FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I woke up with a horrible headache and found myself staring up at the gray steel ceiling of a ship hanger bay. I sat up and put a paw to my head with a grown as I took in my surroundings, wondering if I had always been on a ship and dreamt up the entire trip through Sauria. I felt a sting in my arm and looked down to see an IV drip stuck in the crook of my elbow on my left arm. I pulled the needle from my arm and let the tube hang off the side the of the bed before climbing out of bed stiffly, looking around to see three Arwing-like ships with forward swept wings and a black, silver and sky blue color scheme. The one closest to me had a version of the Zapper from Panther Caruso's Wolfen on each side of the main body, but they had plasma couplers as well as raritanium blaster caps along the length of the barrels. I walked towards the beautiful ship in a daze, my eyes wide in wonder at the gleaming marvel of technology infront of me. I ran my fingertips along the hull of the fighter with a sigh of admiration, wishing I could be able to fly such a machine.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Felix asked from above me. I looked up and saw him smiling down at me from the cockpit adjacent the one I was looking at. I smiled up at him and nodded before remembering what had happened to me earlier. "Dante's fine, although I don't know why you care. The guy almost killed you but I think you'll be happy to know that Maxi's kept him in the training room to cool his head without food ever since we got onboard." He replied to my thoughts with a chuckle as he offered a hand to pull me into the fighter. I glowered up at him and grabbed his hand before climbing up into the spacious cockpit, seating easily in the pilot's chair while Felix sat in the gunnery chair, his feet dangling over the edge while a soda can was balanced on his stomach. I reached behind me and snatched it off of his stomach before taking a drink from it, looking at all of the instruments adorning the dashboard while letting my paw rest on the throttle. My eyes widened in disgust and I spit out the soda I was drinking over the edge of the fighter, spitting four more times to get the horrible taste out of my mouth.

"What kind of soda is this?!" I demanded with a glare in Felix's direction, giving him a punch when I saw him laughing.

"That wasn't soda, but oil we use for the fighters. Can't believe you actually drank something from a stranger in an unfamiliar place you just woke up in." He laughed as he held his stomach in mock pain. I threw the can at him and jumped out of the fighter, only to slip on a stray puddle of oil and lose my balance. I quickly recovered and glowered ahead of me as I walked away from the hanger, Felix's laughter still ringing in my ears. I stormed off through the doors connecting the hanger to the rest of the ship and found myself in a long hallway lit with plasma strips along its length. I took a right and followed the signs until I stopped at a door marked firing range and combat training'. I walked into the room and was almost immediately set upon by three mid-sized drones armed with a bo-staff each. I dove forward between them and sprung to my feet before lashing out at them in turn, each one crumpling to the ground with a hum as they deactivated. I picked up one of the discarded bo-staffs and got used to its feel before swinging it behind me, stopping the flat edge an inch from Dante's muzzle.

"You know it isn't kind to sneak up on women like that. Gives the wrong impression and might make you seem like a thief." I told him without turning around as I watched the drones start getting up. I heard a heavy sigh, which was closely followed by metallic thumps as more drones stepped over until we were surrounded. I felt Dante's back up against mine and grinned as one of the drones shot forward towards me, lasting less than three seconds against the blow I leveled it with. I broke away from him and started swinging the staff left and right while he attacked with his claws and, felling one drone after another with deadly efficiency. I broke the wooden staff over a drone's head and threw the broken staff into another's before switching to my paws, my claws shining in the false sunlight overhead as they brought down drone after drone until there weren't any left standing. I put my paws on my knees and panted slightly as sweat dripped off my forehead onto the floor, my heart racing from the fight and my brain craving more. I stood up to see the drones littering the ground and smiled to myself when I saw Dante sitting on the ground nursing a bruise he'd gotten on his arm. He noticed me staring and gave me a nod of approval before getting to his feet, sweat making his green scales glisten.

"You fight well, Hazel." He complimented grudgingly with a forced smirk before he went over to a bench embedded into the far wall. I took a step in his direction and felt one of the drones closest to me grip my ankle with a forceful pull, making me trip and fall onto my face. I twisted around and kicked out with my free foot to crack the flexi-steel skull and deactivate the drone again. I pushed off the ground and jumped to my feet before treading carefully through the corpses, occasionally having to crush a skull underfoot to keep from getting tripped up again before sitting down on the opposite end of the bench.

"You had to make them zombie like, didn't you?" I asked with a glower in Dante's direction. He chuckled mockingly and my glower turned to a full on death glare while an aura of electricity surrounded my fist. He noticed it and smirked as he let his hand morph into an armored fist.

