Sarah chuckled softly, "It is your birthday isn't it?"

Nodding carefully, the warm water from the shower dripped off the top of his ears, Sean replied, "Yeah..." then he remembered, and in a rather dishearten voice, added, "oh... yeah."

Sean forced himself off the shower floor. As he did so Sarah was really taken aback. She remembered that last year Sean hadn't been entirely "into" the whole concept of these sex sessions.

Sarah could help but wonder, "Why the hell am I doing this?"

As soon as Sean came out of the shower he made an attempt to dry his fur of with a towel but starting to wake up to the given situation, threw the towel to the ground and nodded to his bed. It was an offense to have her in his room but since she clearly broke into his room, even if caught, he could argue it away.

Sarah followed but by now she was even less interested in doing this than she had been before.

The fox sat down at the edge of the bed and just stared at the rabbit, awaiting her next move. Sarah was in another full-blown flashback. She found herself lying in Sean's room with him, at his family's home on Foc. It was late at night, really late, late enough that nothing could be seen in the room but she felt Sean. They were sleeping the way they always did, or used to always do; face to face with their paws wrapped around each other's bodies. She couldn't help but remember the calm, nothing in her life was calm anymore, not even this. She felt so annoyed, and scared, quite possibly, with what she was doing.

"Well?" Sean asked, not so much impatient as much as he was eager, the sexual tension of almost no release in a year was getting to him.

Coming out of her trance Sarah sighed again and quickly disrobed, revealing her still shapely, slender body.

Looking up she whispered, "Do you remember how we used to do this all the time?"

"What's that?" Sean asked, having made a point in the past two years to not think about his and Sarah's relationship.

"Well basically fucking on your birthday, we've done this for years," she explained, then not realizing what she was saying aloud added, "I remember when I enjoyed it and... loved it..."

What she did, did strike a cord with the fox, and he felt a cold shiver go through his pelt, but those moments on that transport from Conakry wormed their way into his imagination and his libido got the best of him.

Sarah stayed the night.

***

Once again Sean woke up, actually cheerfully, once again he reached around the bed without opening his eyes, and once again his mind filled in the holes and was filled with disappointment.

He scratched the fur on his chest and went over yesterday's events, but came to a stop when he came to Sarah's flashback, rather the mentioning there of. He did remember when they used to sleep with each other on his birthday, both their birthdays, and he did remember when that meant something, and, in a nonverbal agreement with the rabbit, agreed that what they were doing now was probably more hurtful than anything else.

Sean longed for the lost love between him and his friend.

Chapter 3 Twenty-One

Eleven Months Later, Swamp Training Exercises on Ridmont, 0451 Military Time

A tough year was being made tougher by the first part of the extreme environmental training courses. For the first two years of the Academy the cadets trained in air-conditioned, well-manicured woodland parks or wide-open fields on sunny days or clear nights, but this year was ten months of the worst possible terrains imaginable.

This month's training was swamp training, and considering that the first month's "extreme" course was simply cold weather in sub-zero temperatures, to which all the furries adapted well, the hot, bug infested, constantly wet course was torturing everyone, particularly the more fur covered cadets.

Sean had it better off than most, he was allowed to use the Predator II armor, which had environmental abilities to keep the user more comfortable; of course the drill instructors made a point to turn these off so the only real extra comfort Sean afforded was not having to be constantly wet.

Quietly Chris walked up behind Sean and nodded in the direction of an open bog.

"I figure the Sergeant's got a MG nest in there somewhere," the fennec said.

Chris was now Sean's accepted second-in-command, and he took the role seriously.

For a moment the fox paused and turned on his thermals, but everything was warm so they were useless. Sean licked his teeth and thought for a moment.

"Alright, have Tom and Zeke stay here while we make a wide circle to the right. They fire for a few seconds to draw out any targets and we pick em off," Sean ordered.

His squad nodded in unison and moved out accordingly. Zeke laid down with his light machinegun with Tom assisting the loading. The rest of the squad walked a full mile in a circle until they were at a right angle to where the small support contingent was.

Sean, on a secure channel, counted down the attack:

"Five"

Chris moved the other squad members along a long line formation, so that they all could fire as needed.

"Four"

The rest of the squad sighted their weapons.

"Three"

Final checks were made.

"Two"

Zeke took a deep breath and started squeezing the trigger.

"One"

Sean readied his own weapon.

"Fire!"

A long, fifteen-second, burst of fire resonated through the swamp, and even through the hanging vines Sean could see the muzzle flash from the machinegun.

As soon as Zeke was done shooting he and Tom got up and turned tail, running as fast as they could to the part of the swamp they knew was secure.

Just as Sean had expected the enemy took the bait and seven armed figures started moving quickly through the swamp but Sean kept his paw above his armored head, watching and waiting until all seven were within his entire squad's field of fire.

As soon as they were, in a quick, fluid motion, Sean lowered his paw and fired at the lead figure. On the far side of his line Serbak, a short mink, fired and in a single shot took out the rear guard. Within moments it seemed like a single long line of fire coming from Sean's squad and it only took twenty-two seconds of fire to eliminate the entire enemy unit. Not a single shot made it to Sean's unit.

They waited and watched quietly, figuring it safer to remain hidden. A full minute passed with no reaction, so Sean stood up and look around. This reminded him so much of a MCSL match he and Sarah had won together he couldn't help but pause for a moment and think of her longingly. He missed her terribly; he had missed her over the past year. That's what made this bad, not the swamp, not the water, not the bitching and moaning that proved to be useless, it was the fact he remembered what he and Sarah had and he desperately wanted it back.

A split second later his armor was struck at least a dozen times by support fire coming from his far right, down his line. For a split second he thought it was friendly fire but then realized the only machine gun in his squad was with Zeke who had to be four hundred yards away by now.

Sean hesitated though, and for a fleeting moment he couldn't push Sarah out of his mind. It was a really bad time for that to happen though because the machine gunner, who still was unseen, moved his fire down the line and managed to take out two of Sean's squad in a single burst of fire.

"Fuck!!" Chris yelled and the fennec spun around and fired blankly at the general area of where the fire was coming from; "Fuck! Fuck! Sean we gota move!"

His mind still not quite in place Sean reacted purely instinctively and fired in a similar direction as Chris yelled, then yelled, "Alright Sarah cover fire while me move left!"

Hearing that was enough to cause a hesitation in everyone in the squad, no one here was named Sarah and Sean was usually so thorough in what he was doing. Still though, they understood the gist of what he had meant and reacted the way he seemed to have meant.

They fanned out and moved quickly to make themselves tough targets. Sean, being that he couldn't be knocked out in this match except by explosives, remained still and continued suppressing fire as more machine gun fire came at him; the gunner was clearly unaware of who was firing back at him.

Now that they were under cover, Sean's squad fired intermittently, a useless and pointless firefight they all knew but Sean wasn't giving any orders otherwise.

"Sean?!" Chris called out.

The fox thought and acted at once, running towards the obvious direction of the fire.

"Cover me!" he yelled out.

Sean dashed at the machine gunner, not even taking time to run around trees, rather he choose to just go through them. Swiftly he shouldered his carbine and jumped at the still blazing machine gun barrel.

In an unexpected twist the figure that Sean slammed into felt more like a brick wall than a furry before Sean realized it was another fully armored figure in Predator II armor. He still had the surprise element and managed to grab its wrists and put his powerful knee into its chest.

Behind him Chris yelled, "Clear up?"

"Clear up!" Sean called back.

The familiar sirens that signaled the end of the training event went off and a dropship blew in from overhead.

"Cadets, return to base ASAP," the Sergeant said over the loud speaker; everyone noticed he didn't say his usual congratulations.

Sean just breathed a sigh of relief that it was over and felt blood run to his cheeks in embarrassment.

"You know you can get off me now Sean," a feminine voice said from the armored figure below him.

She lowered the armored face portion and Sean helped her up. A rather well built mouse, very broad shouldered for a female, stood up and tried to push the caked up mud off her armor. Her name was Holly Gruuber and she was the only female Sean had ever met besides Sarah that he could deal with, probably because she was so similar to Sarah.

"Sorry," Sean apologized emptily.

Holly sighed equally unhappily, she hated losing and it seemed like all she was doing lately was losing. On the way back to the base, a little piss port set of barracks and tents; Chris managed to pull Sean aside from the rest of the returning cadets.

"What the hell was that, Sean?" he asked angrily.

"What?" Sean asked, hoping it wasn't what he thought the fennec was so angry about.

"Well for one whose 'Sarah,' and two the Sarge is gona chew us out for that one," Chris replied.

Sighing again Sean shook his head, "Just me, Chris, he's not gona bother anyone else than me."

"What makes you so special?"

"I'm in charge," Sean answered.

They walked in silence for another few minutes until Chris remembered.

"And Sarah?"

Sean bit his lip and said, "I'll tell ya later."

"You better," Chris replied.

Once they made it back to base Sean was called to the drill Sergeant's office, as expected. He waited anxiously while he heard the Sergeant chew out the other teams commander for get caught in an oh so obvious trap. Sean hadn't thought it was that obvious but was proud of himself nonetheless.

The other team's commander emerged, showing no signs of weakness but Sean knew that he was steaming.

"Cadet Reynolds, get in here!" the Sergeant called out.

Sean walked in and stood at a crisp attention. In an act done purely to intimidate the young fox the Sergeant wrote indiscriminately in a file, taking his time and leaving the slowly sweating cadet to wait in agony.

Finally the coyote looked up with angry eyes.

"What the hell was that cadet?" Sergeant Tucker asked in a low, almost guttural, tone.

In a careful, constant tone Sean replied, "As I understand we won drill Sergeant."

"You did cadet, but at what cost?" the Sergeant pointed out, his tone still intimidating.

Sean gritted his teeth, "Only two cadets of my squad were hit Ser-"

"And only because you not only hesitated but lost your head in action!" the Sergeant yelled, stood up violently, and slammed his paws on the desk, "Your using a Predator for a reason cadet, it's not on you so you can jump a machine gunner by yourself, it's there because it can be hit by anything, and so that you can do your job without worrying to much about your own ass," the Sergeant sat back down and sighed, "And most importantly to shield your troopers from fire that their body armor can't take. So why the fuck didn't you protect your soldiers?"

"I... don't know Sergeant," Sean replied, not so sure of it himself.

That was the answer Sergeant Tucker was expecting, so he brought his voice back up to a roar, "Well there are no 'I don't knows' in combat cadet. If that had been real there be two dead soldiers you'd have to account for now! We both know exactly what you did cadet, you were to busy thinking about winning. A win isn't a win if you don't make it home."

"I wasn't thinking about winning Sergeant," Sean corrected.

"Then enlighten me to what was so fucking important that it deserved to be thought of in the middle of a battlefield?"

Realizing he still wasn't sure himself, Sean replied in a slightly quieter voice, "I don't know Sergeant."

That really pissed the coyote off.

"What are you retarded?! What the fuck were you thinking about? You know you're a God damn good leader Cadet Reynolds, you obviously take after your father, but I know he'd agree with me when I say there isn't anything you should think about in combat, except the job your doing at that very moment. So then I'll ask one more time, before it's clear that you can't command a squad; what were you thinking about?"

Knowing he had to take a moment the Sergeant let Sean think. Sean played over the events, and all he could remember was thinking of an old MCSL match that he and Sarah had won, so the fox settled on that.

"Well I guess it was this MCSL match I was in awhile ago that reminded me of this, Sergeant," Sean answered.

The coyote thought for a moment. If that was the case than it wasn't as bad but he had to be sure.

"Why?" he asked carefully.

Sean almost said, "I don't know," again, but stopped himself and thought for a moment, but really couldn't come up with anything. He played over the events again. All that he came up with was that match with Sarah and that it had been similar to what they had done today and, in hindsight, the fox wished desperately that Sarah was with him again.