"If I remember right, we have a little fight to finish, vixen." He threatened with a growl, his eyes going black with power.

"I couldn't agree more, scales." I answered as the black aura surrounded me again. We stood up at the same time and I jumped away from him before kicking up a fallen bo-staff into my paw, letting a slow burning flame engulf it so it was hardened and blackened. Dante ripped a panel from the wall and proceeded to roll and flatten it until it was in the rough shape of a staff. I snarled at him and barreled towards him before leaping high into the air and bringing the staff down onto his, making a loud crack as the two collided. We glared into each other's eyes before he pushed me back with a strong, forward swing. I landed on the ground a few feet away and twirled the staff around in my fingers while I let a bolt of black electricity fly at him from my free paw. He absorbed the shock with his arm and redirected it back at me through the tip of his staff, making my fur stand on end and send me flying backwards into the wall, leaving an indent where I'd hit. I slid down onto the floor and dodged to the side as Dante's staff collided with the spot my head had been a second ago. I stuck an electrified paw in his face and sent him reeling before my foot connected with the side of his head, knocking him senseless as he stumbled sideways. I smashed my staff into his ribcage and heard a sickening crack as both the wood and a couple of his ribs broke. He held a hand to his side and roared angrily at me before disappearing as the lights went out.

"Lets see how well you do in the dark, vixen." I heard him sneer as I walked cautiously forward, stumbling every now and then because I was all but blind in the pitch darkness. I felt a sharp pain in my lower back and was thrown to the floor when Dante's staff struck me. I rolled to my feet and heard a faint whoosh of air to my right, so I dropped to the floor and felt the wind as the staff passed over my head. I sprung to my feet and let a ball of electricity form in my paw, but still the darkness persisted. "Blackout generators work wonders on keeping those powers of yours under wraps, so no cheating this time." He scolded in a voice sounding as if he were chastising a child. I let the ball absorb back into my paw and forced myself to calm down so the darkness wouldn't let me panic. I tried to listen for any odd sounds; a rustle of metal, the sound of pawsteps, heavy breathing, anything that would give away his position, but it was hard to do so when my own hammering heart and the blood rushing in my ears were so loud. It took an agonizing half a minute to calm myself down and I closed my eyes to open up my other senses, trying to hear everything like Krystal had taught me. I heard an almost imperceptible rustle behind me and shot my paw out to catch the staff before gripping it in both paws and flipping him over my back onto the floor with a hard thud. I stuck the staff on his chest and heard a metallic ping, realizing too late that I was fighting another drone. The lights flashed on, blinding me for a second, and I was hit heavily in the stomach by Dante's fist, the impact driving the wind out of me and sending me to my knees. I looked up and saw him smirking dangerously as he brought his knee up into my chin, sending me onto my back and knocking a tooth out of my mouth. "Do you submit?" He asked as he leveled a staff against my jugular, pressing down slightly to barely restrict my breathing. I growled in defiance before giving a defeated sigh, my ears drooping disgustedly at what I had to say.

"Yes, Dante, I submit." I growled. He took the staff from my throat and offered a hand to help me up. I took it and climbed to my feet with a subdued scowl on my face. "I wouldn't get too comfy on the top, if I were you Dante. It's a long way down and you'll have to watch your back as long as I'm onboard." I threatened with a smile as I took my paw back. He chuckled and stared me down before tossing his makeshift staff away.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, vixen. I look forward to a good fight." He threatened back as he made his way to the door, his arm turning back to normal as he walked. I followed after him and noticed the numerous scars crisscrossing their way across his back and along his neck. Wonder what happened to him? I thought as he stopped at the doorway, letting the door slide open while he stepped aside to let me pass. "If you see Maxi, tell her I'm getting hungry." He said as I walked out into the hallway. I nodded and heard the door hiss shut as I walked off down the hall again, searching for other things to do. It didn't take me long to make it to the bridge and I found Maxi sitting in the command chair with her head in her paws, her shoulders shaking as her sobs reached my ears. I quietly stepped over to her and put an arm around her shoulder, catching her by surprise and making her look up at me with tears running down her gray cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying so much while her ears flattened against her burgundy hair in grief.

"Maxi, what's wrong?" I asked concernedly as she wiped her cheeks with the back of her paw. She sniffed and opened her mouth to say something when another fit of sobbing came on. She hugged me and cried into my shoulder, giving me the impression of someone who'd had their spirit destroyed almost beyond repair. It hurt me to see her like this and I wanted to do whatever was in my power to help her feel better. "Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?" She looked up at me again and I noticed her eyes had changed from their usual rose hue to pale white.