A strange look went across his mug and Sean remained silent. It didn't matter though; Sergeant Tucker knew exactly what Sean was thinking about.

"It's some damn female isn't it?" the Sergeant asked angrily, although now it was with a hint of interest.

Sean remained silent, unable to answer.

"It is damn it!" the Sergeant forced himself not to laugh but thought, "He really is his father's son," but added in a gruff voice, "That least of all is the worst thing you can think about in combat and worst of all if it's what I think it is, or rather who I think it is."

That part Sean understood and he stood a little straighter, "Sergeant, it's not a cadet."

The coyote was fuming and slammed his paws on his desk again, sending papers flying all over his office, "I wasn't even worried about that, cadet! It's the fact you let something like that even make it's way into your mind during an operation!"

The two stood silently for a moment and Sean waited for more yelling to follow.

Figuring it was obvious at the moment Sergeant Tucker leaned in and said quietly, "Just because your father did that cadet and got away with it, doesn't mean we'll let you do whatever you want."

"I had no premonitions of that, Sergeant!" Sean answered quickly.

"Good," the Sergeant replied and sat down once again, "Now, if we ever have this problem again you will be demoted from your squad leader status. Am I clear cadet?"

"Sergeant yes Sergeant!" Sean answered loudly.

"Dismissed, get cleaned up and ready for class.

Sean saluted and almost ran out of the office. And, as if almost to purely piss him off, Chris was waiting for him outside the Sergeant's office.

Huffing he whispered, "Well that sounds like it went well."

"Cadets move your asses!" the Sergeant yelled from his office.

This time Sean did run, with Chris closely following. The two ran until they reached the showers where they sat down outside and relaxed.

"So then," Chris started, "You are gona tell me what happened, right?"

Stretching out on the bench Sean said at a draw, "I just lost my head for a minute. It's not gona happen again so don't worry about it."

"Yeah right," Chris replied, "I know what I heard, what girl you got your eye's on?"

Sean sat up, "I'm not gona have this conversation."

"Yeah you are," Chris said defiantly, "or I'm gona tell everyone to bust your chops till ya tell the whole Academy."

The fox groaned and stared at his friend for a moment, hoping that the obvious look of distress on his mug would suppress his curiosity.

"Ugh..." Chris groaned and rolled his head, "How about just her name, assuming it is a 'her.'"

"Like that's gona make we wana tell you," Sean said and continued walking towards the showers.

"Fine, fine," Chris said and ran up behind him, "in all seriousness, at least tell me if it's anyone," the fennec cocked an eyebrow, "we know."

Groaning Sean leaned against a wall and said with much discontent, "It's not a cadet, okay."

"Just checking Sean, I mean you are prone to probably do that," Chris replied.

A little confused Sean asked, "What do ya mean?"

"Your dad, comon you gota see it," Chris pointed out, thinking it was obvious.

Sean thought for a moment and growl, "There's no one I'm interested in who's in the military."

"Well then what do you care if you tell me who she is, if I don't know her and she's not in the military..." Chris shrugged.

"Fine: she is, or was, whatever, my best friend at my home but we're not together anymore," Sean explained and felt a wealth of emotion run over him, most of it regret.

Starting to get the picture Chris stood up and said quietly, "Well then why ya thinking of her? Did she break it off or did you?"

"Why do you care?" Sean asked, starting to get a little angry.

The fennec shrugged, "Bored, I guess," he thought for a moment and added, "Plus I don't know much about you yet you listen to me talk endlessly about my family and shit for hours."

"We both left each other," Sean continued, realizing he was to deep now to back out.

They both stood in silence for a moment, then Chris asked the obvious question of what happened.

Sean stared at the fennec blankly. In two years not once had he asked himself that question, or even thought about it for that matter. He tried hard to remember any thoughts he may have had on the matter but he really realized he hadn't even one single instance where he had questions what took place in that room aboard the transport.

"Hard to say?" Chris asked.

"No, just hard to explain, or... actually I have no idea," Sean answered, "I asked her to marry me and... that was it. We started fighting and like a week or so later we were done."

The fox looked up and saw a rather perplexed look on his friends face.

Chris cleared his throat and said quietly, "And that's it?"

"Pretty much," Sean said in a rather indifferent tone.

"You know..." Chris started slowly, "I'm married."

Sean scoffed, "Yeah right."

"Na I really am," the fennec produced a gold wedding ring from his back pocket.

Slightly amazed by this Sean said in a draw, "You never told me you were married before."

"You never asked."

"Yeah, and I never asked if your uncle Charlie spent a night in jail for running around a city park buck naked but you sure as hell went through great lengths to tell me that one. Being married is one those things that kinda gets mentioned before that," Sean reasoned.

He chuckled softly and replied, "Well it's not one of those things I wana talk about a lot, I'm not very good at it."

Sean didn't ask further, hoping Chris would extend the same courtesy to him.

The fennec chose not to though, and asked, "So what did she look like?"

"She's a rabbit, creamy brown, bought my height if you include her ears, built like a runner," Sean thought further, "very soft fur, and in public she acted more like a guy, you know like a tomboy, but alone she was really different," Sean swallowed hard and add too quietly for Chris to hear, "I miss her."

Three Weeks Later, Shooting Range at the FMA on Conakry, 1246 Military Time

For the first time in awhile, Sean was actually eager, yet at the same time terribly depressed. After his little fuck up on the swamp course Sean had made a mental point of focusing on his work and not letting thoughts of Sarah bother him. But this mere action bothered him more than anything else as it forced him, at times for hours on end, to think of Sarah.

Worse still he couldn't help but look at the calendar twenty times a day, waiting desperately for October 12th, for a chance to see Sarah again. It was partially because he wanted to have sex with her, but it was so much more than that which was driving the fox insane. Through many days of fleeting thoughts on the subject Sean had assured himself that enough time had passed, and enough steam had been blown off that Sarah would be reasonable again, and he could ask her to marry him, and she'll say yes. Of course with that thought came the terrible thought of a possible no, which was torturing him.

The one thing that Sean took minor comfort in was that he was back on Conakry at the Academy, a two-week lull in the extreme element training that he and the other cadets were enduring. After the swamp they had been dragged into a high altitude, mountain training course and Sean was still feeling heavier in the lower laying areas of the planet. Sean figured it was perfect, Sarah would easily find him here and they would hook up and before he knew it, they should be back together.

Still, he was, when his mind would allow him that is, enjoying the Academy. He was promoted to a company commander and was further reaping the rewards of that. His classes were going well and he was breaking records with the new Predator II armor.

Today though he actually had a day off, well no classes or physical training. He was supposed to report to the shooting range and practice with his Company there for an hour, but to Sean that was hardly training.

He reported in right on schedule, carrying his own rifle, a S-M6 bullpup carbine, no much longer than a than Sean's arm, yet stronger than the standard assault rifle. It featured a trigger-mounted link to his armor's sensors and sights that allowed him to actually program the bullet tracking at will, so that not only could the bullets fly around behind him or track a target around a corner, but he could program them to fly in any patter he wanted, even at targets not already locked into his sensors. To add to his gun's lethality it was capable of being loaded with a variety of types of bullets, ranging from antipersonnel, accounting for body armor or without, antielectronical, which would send out a small EMP blast when it strikes a target, a HEE round, which was a High Energy Explosive round that was just as strong as an old wolf rifle particle round, and even a light antiarmor round, which could put medium class tanks out of action if Sean hit it in the right spot. It was the ideal gun for a Predator II armor user, and Sean loved it enough that he had shelled out the two thousand credits to buy one so that it was his to customize and use at his discretion.

The rest of the cadets in his company looked on eagerly as the fox assembled his carbine. If Steve had been there to watch his son he would be proud, it was the same situation he faced every time he used his Thompson on a range.

Once it was built Sean took his place on the firing like and integrated his S-M6 to his HUD.

The closest target was 20 meters away, Sean didn't even waste time to let the computer input target data, he just fired a three round burst, two of the rounds striking the chest portion of the target and the last hitting the head; a shot that took half a second.

Seeing that his company was going, for the most part, the easier targets, Sean zeroed in on targets behind walls and the pop up targets, engaging each one quickly and without a problem, loving how easy the S-M6 worked. He'd only had the gun for a few days now but it was clear to him it was, for lack of a better word, perfect.

About five minutes later 80% of the targets were destroyed, and being that it was ahead of schedule, he loaded a clip of HEE rounds, and, programming five of the twelve remaining targets into his gun, fired five rounds that streaked, in opposite directions, towards their targets which moments later were enveloped in small fragmentations of fire and metal.

"Guns clear! Empty!" the range officer called out and the cadets unloaded and put their guns on "safety."

Sean stood up and dusted his pants off, replaced his rifle in its case, and without even a passing word to his company, walked off the range and back to his quarters.

He laid down on his bed and did what tortured him terribly, but in a weird way gave him hope, he dreamed of Sarah.

Two Day's Later, Cadet Sean Reynolds' Room, 0102 Military Time

Sean's heart was beating fast, and it wasn't just from the sex. He could still feel a slight dribble of cum on the tip of his cock and he breathed hard and continued rubbing Sarah's chest.

The rabbit was equally tired but not nearly as anxious as Sean was. She had noticed that he had been different tonight than he'd been on his past two birthdays since she'd started these meets, but her mind was mainly focused on her trip back to Alcaz that was in a few hours.

She rolled over in bed and pretended to sleep, just as she had the last two times, waiting patiently until she heard Sean's breathing slow so that she was sure it was safe to slip away silently. In a surprising move for her though, the fox moved his body behind hers and coddled her from behind. For the past two years Sean hadn't been loving at all so Sarah was a tad put back.

Still though, she remained motionless and kept the guise on. A good twenty minutes past and Sean's breathing didn't change, he was clearly still awake, but Sarah refused to even seem awake.

His paws tightened around her waist and he seemed to pull himself closer.

In the dark room Sarah felt his muzzle on her shoulder, his hot breath in her ear. For a split second she let herself enjoy it, but the ever-stubborn rabbit refused to sink in. Carefully she tossed a little in the bed, trying to put distance between herself and Sean. She was sure he was "done," she could feel his sheath along the curve of her ass so it wasn't that, she couldn't figure out-

"Marry me Sarah," Sean blurted out, the nervousness present in his tone.

Sarah shut her eyes tightly and almost turned and pushed him away. He wasn't being loving with her tonight just for the sake of it, he wanted something. She thought back to the transport and her mind swelled with anger.

Refusing to be weak against him Sarah kept her eyes closed and made a point to seem as asleep as possible, even going so far as to relax her little tail.

Sean's mind filled with worry. He was sure she was still awake, she must have heard him, how could she not of. He didn't dare ask again though, lest he look like a complete loser in front of her. Everything in his mind fell apart, the anxiety of loss filled him again, and he released her from his soft cradle and slumped to the other side of the bed.

When he awoke in the morning Sarah was gone.

Chapter 4 Twenty-Two

Seven Months Later, Reynolds Home on Foc, 2:39 PM Local Time

It had been a long time since Sean had ventured home, much to both of his parent's dismay. They loved their son, and without him telling them they did know why he wouldn't want to visit his hometown, but they still missed him. So in the last summer month before his senior year at the Academy, Cathy made a point of calling him to at least visit for a week. It did take some convincing, but eventually Sean succumbed and was on a transport to Foc.

Not wanting to annoy him further, only Steve went to lead him from the transport station back to their house. They did greet warmly, although Sean definitely had grown and was different now. He seemed clearly sad.

Walking back, Steve put his arm on his son's furry shoulders and whispered, "Try and look happy for your mom."

"I'm not sad," Sean replied, although even he didn't believe what he said.

"Then what's with the mug?" Steve said in a warm voice.

Sean forced a chuckle, "I'm not sad," then he shook his head softly and lowered one ear, "Did you guys beg me her just to bust my chops?"