"You are in grave danger, Hazel. Leave while you can." She rasped as she let go of me and grabbed my head in her paws. I felt a sharp electrical shock go through my brain and it felt as if something were rooting through my head. I fought against it fearfully, not knowing what was going to happen, but was quickly losing that fight as I slowly dropped to a knee under the onslaught of the probing feeling. Tears were welling in my eyes from the pain, but still Maxi persisted, her eyes staring almost lovingly at me as she looked through my memories. I tried to raise my paw to stop her, but my sight vanished and I was left in the dark, deprived of every one of my senses and utterly alone. Then the voices started.

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"Why would you do this to your own niece, Michael? It doesn't seem ri-" Maxi argued before she was cut off by a harsh slap from a fox in a lab coat.

"I have my reasons, Maxi! Now do what your told or I'll have to do something to that pretty mother of yours. Wouldn't want an accident to happen now would we?" Michael threatened as he turned to a wall-sized pane of glass, his paws clasped behind his back while he concentrated on the figure in the room beyond. Maxi held a paw to her cheek where she had been hit and her eyes flashed brightly with hatred, but the emotion went away before she could act on the impulse. She had her mother's life to think about, though it tore her insides apart to trade the life of one of her best friends for that of her mother. She looked past Michael and stared sympathetically at the arctic vixen sitting with her knees drawn to her chin in the room adjacent theirs, dried tears, blood and sex stains dotting her otherwise pure white fur.

"What are you going to do with her?" She asked hesitantly, knowing that he had a knack for thinking up experiments that ended up horribly painful for whoever was on the receiving end. Michael turned his head towards her and she felt a cold sweat pass down her spine as he gave her a dark grin.

"You'll find out soon, my dear Maxi, as will Hazel. She is the main component in my plan, so be a good girl and go fetch her for me before Angel' dies." He said in a voice that was more like a growl. She nodded and walked out of the room quickly, trying to get the image of Angel's' tortured and bruised body out of her mind while her pained screams split the air.

* * *

The picture changed to a past memory. I was looking at it through Maxi's eyes and I recognized the house as Geno's when we were growing up. She was walking down the hallway on the second landing and she was looking for the bathroom cause this was her first time being over. I remember having to take a shower when I got there because I had been tagged by one of the seniors at the high school on the way to her house and was covered in blue paint from nearly head to toe. Maxi knocked on the door, though I couldn't hear because the radio was on and I was listening to an extremely loud song, so she thought someone had just left it on. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door to the sight of my naked body. We stared at each other for a second before she quickly closed the door, her heart pounding while she felt a weird sensation coming from between her legs. She passed it off as nothing and headed back downstairs, but having me live her memory, I felt a familiar emotion starting to bubble up in her body though I couldn't put my claw on it.

I remember asking her about it a little while later, but she had said she didn't want to talk about it and said she was sorry, so I didn't broach the subject anymore. Now that I was living the memory through her, it felt as if she were attracted to me. It must have hurt her in the later years during college to know that even though we were friends, we couldn't be lovers no matter how hard she tried to make that fantasy a reality.

* * *

The scenery shifted again, this time to Maxi's dorm room at the university. She was sitting on the bottom bunk with her head covered by her pillow and was crying heavily into it. The amount of despair in her made me quail before it, the memory causing me pain from feeling so much anguish.

"Maxi, are you alright?" I heard my voice ask from the doorway. She lifted the pillow from off her face and looked at me standing with a couple of drinks in my paws and shook her head before putting the pillow back down.

"No, I'm not. I'm the ugliest fur in the entire university. I can't even get a date for one of Geno's parties. I don't even know why I try. Guess no one likes me enough to go on a date with me." She sobbed. I felt the bed sag as I sat next to her and took the pillow from over her face to smile down at her.

"Then they don't know what they're missing, Maxi. You're just as beautiful as me or any of the others here at the school. And you are going to that party tonight." I heard myself insist as she put down the drinks and pulled Maxi off the bed. Even through a ton of protests, I had still managed to get her to the party and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Through the experience, we'd grown a lot closer as friends and we both knew we could go to each other with our problems without getting pushed away.