"No," Steve said softly, "we called you back because we love our son and your mothers one step from ripping her fur off since she hasn't seen you for so long."

They walked a little further and Steve added, "Will's here too, visiting his family."

Sean nodded, it would be nice to see an old friend. When they got home Sean didn't even make it to the door, his mother, still agile, practically jumped from the porch. She hugged and kissed him at least a dozen times.

"God I've missed you Sean!" she said, almost in tears, "Comon, inside! Inside!"

A little embarrassed, but willing to play along for his mother's sake, he marched inside and sat down in the living room.

The vixen sat down on the coach across from his and said in an excited voice, "Okay we have you for two days, your gona sit here and tell me everything."

"Everything mom?" Sean said with a smile, feeling better than he had in almost two years.

"Everything," she repeated happily.

So for the next few hours, even over dinner, Sean told them just about everything he had done at the Academy in the past three years. The only detail, and there were many, that Sean left out, were any instances pertaining to Sarah, for obvious reasons.

When he had finished Cathy sat slightly dumbfounded. Even though Steve had gone to the Academy, and, especially in the past few years, he'd told her many of the things he'd done during his stay there, she really had no idea of what went on there.

"Oh not my baby," she said, "Sean you can't be serious that you do those things! You have any idea how dangerous live fire in space can be!?"

Beside her Steve chuckled as did their son.

"They wouldn't let me do it mom if it was that dangerous," he explained, "especially considering," the fox sighed, "who I am."

"They busting your balls about your family name?" Steve said, all to familiar with the problem.

Sean thought for a moment and half nodded, "Sorta, not so bad as it is annoying. Like it isn't like their making fun of me or something, but like questions and requests and stuff like that."

"Requests?" Cathy asked.

"Like," he sighed deeply, "Autographs, I guess, pictures, visits to the school," Sean gestured to his father, "I get at least one request a month to ask you to come and visit the school, and at least two from teachers to convince you to become an instructor."

Steve couldn't help but laugh, "Same shit, different Reynolds," he rubbed Cathy's back, "I remember the same thing, although it was a tad worse for me since my graduating class only had one other human in it, and me and him never really talked, so not only did I feel different but everyone annoyed the shit out of me with that stuff."

Cathy shrugged, "Well this is your last year Sean, so what are you gona do come June?"

"I don't know," he replied.

"Well he's got, two? Three years of required service right?" Steve chimed in.

Sean nodded, "Anywhere I want, doing anything I want too."

Cathy gritted her teeth, there wasn't a single Federal base on Foc now.

"I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing though," Sean said, waiting for his parents to pry.

"And that is?" Cathy said, all to eager by the whole situation.

"The Rangers," Sean replied.

Cathy giggled softly and looked at Steve. She knew right away that he was proud beyond words.

Still interested in getting him home though, Cathy asked, "And after that?"

"I don't know, probably stay with the Ranger's or do long range reconnaissance," and with a grin the fox added, "You know I'm faster than you now, mom."

The vixen raised an eyebrow and answered playfully, "Sure, Sean."

"A mile in about eighteen seconds with my new armor," Sean replied in a challenging voice.

That was unbelievable to Cathy, and she was credited to be the first furry to use a Predator armor system to move really fast, and it wasn't even near that. She gave the matter another moment of thought and wit took over.

"Doesn't matter Sean, I'll still always beat you," she whispered.

Definitely, but still playful, Sean asked, "How's that?"

"I can just order you to go slow," Cathy said, containing herself quite well.

Steve didn't fair good at all and snickered, although he tried to suppress it. Sean thought for a moment, confused then frowned.

"I left the army a Captain, remember that honey," then in a commanding tone she rarely used, "or should I say cadet."

Every parent's dream, the ability to give orders to their children and the guarantee of no back talk or disobedience. Sean just stared, beaten, at his mother, by all definitions a superior officer, and his father, half hysterical by now, who was also a superiors officer.

Then regaining some of his composure Sean sighed and said, "So you really did just ask me home to bust my chops."

That hurt Cathy a little and she pouted at her son.

"Ohh Sean..." the vixen said at a draw, "I won't stop you from doing what you want, I just don't want you to do something that'll get you hurt."

"I think that's why they gave me the new Predator armor, it's pretty much unbreakable," Sean replied.

"Yeah how is it? I actually got a request to come and test it a few years ago but turned it down," Steve asked, whipping a tear of laughter from his eye, "since you used the first one Sean, you should know best the comparison."

"Well," Sean began slowly, "It's about..." he pretended to think, "... twelve thousand times better."

"Really?"

"Yep," Sean said proudly, "stronger, faster, and with my new gun," he gestured to the locked, black box by the door, "it's pretty much a walking battleship."

"Costs about as much from what I hear," Cathy added.

The fox shrugged, "They won't tell us that, I guess to keep us from having thoughts of selling it on the black market."

"Wouldn't get far with the tracking chips," Steve commented.

Sean nodded.

Standing up Cathy said, "Well your rooms been made, so you should bring your stuff up there but come right back down, I still wana talk."

Sean nodded again and did as he was told. Taking up his bags, the fox made his way upstairs back to his old room. It was a little emptier than he had left it; clearly his parents had done some cleaning, but familiar enough that Sean didn't need to readjust himself.

"Figures..." Sean muttered when he saw a picture of himself and Sarah, in their full MCSL regalia.

After last year's, as Sean thought of it, failure, the fox had convinced himself that Sarah had been asleep when he proposed to her, and he damned himself for not awakening her. He made a vow, needless to say, to make sure that he asked her before she fell asleep the next time.

His parents had some more chit chat with him when he returned downstairs but for the most part the day was done. In the morning Sean made a point to seek Will out, and he found his friend at his parent's house, half asleep on the porch.

"Hey," Sean called out and stopped about two feet from the first steep.

Waking up with a stir the orange fox looked around, adjusted his eyes then smiled in Sean's direction.

"'Bin wondering when you were gona show up," Will said and jumped down from the porch.

He shook Sean's paw and the two exchanged greetings. One thing that had been eating at Sean the entire time he'd been at the Academy was the fact he saw none of his old friends. Sure Sarah had become his chief interest, but he still missed his other friends terribly.

For about an hour they exchanged their goings ons; what they loathed and what they loved about their current lives. The whole time however, Sean was trying to find an inlet to ask him about Sarah's goings on. As far as Sean knew, Will was the only one who also went to Alcaz Medical Institute, and being that he and Sarah had been friends before they went there, it was likely they still at least saw each other.

Will wasn't a stupid fox though, and knew from the get go that Sean was gona wana talk about Sarah. So little had been said when they broke up even Will, who did talk to Sarah regularly, just as Sean suspected, wasn't entirely sure on what had happened and was quite curious as to it's exact events.

"Sooo..." Will began, "Can I ask ya something?"

Sean raised an eyebrow but nodded slightly.

"Well what exactly happened when you and Sarah broke up?"

Instantly Sean's ears hid on the sides of his furry head and his tail sank behind him.

"We- I asked her to marry me and... that was it," Sean said.

It took a second for Will to realize that was really "it" and the odd look on his mug showed that he didn't understand.

Seeing this Sean explained, "I... to be honest I've thought about it a lot lately and I don't know really what or why anything happened like that. So then I gota ask," Sean looked his old friend in the eye, "Has she said anything to you or do you talk to her at all?"

"Why?" Will asked, not even giving the question thought.

With a mixed grin and frown Sean replied, "Well we still do that 'thing' we did when we we're little."

Will thought for a moment but didn't follow, but connected the ideas and, in a rather loud voice answered, "Oh the fucking on the birthday?"

"Yeah..." sighed Sean.

"Ohhh... you guys still do that?"

The fox nodded, "Yeah, she shows up at the Academy every year now," then Sean's tone turned serious, "but I want to fix things with her so can you tell me anything like," he shrugged, "like how to do that? Like how she's thinking I guess."

Will cursed under his breath, "You ain't gona like this."

Sean's ear's ducked even lower.

"Remember how she liked to dance a lot?" Will began.

Hearing that Sean scoffed, "Yeah, even though she knew I was terrible at it."

"Well she hasn't lost her taste for it and she joined a club at school, dance club or ballroom dance whatever," the orange fox explained, "and her and her dance partner, this short," Will made a "prissy" face, "gay cougar, they've been dating now, for about a year I think."

Sean's heart sank. Immediately he felt blood run to his cheeks in a mixture of panic, embarrassment and suppressed rage. He wasn't so much angry with Sarah as he was himself. There wasn't anything he could do to stop Sarah from dating, but he had been given quite a few opportunities, although illegal, to pursue at least something with his female classmates at the Academy but he'd done nothing. Worst off he now had to compete with someone else, someone that Sean already felt less than since he couldn't dance but this other male could.

Watching his friend visibly fall apart Will tried to correct his statement, "To be honest Sean, I really don't think there's much between them."

Sean rolled his head in minor agony, "She's been with him for a year? And there's nothing between them!?"

"Well I know their not fucking," Will replied bluntly.

A glimmer of hope rushed through Sean's mind and he listened carefully.

"They definitely aren't cause this cougar is always complaining that she won't do anything," Will explained.

Sean sighed in relief. Maybe she really didn't like this other guy and he still had a chance to reclaim her.

Chancing it, although he did believe it, Will whispered, "She should be with you."

He thought for a moment, but Sean nodded and whispered back, "I know."

Five Months Later, Alcaz Medical Institute on Alcaz, 1:21 PM Local Time

"So leme get this straight, I got epidemiology and bioethics," Sarah asked, looking at her schedule, "that's it?"

Her friend, a short mouse studying biomechanics, shrugged, "Hey you really don't have much to study still. And anyway why are you complaining? Senior year and you have two classes, that's it. I've never heard of that."

"Chloe," the rabbit sighed, "I'm gona be bored."

The mouse giggled, "Well you shouldn't have taken the other half of you classes over the summers."

"And go home and stay with my parents? Ha!" Sarah sneered at the thought.

The two walked out of the student life office and down the hall to the exit. Outside it was a beautiful sunny day, as usual on Alcaz. They walked back to their dorm room and Sarah stretched out on her bed, letting her ears rest on the pillow.

Three years of being around other furries, and being forced to deal with females had softened some of Sarah's rough edges. She dressed more feminine, talked more with other girls rather than with males, and made an effort to try and do "girl" things, although she was pretty much stuck with sports in general.

"So..." Chloe began in a mocking voice, "what are you gona do with all your free time?"

"Dance and shoot," Sarah answered half asleep.

"Nice combo," the mouse replied.

"Try it before you make fun of it," she said quickly then Sarah remembered the tickets on her nightstand and reached for em but her paw retrieved nothing.

The rabbit sat up and searched for a moment until her friends high voices said, "Looking for these?"

"Yeah, give em back," Sarah said in her old gruff tone.

"Not this time," the mouse replied, "This time your gona tell me where you're little 'excursions' take you."

Sarah actually growled, the universal sign that she was about to beat the crap out of someone but Chloe held firm. Sarah not once spoke of her past life or her home life and she was sure that these tickets had something to do with it.

Trying to be as ominous as possible Sarah glared at her, and stood up slowly, and walked over even slower, but Chloe wouldn't budge.

She got within one foot of her when the mouse held the ticket with both paws, "No closer or I'll rip it."

A moment past, and in a brown flash Sarah was holding the ticket. The perplexed mouse looked at her now empty paws and sank back into her bed angrily.

"Why not just tell me?" she asked.

"It's a trip home okay, and leave it at that."

"No," Chloe said, forcing humor into her voice, "to do what? Definitely not to visit your family, I know that much."

Sarah remained silent.

"Okay so it's like that..." the mouse said and took a playful tone, "Well... if it's not your parents, then what else could it be... hmm... wouldn't be a plain vacation, you only go for three days, and it's not friends, cause who could you visit with for two days..." across the room Sarah clenched her teeth, "unless," Chloe grinned widely, "It's boy isn't it!"

"'It's a boy isn't it!'" Sarah mocked.

"Oh it definitely is!" the mouse scurried over to Sarah bed and kneeled down at its foot, "Ohh and you go every year too..." she filled in the rest of the holes, "Ohh it's definitely a guy! Who is he?"

Sarah sat up and replied curtly, "It isn't a guy."

Ignoring her denial the mouse put her paw to her chin to emphasize thought, "I bet David doesn't know about this," then in a malicious tone she added, "I bet he'd be po'd to find out," then Chloe gave that statement some extra thought and added, "Actually this explains the whole deal with him."

"Phhh, what's that mean?"

"You're not fooling anyone, cept him maybe," the mouse shrugged, "You two are about as close as poles on a magnet."

Sarah rolled her eyes at the analogy.

A few minutes of silence past, and not being satisfied Chloe went on, "So you must really love this other guy."

That was enough. Sarah jumped at her friend and took her by the neck.

"Listen, it's none of you business so back off!" she said in a low, angry tone.

The mouse's ears clung to the sides of her head and her thin tail shock violently. After a few seconds of silence Sarah released her friend who breathed heavily. Trying to appear to not care at all Sarah laid down on her bed again and stared at the ceiling.

Coughing slightly and rubbing her neck Chloe glared at Sarah angrily and quietly whispered in a hurt voice, "I bet that's why he doesn't like you back, thick headed rabbit."

***

Still unsure as to why she continued making these trips, Sarah found herself on a transport to Conakry a day later. This time it was different though, Sarah actually thought about Sean. It was more of a line of thought trying to prove herself right, that she'd had a good reason to break it off when she did, yet even Sarah couldn't kid herself into thinking she hadn't made a mistake. She wouldn't dare admit it but she could hear her mothers voice in her head saying, "If you don't love him why are going to see him again?"

The rabbit sighed and looked at her watch, still a half hour till they landed. She was going to time this right so it was really a quick hit in and out. At about 10 o'clock she would break into Sean's room, regardless if he was in there or not. Be with him till around midnight, and leave by three to catch the next transport out.

About five minutes past and Sarah was already thinking about Sean again, although this time with a little less anger. She did, in the least, miss his presence. She was starting to wish that they had at least tried to stay friends, that was a stupid thing to lose. She really didn't have friends per se in college. Maybe one or two but not close enough that she really reveled anything to them. Then again she hadn't really been so open with anyone like she had been with Sean, and in her mind she wasn't that sure what points of their relationship were purely friends and what parts were love.

When the transport landed Sarah was the first out of her seat and on the bus to the Federal Military Academy. Since she looked so much like her own mother, her ID card made for a quick entrance onto the grounds with no side looks. Stealthily, as if she belonged there, she made her way to the cadet's quarters, found Sean's room, and broke into his room in about ten minutes flat.

He wasn't in yet so Sarah sat down at his desk. For a moment she looked around, wondering meekly if he had a picture of her. He didn't, none that she could find anyway. His room was clean and orderly, not like their shared room had been back at home. Sarah actually managed to crack a weak smile when she thought about lying in bed with him for hours and laughing at the terrible mess of clothes, guns, and hiking equipment always plaguing the floors of both their rooms.

The rabbit checked her watch again, only nine thirty. There wasn't much else she could think about right now, rather nothing she'd let herself think about. She was having a harder time now convincing herself that she really didn't love him, or that in the least that she wanted to be back with him. However, she still held onto her beliefs by arguing, with herself though, that she didn't "have to" do anything, and that she didn't "belong" with anyone; it was her choice to be with someone, not a calling.

After a few more minutes Sarah managed to daydream away, although this time of her normal life at College. She thought of her day-to-day life, and wasn't happy, but refused to connect the necessary dots.

Then with a startle Sean stumbled in, looking a little drunk in fact, something Sarah hadn't seen on to many occasions. He still had a grin on his face from whatever it had been he was doing, and although he was rocking back and forth a little, as soon as he saw Sarah he paused, and straightened himself out completely.

"How do you keep getting in here?" he asked quietly.

Not sure how to take that, the rabbit shrugged, "Comon, my dad taught me all the same shit yours did."

Sean nodded slowly, "So..."

"Yeah...." Sarah sighed and, as if it meant nothing, grabbed Sean by the paw and walked him to the bed.

They both undressed rather unceremoniously, although Sean clearly had more interest in this than Sarah.

Not even saying a playful word, Sarah got to her knees in front of Sean and, using her soft paws, played with his sheath and balls until he was at full mast. Instantly she took his cock in her mouth and, having never lost the ability, took his full length down her throat, bobbing up and down rapidly as Sean let out low moans.

He backed up and sat down on his bed. As she continued sucking him off Sean held the sides of her head, guiding her along. The slickness of her mouth and throat was driving Sean made, yet in the back of his mind there was a question and an urge begging to be asked and fulfilled.

Any thought by the fox was interrupted as she held his entire length in her throat, using her tong to lick down his sheath. Sean thrusted a little and Sarah bolted back, coughing slightly.

"Sorry," Sean whispered.

Sarah nodded and laid on the bed, feeling that it had been enough "foreplay."

Ever since their breakup she had refused to be with him face to face, so she laid on her stomach and circled her hind end in front of him. For a moment he hesitated, thinking that now as the time to propose, but he figured it was better once they were down, in a post coitus sense of relaxation.

Needing no more convincement, Sean mounted her quickly from behind, in a rather animalistic fashion. Sean slipped inside her. He moaned, they both moaned, as his warm rod slipped between her velvety and slick love folds.

Sean laid down on top of her and wrapped his paws around her furry hips, resting his snout on her shoulder. Sarah turned and looked at him, not sure as to why he was doing that and he checked the move.

Not taking any further time, Sean began thrusting in and out, hard enough that below them both Sarah's soft tits rolled beneath her. Unable to stop herself Sarah moaned out loud, closing her eyes and trying to enjoy the annual encounter.

His cock felt so good to her; every year she forgot how good it felt to have sex only to be reminded by it by Sean, who was indeed quite good at the action. She could feel her muscles tightening in her nether regions and with an extra moan thrown in Sarah came, her tight pussy clamping down on Sean, sucking him deeper. Sean didn't stop fucking her while she came either, he continued full strokes in and out, only making her cum that much better.

Sarah couldn't hold herself up anymore so she let her paws lay out in front of her, and was barely able to ho hold herself still while Sean continued pounding her as hard as he could.

The feeling was tremendous, and Sarah couldn't help but moan, "Oh God yes!"

In an almost crying tone she went on screaming, "Sean... oh fuck! Please fuck me! Please fuck me!"

Although he took notice Sean didn't slow down at all; she hadn't been verbal at all in any of their post breakup encounters.

He was tempted however and he drew himself in and out slowly but more forcefully, dragging himself and playing with her clit.

In as soft a tone as he could manage Sean asked, "Do you love it?"

To caught up in the moment and the feeling to keep her façade up and in a begging tone she answered, "I love it! I want it!"

Feeling a little daring Sean asked, "You love me?"

That was enough of a jolt to wake Sarah up to what was going on, so she craftily screamed as if she was about to cum, which wasn't exactly quite a fake as she was close, and continued screaming until she did.

Sean did notice her move, and caught onto exactly what it meant. He figured that if he made her enjoy this enough her defenses would lower and maybe the reasonable Sarah he wished to be with would resurface.

It wouldn't be long now; Sean slowed himself down to stave off his own orgasm. One of the things he missed most of all was, as selfish as it was, cumming with Sarah, in Sarah. However she had made it quite clear during their first sex after the breakup that she would have none of that now, since that was something that she knew was reserved for lovers not for "fuck buddies," to which they had both been reduced.

"Ohh I... I'm gona cum again!" Sarah screamed.

"Me too," Sean moaned.

In a rather angry voice Sarah warned, as expected, "Not inside."

Sean gave her a few final, powerful strokes, enjoying the last feeling of Sarah's warm, lush passage. He came all over her furry rear, covering her little rabbit tail in long white strands of his warm cum.

A moment later Sarah came, her pussy convulsing and squeezing, wishing there was something in there to fill the vacant space with and to milk till it came itself. Some of her own juices dripped from her pussy lips, making a small wet spot below her.

Both breathing hard Sean rolled off her back and laid down beside her.

"Did," Sean took a deep breath, "Did you really enjoy it?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow to him and bobbed her head, "Yeah..." she laid her head down on the pillow and continued trying to catch her breath.

Knowing this was the be all, end all moments Sean whispered, "Will you marry me?"

Still not looking at Sean, and very glad she wasn't, Sarah remained still, just staring at the pillow she had her head on.

"Sarah?" Sean asked, trying to hide his slight aggravation in her refusal to acknowledge him, "I know you're awake this time."

The rabbit remained completely motionless, even managing to regain her composure in a few breaths.

Sean gritted his teeth in suppressed, clearly suppressed, anger.

"Please," Sean said in an equally angry tone, "marry me."

Sarah remained motionless.

In the morning she was gone, and Sean felt a pain and anger he didn't know could be felt.

Chapter 5 Twenty-Three

Twelve Months Later, Federal Army Advanced Weapons Training Center on Conakry, 0839 Military Time

Enough had been enough for this fox. Sean had done everything, almost everything, he ever wanted to do. He graduated the Federal Military Academy top of his class, making his father proud, he had been selected to join the elite few who were members of the Ranger's, and the even more elite few who qualified to use an advanced armor suit. Yet one thing, which reared it's head once a year was proving to torture Sean with something he was unfamiliar with, something he never had to deal with in any other subject or situation in his life, failure.

This was manifested in Sarah's annual visits to him. At first the fox actually enjoyed the visits, mainly while he was still steaming and barely acknowledging his self proclaimed failure, but that soon evolved when he sat himself down and gave the matter thought. He realized eventually that he missed her, and wanted her back, yet didn't see it as a failure quite yet. He did everything short of getting on his knees to beg her to resume their relationship but the rabbit continued to refuse him, as she was more think headed than he was.

Now, more than five years since their breakup, Sean was a different furry. Moreover he didn't want to be the old furry he once had been. After last year's blatant refuse of a mere answer by Sarah, Sean had actually began to resent her, and right up until his birthday, today, he was actually looking forward to seeing Sarah just to be resentful to her in person.

Although he still had an inherent want to be with her, no amount of self convincing could ever change that, so he knew he would propose to her once again, but Sean felt it more as a formality now than anything of meaning. "It couldn't hurt to ask," was more of his attitude now, but he had begun, mentally at least, to forget why he wanted to be with her.

Regardless, on his twenty-third birthday Sean found himself on an Advance Predator III, the newest rendition of the armor and evidently the best, testing range that, if his mother saw what they were doing to him, would manually force him out of the military.

"Alright lieutenant," the technician, a short and plump rat said, "we're gona take the particle beam up 20%," he entered in the change and waited a moment, "Any changes in the armor?"

Sean shook his head, not able to use the voice communicator in the armor since the amount of energy being focused on his chest was blocking transmissions out.

The technician laughed and shook his head, "Okay we're gona turn it off so you can take a breather."

After he turned it off the rat, his name was Dr. Calhan Dredger, turned to the officer who was overseeing this, a rather bored looking Colonel.

"Colonel Williams that was 340% times of energy the amount the Predator III was expected to be able to take," Dr. Dredger said in an amazed voice.

Yawning the Colonel replied, "O...kay... and that means?"

"Brute," the doctor thought, but aloud he explained, "That you got your money's worth Colonel. Right now we don't posses, or know of for that matter, any conventional weapons than can crack this thing."

"Can it survive a nuke?" the Colonel, a very old dog, asked, now slightly interested.

The rat bobbed his head slightly, making the rolls of fat beneath his coat jiggle, "Technically yes, but the radiation shielding isn't powerful enough to keep the occupant safe so the armor would be physically fine but the soldier would be dead."

Not terribly sure what the hell he was here for Colonel Williams asked, "So is there anything else worth reporting to Intelligence?"

"Well," Dr. Dredger sighed and picked up his notepad, "it can have roughly four hundred tons of weight on it before the occupant felt any discomfort, and even then it was minimal, it's power cells function at twice the level expected, and it's targeting computer-weapon interface is accurate to about one, one-hundredth of an inch at a range of one hundred meters, and uh..." he turned the page, "it's cooling system can sustain a hospitable internal climate anywhere from negative seventy two degrees to three hundred degrees Fahrenheit, which by the way has no effect, that we can measure anyway, on armor composure or stability."

"So... basically it's better than we ever expected?"

The rat sighed in annoyance, "Yes Colonel, it's many times better than ever anticipated."

The colonel nodded, then clicked on the intercom, "Lieutenant? Come into the control room."

"Yes sir," Sean saluted and made his way into the heavily armored room.

"What do you think of it?" the dog asked.

"An excellent piece of battlefield tech, sir," Sean said and rubbed his armored paw over the interlocking plates.

Colonel Williams thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you think there's any way you could get killed using this?"

Sean bobbed his head in a similar way to Dr. Dredger, "Not likely sir, but I suppose if I got stuck and used up the entire power cell, or used a EMP burst to knock out it's system's I might be in trouble."

"The armor is shield against EMP," the rat chimed in.

"To what degree?" the Colonel asked.

The rat hesitated but Sean answered instead, "Enough that if I'm near a grenade or shell burst I won't have a problem but a dead on hit will in the least knock out visual's, communication, and probably the integration circuits, sir."

Colonel Williams was surprised, testers usually weren't so aware of the inter workings of the gear and equipment they tested, that was the whole point.

"Your Consoler Reynolds' son, aren't you lieutenant?" he asked with an intrigued look.

Sean nodded, "Yes sir."

"How was it your father was captured, if you don't mind my asking," the Colonel said in a controlled tone, "I mean he was using the first Predator system which was by no means an inadequate piece of hardware."

For a moment Sean hesitated then swallowed hard, "As I'm aware of it sir, he let himself be captured, but I guess the answer to your question is that he was over powered-"

"Which wouldn't likely happen with this new armor, Colonel Williams," the rat interjected, "Since it increases the user's strength roughly fifty fold, making them strong enough to pretty much beat back any force."

Sean nodded in agreement, "Yes sir, like I said it's unlikely any one soldier would cause any significant problem in the armor, it would have to be something like a very heavy tank or starship that could make things dangerous.

"Alright," Colonel Williams nodded slowly to the rat, "thank you Dr. Dredger. Lieutenant Reynolds, if you don't mind would you accompany me, just a few other questions I have."

"Yes sir," Sean saluted and quickly removed the armor and followed the dog out of the testing facility.

Outside, the Colonel smoked a cigarette while he and Sean walked to an awaiting transport to return them both to the FN Valiant waiting in orbit. Once aboard Sean, slightly confused now, was lead to a briefing room, dimly lit and reminiscent to what his father told him old war stories about.

An orderly led Sean to a seat after which two generals, Colonel Williams, and two more officers whose ranks Sean couldn't identify because they weren't Federal officers in the strictest sense, they were wolves in wolf officer uniforms.

The first General, a human stood up and shook the paw of one of the wolves, "Good to see you General Bhengah," he nodded to the other wolf, "Colonel Soran."

"General Peterson," Bhengah greeted, "Colonel Williams and..." the wolf eyed the other general and Sean, "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting either of you before."

The other General, an ageing cat, stood up and bowed his head to General Bhengah, "I'm Brigadier General George Anderson and... I don't know this," he looked Sean over, "soldier... Name and rank, son?"

Sean stood up at attention and saluted the officer, "Second Lieutenant Sean Reynolds, sirs."

Everyone in the room raised eyebrows to that but Colonel Williams beat them all to the punch and answered, "He's Consoler Reynolds' son, gentlemen."

"And can you tell me why he's here?" Anderson asked, wondering what purpose a mere lieutenant could really supply at this briefing, regardless of his parentage.

"Because I think he can provide some light into the current problem, or at least a solution to it," Williams answered.

General Anderson shrugged but took his seat, as did the other officers. Still confused Sean followed suit but made a point to listen close to the briefing.

General Bhengah stood up and walked to the center of the table. The wolf looked up and down the line of officers, focusing on each one for a moment.

"Needless to say what's happened in the Cruw de Nuela region is not exactly the kind of cooperation Consular Reynolds had envisioned for us in the past," the wolf said with much distaste in his voice, something that bothered Sean a little, "right now we're sure of at least two heavy cruisers that may or may not be in control by the rebel forces."

"Any demands?" Colonel Williams asked.

"Not yet," Bhengah answered, "and to be honest I don't think there will be. The frank assessment is they seem to have a problem with the Cruw de Nuela's, some kind of dispute that has cause the commander of this small battle group, one," the wolf read the file, "Admiral Cooper, to want to basically whip them out."

A little surprised by this General Peterson asked, "And how do we know this?"

"Two hours after we lost contact with the two cruisers we received a distress signal from the colony reporting a massive bombardment of the surface by Federal craft matching those under the command of Admiral Cooper," General Bhengah explained, "now I don't know what happened and to be honest, I don't care, but we have to fix this ASAP."

"Agreed, has anyone informed Consular Dorreen?" Colonel Williams asked.

Anderson nodded, "Yes, he's given us the okay to do whatever is necessary to protect that planet which makes me wana ask, what do you think this lieutenant can do for us, Williams?"

Everyone of the senior officers turned to Sean, whose ears almost fell to the sides of his head.

Leaning in, Colonel Williams cleared his throat, diverting their attention from Sean, "Lieutenant Reynolds here is part of the Predator III testing group, the primary test user, and he's had enough experience with the armor to sufficiently say he's the best user of it as of yet, and from what I've seen I believe that it is ready for fielding, and this is the perfect test of it."

"What makes you so sure it is ready for actual combat use, Colonel?" General Peterson asked.

"Nothing, I think that's a decision only Lieutenant Reynolds can be sure of," Williams answered.

At that the ball was set in Sean's court. The fox thought for a moment, diligently on all the tests he'd done, specifically the zero-g and space tests. The officers realized he was thinking hard because behind him his large bushy tail made wide, anxious circles.

The fox took a deep breath, sat up a little straighter, and answered, "Yes sirs, I believe the Predator III is at a sufficient development stage to complete this mission."

"What mission?" Colonel Soran asked, he was in control of joint black ops between Federal and Wolf forces, "I didn't hear about anything discussed as far as missions go."

"Soran calm down," Bhengah said harshly to his subordinate and he turned to Sean, "What would you suggest as a course of action?"

Sean sighed and thought for a moment, similar to how his father acted, "Well, a quick drop of either just me or me and anyone else in at least a Predator II armor system. High and stealthy, whatever drops us off bugs out ASAP and we take the stronger of the two cruisers."

"Why the stronger?" General Peterson asked.

"Well..." Sean nodded, "I have to say the likely hood of getting both the cruisers back is highly unlikely, but if we take the stronger of the two cruisers and use it to destroy the weaker one, we may be able to take it remotely intact."

Grabbing a file folder General Bhengah read off the specifications of each ship, neither was specifically better than the other, both had completely different weapon systems.

"So given that," General Anderson began, "your plan won't work, lieutenant."

"Not necessarily sir," Sean replied, coming into what he was born to do, "the Pszoriski has greater armor, since it's of an older class ship, whereas the Kindler has far more powerful energy absorbing armor, but not against kinetic energy rounds. I believe a few well placed shots on it's engine housing will cause severe hull breakdown and probably destroy the Kindler eventually."

"But none of the weapons on the Pszoriski can cause enough damage to do that," General Anderson pointed out.

"I realize that sir, which is why we bring our own weapons," Sean replied, "the Predator III armor system lets me carry weights exceeding three hundred pounds, more than enough to carry a single starship grade gun, which, if we can get close enough to the Kindler should be enough to break the engine o-rings and cause the necessary damage."

The wolves looked a little suspicious but were obviously in agreement of the plan's possibilities. Anderson was visibly convinced but General Peterson seemed more then skeptical.

Sitting up, the human asked, "And what if this doesn't work, and your 'hand cannon' can't take out the Pszoriski?"

"Then I'll drive the Kindler right into it, its superior armor will make it perfect as a battering ram," Sean replied.

Everyone in the room shifted uneasily, space collisions never ended well.

Already aware of their reservations Sean, in a louder tone, added, "The Predator III can handle just about anything sirs, and the only thing I have to worry about is a reactor detonation and even then if I'm far enough away there should be no problems."

A moment of awkward silence followed, finally broken by Williams who said, "That'll be all for now lieutenant, wait outside while we discuss this matter."

Sean stood up and saluted the officers. He walked out of the briefing room and let out a deep sigh of relief. His heart had to be beating a thousand times a minute after that. Carefully the fox played over everything he said and what was said to him in his mind, making sure he hadn't made any serious mistakes that would cause some unimaginable embarrassment to himself. After a few seconds he took an uneasy belief in his mind that he'd acted perfectly and he sat down on a bench outside the briefing room.

It was only ten minutes until an orderly ushered Sean back into the briefing room. The fox stood at attention in front of the seated officers; his tail and ears and whole body perfectly straight, praying in his mind that he wasn't about to be demoted for idiocy.

"Lieutenant how soon could you organize and execute your attack?" General Bhengah asked.

Hiding his amazement Sean thought for a moment then answered, "Including the time needed to get to the planet? About two days if we start in the morning."

"And if we could get you there in a few hours? Could you still be prepared?" General Peterson asked.

"Well, yes sir, the gun would be commandeered off of whatever transports me to the planet and the Predator III is battle ready already sir," Sean replied.

The officers nodded, and General Peterson asked quietly, "How many troops would be needed for this?"

"How many crew in total are on both these ships, sirs?"

Anderson looked at the file again, "Since there were no ground troops only about seventy per ship."

"Then either a platoon of Ranger's in EVA gear or three other users in at least Predator II armor," Sean answered.

General Soran whispered something to Bhengah who nodded and whispered on to Peterson who further passed it on to Anderson.

Satisfied with explanation, the cat nodded and stood up, "Alright lieutenant, we can't give you any Predator troops, but we'll give you a platoon of Ranger's which should be enough. You report back here tomorrow at 0400, first lieutenant."

"Sir?" Sean asked, not able to believe what he was hearing.

Colonel Williams nodded, "We can't a have a second lieutenant lead an attack like this, and a year from graduating the Academy your due for a promotion. See the quartermaster with this," the dog handed Sean a set of orders for first lieutenant rank insignia.

"Dismissed lieutenant," General Anderson said and saluted the now stunned fox.

Sean managed to salute back, clicked his heals, and exited. He did as he was told; not wasting a moment, picked up and pinned on his knew rank insignia. He couldn't help but think he was one step closer to being a captain, something he'd always wanted. While at the quartermaster's office Sean picked up hull breaching charges and an extra emergency power cell.

Once he was cleared Sean returned to the surface, picked up the armor from a rather angry Dr. Dredger, and went back to his quarters at the testing facility. Low and behold when he entered his room he found Sarah, this time dead asleep, on his chair.

For a moment Sean considered turning around and leaving her there, he was in no mood to deal with her, regardless of what pretenses she was there for. The fact was Sean really didn't want to see her anymore, not after last year. Still though, part of him still had some hopes so, after watching her sleep for a moment he closed his door loudly enough to wake her with a fright.

The rabbit yawned and stared at Sean for a moment, a slight smile spread across her face until she remembered the situation and stood up, almost at attention.

For a split second Sean opened his mouth to say, "Just get out," but something was still stopping him.

Sarah wasn't stupid, and she could sense his obvious tension, and the only way she could think to alleviate it was the obvious. So, slowly, she walked over to Sean, then guided her paws along his chest.

In a flash Sean grabbed her wrists and held them hard, hard enough to cause a lot of pain for Sarah.

"What are you doing?" Sean said, not even trying to hid his anger with her.

Not liking his attitude, and now slightly scared, Sarah said in the coolest voice she could manage, "What do you think?"

Sean growled slightly, and released her. Sarah didn't continue though, she looked him in the eye for a moment, something she hadn't done in years. There was something very different about him now, and she couldn't put her paw on it. Whatever it was she really didn't like it, she didn't like seeing Sean like this at all.

In short it scared her, it scared her enough to ask him, "What happened to you?"

"You gona marry me?" he asked bluntly, and pretty much without feeling.

Sarah didn't answer, just stared at him. Aside from trying to ignore the question the sound and way he acted was very, very different.

Taking a deep breath Sarah whispered, "Please Sean, I just want to get this over with."

"Me too," Sean said coldly.

Actually worried about him, Sarah pushed on, "Tell me first what happened?"

"Why do you care?" Sean asked harshly and sat down on his bed, "I have a mission tomorrow and I don't really-" even Sean knew better at the moment than to finish that sentence, cause part of him still wanted, however subconscious it was, to be around or at least with her for a limited time.

Sarah caught a glimpse at Sean's desk clock; ten forty five, with her transport leaving at three, she had to get a move on, even though her better judgment said to try and find out what was wrong with him, she had an urge to find out, she didn't know why but she was torn to want to stay and to do what she felt was what she should.

Siding with what Sean probably really wanted from her, Sarah decided to go on as planed, and slowly undressed for the fifth time since she'd started this annual tradition.

Just as years before, she waited for Sean to be asleep, he took no time at all this time, and slipped out, just in time to catch her transport, yet she did feel a sense of dissatisfaction. Not with the meaningless sex, she had grown accustomed to feeling no emotional attachment to the act at all over the years, and not even Sean's attitude towards the act on his end, but his attitude with her, it was worse than when they had broken up.

Chapter 6 Twenty-Four

Eleven Months Later, Officer's Club at Fort Lowery on Grogg, 1541 Military Time

"Caaaaptainnnn Reynolds..." the base commander said slowly as he looked over the fox's file, the amazement more than apparent in his voice, "I'd never have thought I could see this."

Sean shifted uneasily in the chair. He hated when his own pedigree came into contact, for better or worse, with his own career in the military. It was unavoidable at best though.

"Only a year and a half to make Captain, huh?" the General, obviously not a good one in Sean's eyes, said with further amazement.

"Yes sir," Sean answered.

"And why is it, if you don't mind my asking, you requested to serve here?" General Walter asked.

Sean couldn't give him the real answer, so thinking fast he replied, "I'm trying to see as much as the Federation as I can as fast as I can, sir."

Raising an interested eyebrow, the General asked, "So you can better run it one day?"

Sean wanted to run out of the room but he couldn't disrespect a superior officer, no matter how disrespectful he was in return, and merely answered, "Just to learn the overall history of the Federation on the whole, sir."

"I'm sure," General Walter replied, "Well report to Major Sforza at the motor pool for instructions," he stood up and saluted, "Dismissed Captain Reynolds."

Sean nodded and walked out, 100% sure he was going to request another transfer in the near future, no matter how out of the way this base was.

Knowing his job though, Sean reported as he was told and realized rapidly that this posting was one step above civilian duties; managing vehicles, directing traffic and such. He definitely had to get out of her, he'd much rather be with the Ranger's, no matter how high profile they were and easy to find.

That was what this was all about in the end, making himself harder to find. That was why he found himself at this piss port base, on the far edge of Federal boundaries, and taking a job that had little attention drawn to it. Why was he taking such great care in hiding his movements? That was just it, to hid, to hid from Sarah. He would freely admit it to himself, not the reason as to why, but he knew that it was the reason. Sean wanted nothing to do with her anymore, she wasn't going to marry him, she didn't care about him, she didn't love him, and Sean didn't kid himself for a minute thinking that her annual visits had anything to do with more than Sarah either checking up to see that she was doing better than him and, more likely, not to be proved that she couldn't hold up her word.

It didn't matter to Sean anymore, the sex wasn't worth it, it had lost it's meaning years ago, and he was satisfied he would never get what he knew was so valuable to his father, and he would say to himself, "I'm married to the military," not knowing his father, at a dire point in his own life, had uttered the same phrase.

After his duties were done, Captain Reynolds returned to his meager quarters, a one room with no bathroom. It was good enough though, so long as there was a place of honor to hang up his S-M6. Over the years, particularly after his quick series of black ops, Sean had grown to more than just prefer the gun, he loved it. Not a single time in seven operations had it jammed, broken, or lost ability in any way and to that Sean knew he owed his life more than once.

At around four, Sean went to the officer's mess to get his dinner, but along the way an orderly stopped him and handed him a letter. Surprised at the article he sent the corporal on his way and, returning to his quarters opened it and revealed a hand written letter, something he'd never received before.

It was from his mom, and upon reading it Sean wasted no time, only stopping to grab his rifle off the wall, and got into a shuttle to return to Foc where his parents needed him.

Two Day's Later, Reynolds' Home on Foc 5:32 PM Local Time

The trip home had taken long enough to frighten Sean enough that he paced in his room. The letter was pretty cryptic, although clear that his mother and father were safe and healthy, but not clear enough as to why they "desperately need him to come immediately home."

A million nightmares flashed through his mind, a significant portion involving Sarah although he tried to tell himself not to care much about those. When the ship landed Sean ran full speed, not even caring that he was carrying his S-M6 in his paws, right for anyone and everyone to see.

He ran up the porch and knocked on the door, not wanting to waste a second. Cathy came to the door, looking fine, but frowned instantly when she saw the distressed look on Sean's face.

Opening the door and holding his other paw Cathy asked, "What's wrong honey?"

"What happened?" he asked breathlessly.

"'What happened?' Ohh you got the letter," and with that Cathy's attitude changed, "Nothing," she said and followed through with pulling him inside, "Comon, and," she looked at the rifle and sighed, "Sean... is that loaded?"

Realizing for the first time that not only was it loaded, but he had it, Sean nodded and removed the magazine and cleared the chamber, but didn't put either down.

Cathy sighed softly and gave him a hug, "Nice to see you Sean."

"Nice to see you too mom... what happened?" he asked, anxious and confused.

She lead him into the living room and she went out back to grab Steve who was still half asleep in the warming sun where they had been lying together for the past few hours.

They both came in and sat down across from the now very perplexed fox and stared at him, both feeling the sensation that Sean was indeed different, as they had come to suspect.

"Okay you guys havta explain this," Sean whipped out the letter from his pant's pocket, "cause I thought one of you were-"

"I said we were fine, Sean," Cathy answered, glad to here that at least part of the caring young fox was in the gruff soldier that returned.

Steve adjusted himself and sat up straight, "Well first off, congratulations, Captain Reynolds."

Cathy smiled widely, remembering hearing that the first time many years ago. To Sean that was the first time that the rank actually meant something to him and he managed to crack a smile.

"Is that why you scared the hell out of me?" Sean asked, trying to sound humorous, "to congratulate me?"

"No," Cathy replied, "we've- we're scared about you Sean."

Now he was really confused.

"We've gotten a mixed group of furries and people telling us things about you, and me and your father are really worried about you honey," Cathy went on, "your... your too angry."

"Angry?" Sean repeated.

Steve nodded, "Yeah," and to himself he thought, "to much like how I was."

"And your..." Cathy leaned in and whispered, "hurting yourself."

Taking a slight offense to that Sean replied, "I'm not crazy, mom."

"Not like that Sean," Steve answered, "we mean as far as your career... your life goes."

For a moment Sean thought about losing his patients, only thought, he knew better than to do that in front of his father. So taking a deep breath he nodded for his parents to continue.

"We know what you've been doing, going and taking these crappy assignments across the galaxy when you can, and I know, I know you want to do more," Cathy explained, "and we know why."

"What is it?" Sean asked, interested on how much they really know.

"What your... training has made you, you can be so much more," Steve replied.

The younger Captain huffed, "What I'm supposed to do..."

Steve and Cathy looked at each other, and Steve asked, "Why did you word it like that?"

Even more confused than before Sean raised an eyebrow but Steve nodded to explain, "It's just something Sarah used to say."

Just ever so slightly Steve's eye twitched, something Sean knew to mean he thought he won, but the fox wasn't sure what his father was thinking he won at.

"And that bothers you?" Cathy asked.

"What? What I'm supposed to do? Well I know I don't have to do anything, but yeah, I guess I wouldn't want to do something just cause I'm supposed to do it."

"Do you feel that way about being in the Ranger's, using the Academy's training?" Steve asked.

For a moment Sean thought then shook his head, "No, I want to do those things."

Although they didn't show it or do it, mentally, Steve and Cathy sighed in relief, but it still begged the question from Steve as to why then he wasn't doing them.

"I don't know," Sean answered.

His parents knew right away he wasn't being truthful and Cathy called him on it by saying in a drawn out way, "Sean..."

He wouldn't budge though, he knew they knew, and they knew exactly what, but the fox managed to fool himself into thinking if he didn't say it, they wouldn't know for sure.

After sitting for a good half hour in an awkward silence, Cathy whispered, "We want you to stay for a few days, just to cool down. You need it, and I want to see you for a little while."

"We miss you, you know," Steve added.

Sean nodded; deep down he missed it to.

"And tomorrow," Steve said, standing up, Cathy with him, "Sean wants to talk to you, I think he and Emily have missed you too."

"Great," Sean thought, "Just who I want to talk to, Sarah's dad."

***

Still not sure if this was a good idea, Sean walked up the stoop and knocked on the door. In a fleeting moment of nostalgia he expected Sarah to answer the door, and when Mrs. Atric opened the door, for an odd split second Sean really thought it was her.

"Hey, Sean's been waiting for you, he's on the back porch," Emily said and led Sean through the house, a house he could walk through with his eyes closed.

She left him on the back porch where Mr. Atric was reading a magazine, not quite intently, but enough he didn't take notice of the younger fox standing before him.

"Sir?" Sean asked, out of respect.

"I'm not in the military anymore Sean," he replied without looking up, "you don't need to call me 'sir.'"

Carefully Sean shifted his weight onto his other paw, "Okay Mr. Atric, what do you need?"

Still not looking up he gestured to the seat across from him, "Sit down."

A few seconds past and Sean's attentive ears danced on his head, listening and waiting for Mr. Atric to say something. Conversely Mr. Atric sat at perfect ease, his orange fur slightly ruffled from constantly being in the fresh air, his ears and tail, and whole body was at ease though, with the only movement caused by his slow breathing.

Finally, after about a minute, he folded up the magazine and finally looked up at Sean. He seemed to be glad to see him, which made the younger fox ease up, a little.

"Sean," he began softly, "I know you're not stupid, you know exactly why I asked to talk to you right?"

Feeling stupid Sean replied, "Actually no si- Mr. Atric."

"It's about Sarah," he explained quickly.

Uneasily Sean shifted in his seat, not so much that he was talking with her father, but the mere mention of her name caused a visible almost... irritation in him. Something that Mr. Atric took a note of.

"Well," he began, "I just want to say, of all the young males I know that have looked at her, you were always the only one that I..." he thought for the right word, "approved? I guess, of. Not just cause your Steve's son, although don't think that doesn't play into it, but because I know you, I know what you do, how you think, and partially because I'd like to think I know how your father thinks but... recently at least, you've been surprising and kind of scaring everyone."

Sean didn't follow so told Mr. Atric so.

"It's your approach to life and other, Sean, that's bothering people, and I know why, or I'm pretty sure I do," the older fox explained, "I know, through some of your friends and a little from you and Sarah, what happened when you two broke up," he eyed Sean carefully, "what it was over."

Thinking back for a moment Sean swallowed hard, the idea of marriage had, for the most part, left his mind, figuring he never would be at his current rate of progression, or lack there of.

"First off," Mr. Atric continued, "I wouldn't ever try and stop you guys, and yes, honestly I think you two would make a good couple," then with a sigh he added, "belong as it were."

Sean got it now, he wasn't sure how but somehow his and Sarah's parents were fully informed as to what was going on between them.

For a moment Mr. Atric let that sit with Sean, but he took a deep breath and went on, "I wouldn't ever force either of you though, and don't think any of us would, into marriage or out of marriage. None of us can ever know whether or not you two are really ready or want that, because only each of you can love the other that much, in that way. Now what I have noticed though, is that after-" Sean stopped himself, he didn't want to bluntly say his daughter had said no to the young fox, "after you two broke it off, both of you seemed less happy, and I mean immensely. From what I understand it's been made worse by your little, tradition," he ended calmly, not thrilled to be talking about this, but he knew it had to be done.

Sean looked up wide-eyed, rather stunned at Mr. Atric's bluntness.

"For... for the record Mr. Atric, Sarah's the one that insists on it," Sean managed to reply.

"I have to ask Sean," the older fox began in a calm voice, "Do you love her? And I mean real love. Physical, sex, whatever, would you just be happy enough to be around her?"

Sean took a moment to think, that was a big question, one that he hadn't ever asked himself.

Right a way an answer popped into his mind and he whispered, "No sir, not with the way she's been for the past years."

"How so?" the older fox replied.

"What do you mean?" Sean asked.

"As in, what about her bothers you so much?" Mr. Atric clarified, he had his suspicions but after the past month and a half he wasn't going to assume anything about his daughter anymore.

"Can I say something ill of her in front of you sir?" Sean asked, not wanting to be that blunt without permission.

Sean knew he may regret saying yes, but the older fox nodded, stopping only to say, "Just stop calling me sir."

"Okay," Sean replied, and sighed deeply, "Sarah's just so... I don't know-"

"Thick headed?" Mr. Atric interjected, knowing that much to be true.

"I was gona say stupid, but that works too I guess," Sean said, glad to at least tell one person that.

"Here's the thing about my daughter, Sean," Mr. Atric began, "she has, hmm, convinced herself I suppose, that if she can't make a decision on something then she won't have anything to do with it. Probably why she won't be in the military."

Slightly confused Sean just stared at the older fox, who could understand his confusion, he barely understood Sarah and she was his own daughter.

"The best way I can explain it is," he clarified, "the whole 'supposed to' thing pisser her off like nothing else. I don't know if it's religious or not, maybe you know that better than I do, but she wants to be completely in control of what happens to her, and basically she doesn't want to just do something cause it's like expected of her, even if it's a good thing."

Sighing for a second Sean whispered, "I think I'm gona stay with my original thought and say she's being stupid."

"Maybe so but you can't take what she says or does so seriously," Mr. Atric pointed out.

Sean huffed, not really understanding or believe that.

It was actually a little bit harder for Mr. Atric to have this discussion, and not because it involved slight insults to his daughter, or suggestive topics about her, but that just a few weeks prior to this, he had a similar conversation with Sarah herself. It had gone about as well, Sean tried to explain to his daughter that she needed to actually stop worrying about others, and start thinking of herself. That was after all, the essential root of her problem, she cared what others thought of her, and she would neglect her own wants and wishes to supply the image she wanted to show others. And, what made this the most confusing thing of all, Sarah's real nature actually demanded that she care least of all about that, being a tomboy after all, yet it was quite clear, at least to Sean and Emily, that she cared a lot more than she would ever admit about what others thought of her. It was a bad situation made worse by this fact, because Mr. Atric was very sure that Sarah and Sean desperately wanted to be together, moreover they needed to, it was starting to take a toll on them emotionally and he feared the effects may scar them for life.

"With all due respects Mr. Atric," Sean began out of nowhere, "but I really don't know if I care anymore, and even if I did, I never did anything wrong to her, definitely not to deserve the way she treats me. And if it makes you feel better to know I have made a point of avoiding her, I don't want to use her like that, I don't like even really seeing her at all."

"I know that Sean," the older fox replied, now getting a little aggravated, evident by his bushy tail's slow circles, "but it's hurting you, and hurting Sarah."

Sean wanted to scream and yell, but he contained himself, "Mr. Atric, I really don't want to talk about Sarah okay? The fact is I used to love her, but she didn't want to keep loving me so that's that."

"And you're just giving up?" Sean replied, surprised to hear of a Reynolds that would quit.

That did strike a cord in the younger fox, but not enough to change his feelings.

Taking a very deep breath and getting to his feet, Sean said in a low tone, one which Mr. Atric didn't think the still growing fox was capable, "I don't care about her anymore, and if she for some reason wants to change her mind, so be it, but from now on I don't really care."

Sean didn't even bother to ask to be excused; he just walked out of the house and returned home a few hours later after taking a long walk in the park. All Mr. Atric could think about was how badly his daughter must have hurt him, and that if she didn't grow up a little, soon Sean may very well lose all connection to his former self.

Two Weeks Later, Captain Sean Reynolds Cabin Aboard FN Drake in orbit over Grogg, 2202 Military Time

This was really bothering her now, really, really badly. It was more than obvious that Sean was hiding from her, moving around and trying hard to not leave a trace, but Sarah's father had enough contacts in the military that could help her in her endeavors that if Sarah wanted to find Sean, she would. It did bother her though his obvious lack of interest in seeing her, if only to have sex.

What bothered her more was what had happened last year, how cold he had been. It had frightened her then and she'd been thinking about it on and off all year.

The only way she had managed to slip, rather stow away, aboard the capital ship was by using her "white coat" advantage, that is to say the fact she was a doctor. She moved down the corridors, looking for where the officer's quarters would be.

It took some doing, but eventually with the assistance from an orderly, Sarah managed to find Sean's room. He left her outside the closed door, obvious that inside, if Sean was inside, he must be asleep.

Carefully she took out her lock pick kit, remembering fondly when she and Sean would have lots of fun breaking into places like this. A moment later she slipped in, quietly and quickly, barely making a sound. She shut the door behind herself and walked over to Sean's bedside.

He was dead asleep, obvious he'd had a long day as he was still in his fatigues and clearly hadn't taken a shower. It didn't bother Sarah though, but she did take a moment to look at him, she hadn't, not in a long time, just looked at him. The last time she had they had both been still young teenagers, after that he had just been Sean, but for the first time she realized that he was actually quite handsome.

The fox's fur was dark, dark red, fur unlike any other fox Sarah ever saw except Sean's mother. Black tipped ears and a lazy, bushy white tip tail hung off the side of the bed. He was in great shape, evident by his muscular arms and chest and legs, and had, at least asleep, a very calm and warming look on his face. He had a short, white snout, and for some reason Sarah wanted to nuzzle him, just because she hadn't in so many years but she checked the thought.

Needless to say, Sarah did find Sean in least attractive, although she forced herself to think of the bad things and times they had to keep herself emotionally separated. It didn't work.

Still, she had a ticket for the morning, and she knew what she had come there to do, although other ideas did slip into her mind.

A moment later though Sean sensed a presence in his room, and, instinctively, jumped at it. He wrapped his paws around her neck and kneeled on her chest in about half a second.

Terrified, Sarah stared up at the fox as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and his mind caught up with his movements. Sean realized who it was and got off her, although he didn't look sorry at all.

"You can't break into my room like that," he said in a gruff tone, "it's not safe for either of us."

Hurt emotionally more than physically Sarah whispered, "I'm fine by the way."

Sean huffed.

Trying to lighten the already aggravated mood Sarah asked, "Well how you been?"

Sean blinked twice then shook his head, "Do we have to talk about that?" he was still thinking about his talk with her father.

Not wanting an argument, Sarah just nodded and walked over to Sean, placing her body right next to his. Sean didn't want to even enjoy this anymore, but his body was his body, and they both felt his hard on pressing against her leg.

A moment later Sean began removing his clothes, followed, although with a slight hesitation, by Sarah. Sean didn't afford the same moment to look Sarah over; he really didn't care at this point.

As before, as all the times before, it was short and messy, and without any real feeling put in by each other. They did however, cum in unison, as they tended to, although Sarah made Sean pull out first as usual.

"Your not so good at hiding you know," Sarah whispered, still laying on top of Sean's out of breath body.

Not seeing the humor in it Sean just motioned for her to get off, and he sat up against the wall by his bed.

"I read about your operations," she went on, "I also heard you're a captain now, congrats."

Barely paying attention Sean laid down with Sarah laying beside him, although not touching.

Sarah felt very hurt by all this. From start to end it had been bad.

She huffed to herself, "To think I was feeling sorry about what had happened," she thought.

"You still won't marry me huh?" Sean asked bluntly.

Sarah didn't answer, she barely heard the question, she was to upset over the whole situation, not that she would have said yes.

Thankfully, in a strange way, Sarah hadn't answered, just as Sean had known she wouldn't. If she had, being that it would have been a no, it was likely to end, at best, with a yelling fight.

Thinking aloud, not really caring about Sarah's feeling's anymore, Sean whispered, "I wonder what I saw in you... I wonder what the hell you saw in me," then even to quiet for the rabbit to hear, he added, "I wonder what you didn't see in me..."

"Your hurting yourself, you know," Sarah whispered quietly, "you shouldn't let me hold you back."

Sean huffed and rolled over, she just wouldn't understand anything, the thickheaded rabbit.

In the morning, although she had done it with reluctance, Sarah was gone.

Chapter 7 Twenty-Five

One Year Later, Shooting Range at Fort Lasque on Tronc, 2200 Military Time

It was late, really late. And cold, really cold. It was cold enough that Sean's wet nose was drying and cracking but yet he remained still, gripping the trigger of his S-M6 softly.

The wind gusted, thrusting snowdrifts to move from pile to pile, causing the ever-changing landscape to play tricks on Sean's eyes as he stared downrange.

Sean had refused to pay heed to his parents warning, Mr. Atric's warning, and even the subtitle warning from Sarah that played in his mind regularly. Nothing was worth it, and he found himself now on a barren ice world, so far from anyone he knew that it was like he had died to any of the few friends he had once made an effort to communicate with. Only his parents received the occasional call, they always sent wishes of love and hopes he would visit, but it hurt Sean to much to be home, it never felt like home anyway, not anymore.

A small, two-meter break in a gust of snow-covered wind was enough to give Sean an open shot at the four hundred meter target. He sent an armor piercing round downrange, barely hearing, even with his exposed ears dancing on his head, the clang of metal striking metal.

Sean sighed and whispered to himself, "40-0."

The fox lined up the sights again, pausing only to brush some of the collecting snow off his still vibrant blood red fur. He knew something was wrong with him from the day he came to Tronc about six months ago when the cold didn't bother him at all, he wasn't sure what it was, neither did the base doctor who merely chalked it up to Sean's very robust coat.

He waited patiently again for a clear shot. Thermals were useless out here; the metal was probably colder than the air, and visibility was almost twenty feet, yet Sean had managed to pick off targets at four hundred meters, almost purely on feeling at times. It was all he did now, target shoot, and he was tempted to join a sniper unit because of all the excess trigger time he was getting, but the thought of being a battlefield executioner quickly deterred those thoughts.

A good twenty minutes, and a half an inch of snow later, Sean saw another opening in the storm and sent another round downrange, this time about three hundred twenty-five meters, sailing it right to the target with a cling that resonated in Sean's ears, which were starting to get frostbitten.

"41-0," Sean whispered aloud, continuing his score.

Making himself as comfortable as he could for the moment, he zeroed in on where he believed the next target was and waited. Behind him though, he heard footsteps trotting through the knee-deep snow. He remained still though, focusing on the wind and airflow over the snowdrifts.

He figured that enough snow was on top of the rest of his body that anyone walking by would ignore the single exposed red fur covered head and rifle sticking out of the snowdrift but the footsteps stopped suddenly where he was sure was less than a foot behind him.

Almost losing concentration Sean saw a gap in the wind and shot rather blindly, but still heard the resounding clang of a hit.

"You never miss do you?" a voice said behind him.

Sean let out a low guttural growl; it was Sarah.

"42-0?" she asked, "in this weather? Well I'd bet you'd never miss no matter what."

In a crude and very spiteful way, Sean shot blankly into a snowdrift a few yards away, making his point clear. Sarah was here now, and he'd made all these preparations just to avoid this. Hell he'd spent 90% of his birthday on the surfacing hoping she wouldn't find him, yet she always did.

Sitting up and glaring at his once lover, Sean whispered, "42-1."

In a strained and somewhat horsed voice Sarah asked, "You hate me don't you Sean?"

Completely unmoving Sean just stared at her; an angry and even possibly hate filled stare on his face.

"Hmm?" Sarah said, her voice straining in the cold, which was made only heavier by the emotions she felt at the moment.

Sean remained silent though, figuring it was fitting to how she treated him.

Holding back her feelings, which at the moment she was just barely capable, the rabbit cleared her throat and whispered, "Well get out of that snow, get back in the base."

"Why?" Sean asked coldly and looked back downrange, resighting his weapon.

"Cause I can see from here that your tail and paws are damn near frozen," Sarah replied, "so get back inside the base."

Sean completely ignored her and sent a round down range, a HEE round. It created a steam trail as the super heated metal boiled away the snow mid flight.

"How do you keep finding me," Sean asked, not even turning, "I keep trying to go away yet you keep finding me. How?"

Sighing, Sarah realized this might be it so she replied, "I'm a doctor, Sean, I can find you anywhere."

"Only Federal Army doctors can do that," Sean said, calling her lie, "not civilians," he added with even more evident hatred.

"I know, I joined the Medical Corps two months ago," Sarah answered.

That was surprising enough to make Sean turn half back.

Hiding his wonder, he asked, "Why would you do that?"

"To find you," Sarah whispered.

Sean huffed, loudly.

"This is the last time, Sarah," he replied, looking back downrange, "I don't care what honor you think you have, or need to keep, but I don't want you to keep finding me," this time he turned all the way, knocking off a significant portion of the snow covering his exposed fur, "this is the last time I ever want to see you."

For some reason she gasped, she didn't know why, but the way he said it frightened her terribly. It wasn't Sean she was talking to anymore; this was someone else, a completely different fox than she had spent the majority of her life with.

Choking back a tear Sarah nodded, she could sense this from the moment he glared at her.

"Inside now," she whispered, the concern still lingering in her voice, "that's an order from a Federal doctor."

Sean had wanted to disobey orders before, and this by far was the one he wanted to ignore the most, but part of him knew better, he was sure they hated each other enough now that if given the chance, Sarah would court marshal him, and she wasn't worth that to him, not now.

Sean forced himself to his feet; the warm blood from his torso refilled his extremities and caused a sensation of pins and needles all over his body. For a second he half stumbled, and Sarah went to hold him up but, in a rather violent thrash, pushed her aside.

"Just follow me," he said harshly.

They walked inside the base, and Sean had a distinct feeling of vertigo and lightheadedness. When he stumbled this time he wasn't able to catch himself, and he had to deal with Sarah's aid as she limped him to his room.

Once inside with the door shut Sarah stood him up straight and wrapped her paws around his chest, trying to get as close against him as possible.

Sean knew why she was doing it, that it was meaningless to just keep his blood warm, but he could help but think there was something ulterior to it, and he barely appreciated it. They stood joined like this for about five minutes until the rest of Sean had warmed up, so to speak, and he pulled himself away from her.

For a moment they looked each other in the eye; Sean's filled with anger and dislike, while Sarah's was of worry and fear, but behind that she felt a certain need to fix him, to return his mind to the way it once was. She just didn't know how.

Sean sat down on his bead and took of what little clothes he'd been wearing in the first place. Sarah removed her winter jacket and brushed off the water still clinging to her furry neck and ears.

Once both undressed, it proceed in the terrible norm that neither liked. Sean moved over in the bed to make room for her. Sarah hesitated for a moment, the reality was hitting her that their relationship, which had been dying since that stupid day more than seven years ago, was really in it's last throws.

She didn't want it, she didn't want it like this, but the rabbit laid down beside him and for the first time wanted to just hug him. She still wouldn't admit though that she had made a fuck up, and awaited Sean's move.

The fox's mind was a completely different story at the moment. While he was indeed playing over events that had happened from their breakup till now, he was focusing on all the things Sarah had done to him that he felt were wrong.

Their minds were linked in one respect however; on what Sean had declared a few minutes ago. They both couldn't help but think about that this was the last time either would see each other, and that it was the last chance to say anything.

A million things ran through Sean's mind. He wanted to tell her about how badly she hurt him, how it was her fault he had to hide on these terrible bases, that all he'd ever done was love her, that all along the only thing he wanted was to spend his life with her.

That was the clincher too. The fact that not only did she refuse to marry him when he'd, up until the breakup, and even a little after that, been loving to her, but she had the audacity to not even answer him with a blunt no or at least give him a reason why not. He thought back to what she'd said, that she wasn't going to marry him because she was "supposed to," like Sean had insinuated that it was an arranged marriage, or that he even carried if it was. He had loved her deeply, and in the end she had betrayed him the worse way possible.

Sean hadn't even been able to pursue other emotional relationships because of it. Whenever he got close to another female, he felt terrible. He felt, even in the last two years, like he was cheating on Sarah. It was so bad that he couldn't ever bring himself past a mere dinner out with these females, and even that made him feel bad.

Finally, seven years of pent up anger which had transformed into nearly a hatred, Sean turned violently onto his side, eye's almost bloodshot, and glared at the rabbit.

Sarah was terrified, she wasn't sure what the look meant and she wanted to beg Sean to calm down. She felt the same way as she had their first time, those many years ago, and was just as speechless now as she had been then.

"That's all I ever asked!" he screamed, the argument still running through his mind, "I loved you! I never hurt you; I never was mean or malicious to you! God damn it Sarah I never even asked anything from you! I didn't even ask for this yet you did it for six or seven years!"

Sarah sank into herself.

The blood going to his face Sean continued with his rant, "I take that back, I did ask you one thing, I asked you to marry me! And that one thing... the fact I loved you didn't matter, the fact I was sooo sure you loved me, that meant shit to you! 'not if I'm supposed to,'" he quoted her, "What kind of horse shit is that!? You know what Sarah? Who cares if you're supposed to do anything?! Do you think I did? Do you think I cared if we were supposed to be married? I wanted to marry you, not someone who was saying we should!"

In her mind Sarah replayed the events again, and again in a flash. She remembered her last conversation with her dad, when he'd told her that she was too "fucking think headed to see what's right in front of her and too pig headed to care." The fact Sean was yelling quite loud, right into her face, wasn't helping either, and the normally strong façade of the rabbit hid and Sarah had to make a point to not let herself cry.

"And you know what Sarah? That's not what pisses me off the most!" Sean screamed, his voice now reaching a crescendo, it was a miracle no one outside the room couldn't hear him, "What gets me is that the only answer, either way, you've ever given me is that crap! You didn't even have the balls to just answer me once! And I don't even care anymore than you don't want to marry me, but why?! Why the fuck not?! I just want for once you to tell me why not!"

Sarah couldn't stop herself now and a few tears ran down her furry cheeks, some getting caught on individual hairs. She actually felt embarrassed, with good reason. She realized she was wrong and that she had wronged Sean. She wanted to die when she thought about it. Sean's tail was trashing about, as Sarah was sure that he very well Sean wouldn't have minded hitting her now but he wouldn't do that, he never would. That made her realize it, and her sobs began in a low tone.

Sean didn't care though, and still yelling added, "It must be fucking good too!" he was actually near tears as well, but purely from anger, "Cause I know how much we loved each other, and I know of people that get married that don't even know each other. I mean fuck, Sarah, I think or I thought you and I knew each other better than our own parents did!" and in a condescending tone he added, "Ohh but that's not good enough for you!" then in the most angry tone he'd ever used in his whole life, Sean yelled, "Why Sarah won't you marry me?!"

In a strained voice by her soft sobs Sarah whispered, "Yes..."

"Yes what!?" Sean screamed.

"Yes..." Sarah repeated in an even weaker tone.

"Yes what!?!" Sean screamed even harder.

Mere seconds from breaking down, the reality crushing her slowly, Sarah managed such a quiet tone that Sean's alert ears strained to hear her say, "Yes..." once again.

Then it dawned on Sean. He breathed hard and felt a chill followed by an immense feeling of embarrassed warmth rush through his entire body. His tail stopped dead still behind him.

For a long moment they stared at each other, but soon Sarah's tears overcame her and she couldn't see, and she thrusted herself into Sean's chest, crying uncontrollably.

"Yes!" she sobbed, repeating it again and again, crying desperately into his chest.

Sean wrapped his paws around her and rested his muzzle on the top of her head, tears in his eyes as well. He rocked her back and forth in his arms.

"Ple-" she sobbed, "Please forgive me Sean! Please forgive me!" Sarah begged, rocking in his arms, feeling wave after wave of emotion burry her in guilt.

All Sean could muster as far as his voice went was, "I love you..." which he could only repeat once more when his voice died and he just held her even tighter against his body.

Sarah's voice managed to raise itself though and still think with sobs, moaned, "I always loved you Sean! I always did! I... I just didn't.... please God forgive me Sean!"

Still hugging her he nodded into her shoulder, and managed to whisper, "It's alright..."

"I want..." she sniffled, "I want to tell you, I always wanted to marry you, I just," she really realized how stupid it sounded and felt worse over the years wasted, "I just didn't want it to seem like I just was born to marry you... but I was... I really was..." it dawned on her, she realized that she really had been.

"No," Sean whispered, managing to regain his voice, "You weren't born to marry me. I want to marry you, and you want to marry me right?"

"Yes Sean!" she practically yelled, not wanting to have any doubts between them ever again.

"Well then that's all this means, that we just love each other, and that we want to marry each other, you weren't born to do just that, it's our choice," Sean reached down and held her paw, "ours..."

They both felt lightheaded from this revelation, and for a long time, hours, they rocked back and forth, their tears drying on their fur, on each other's fur.

Sarah looked up eventually and whispered, "I love you Sean... I really want to marry you."

"I love you too, Sarah," he whispered back.

All through this event Sarah's ears had been perpetually pinned back, and, being they both calmed down a little, Sean rubbed her face, Sarah moving into the pat, and forced her ears to stand up.

As soon as he removed his paws they went back down and Sean actually smiled, which in turn made Sarah almost start crying again, only because that's what she missed, and what she wanted. She wanted him to be happy, she wanted to make him happy and she wanted to be happy with him.

Sean brought her face back up, nuzzled her softly as they had done the first time so many years ago, touched his snout to hers and parted his lips against hers. They kissed in a way that calmed them down completely. All the worry, hatred, anger, dislike, anxiety, and distrust all disappeared in an instant and all that remained was love, all that they ever wanted.

In the ultimate irony though, Sarah's promise to always make love with him on his birthday had been broken this one time, and only this one time, and as far as Sean was concerned, as far as they were both concerned, there wasn't anything other than this that could make them feel this good anyway.

They slept the perfect way, bodies intertwined and lips sealed, feeling a level of calm and love neither could explain or carried enough to try.