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When Maxi finally pulled out of my head, I had a much better understanding of her than I ever had and vice versa. She let go of my head and I fell backwards onto the ground, my eyes glazed over from the memories I had just witnessed and in exhaustion from the stuff that she had seen going through my mind. It took me a second to remember who and where I was, but I couldn't seem to stop panting. My vision was the first to come back, giving me a good view of the bridge ceiling, though it was a very panicky couple of minutes before everything else came back. I sat up and looked around to see Maxi slumped over the side of her chair, breathing very shallowly while her fingers were twitching on the floor. I forced myself to get off of the floor and sat her upright in the chair so she wouldn't fall out of it. Her eyes snapped open at my touch and she groaned as she put a paw to her head.

"What happened... nggh my head feels like someone bashed it in with a sledgehammer." She moaned as she noticed me standing infront of her with a tired yet satisfied look on my face. "Hazel what're you... oh no. Tell me I didn't do what I think I did." She said with a fearful look in her eyes.

"If you mean show me our past through your eyes, then yes, that is what you did." I reassured her with a strained sort of smile, still trying to get over the mental shock of what I had just seen. Her scared expression turned to one of full on panic and she opened her mouth to apologize when I shook my head and put a paw up to silence her. "There isn't anything you need to apologize for, Maxi. I'm sorry you had to get mixed up in this business with my uncle, but since you are, I'm going to have to ask you to do me a favor." I said calmly, feeling a black hatred welling up inside me towards the man who had caused this much grief and pain to me, my friends, and anyone else that had been hurt by him. Maxi nodded and closed her mouth in anticipation for what I had to say, but I shook my head and nodded towards the door. "Not yet. I need everyone in here before I ask what I need to. I know you can force the others into agreeing with you, but I won't feel right if it ends up that way and someone gets hurt because of me."

Maxi shook her head and hit the intercom button with a smirk on her face. "Hey guys, get your asses up to the bridge now," She ordered into the speaker before turning to me. "Same old Hazel, putting others before herself without thinking through the consequences for her actions. Whatever this favor is, I already want to tell you that I'll follow through it a hundred percent no matter what it is." She said as Felix ambled in with an eager look on his face while Dante closely followed a towel around his neck and a smile on his muzzle as he winked at me.

"Okay, Maxi we're here, so what do you want?" Felix asked for Dante's benefit, already knowing what I had told Maxi.

"Hazel?" She prompted as I stood up. I took a deep breath and stared each of them in the eye, especially Felix, knowing that he would read my mind and find out the plan I was already thinking up.

"You all know of my uncle, Michael and I'm sure you hate him with a passion. I know I can't ask you to risk your lives for my cause, but-"

"Oh save it, Hazel," Felix interrupted with an annoyed look on his face. "You want us to help you kill Michael, so just come out and say it!"

"Fine! What Felix said is right. I want you guys to help me kill my uncle and make sure something like this can't happen again." I glowered at him. "When is the next time you talk to Michael?" I asked Maxi.

"Ummm... I think in a couple of hours, why?" She asked, a dark smile starting to form on her lips as she caught on to what I was thinking.

"Good, now for what I have in mind, it'll have to look as if I'd put up a fight and you had to restrain me, so we need some cuffs and you guys need to look as if you had gotten beaten up pretty badly. Felix'll tell you the rest when I think of it." I said with a look at Felix's smirking face. Maxi sighed and Dante snickered as he tossed the towel towards me. I caught it and crumpled it in my fists before looking out into space, knowing that I would have to kill one of my own, trying to bring myself to justify it. "This is going to end, Michael. One way or another, I will end this."

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"Maxi, is everything well?" Michael asked with mock concern as her battered face came on the screen. Her breathing was labored and one of her eyes was swelling. She nodded and winced at a loud crash that came from the hallway behind her. Felix limped in holding a chain lead while Dante struggled to keep me contained in the straight jacket they'd put me in. I snarled at them both and kicked out at them, struggling to get free any way I could, but Dante's hold was too strong. They stopped me infront of the monitor and forced me to kneel down infront of it.

"Quit struggling, bitch. It's not like-ARGGH!!!" Felix screamed painfully as I bit down on his hand. He slapped me on the back of the head until I let go of him. I sneered up at him and spit out some of his blood onto the floor before giving him a bloody smile.

"Oh, you didn't like that? I'm sorry, though you did put your hand in reach, so you gave me the right." I mumbled as I stared up at Michael's excited face. "What're you looking at, fox? Never seen a vixen before?"

"I can't believe I get to see you again after all these years, Hazel. My, how you've grown since last we met. How've you been, my niece?" He asked. I looked at him quizzically and tilted my head to the side, trying to remember him clearly but coming up blank.

"I'm sorry, but I think I'd remember my own uncle. I haven't the slightest idea who you are." I said as I looked at Maxi, who glowered at him me fiercely from the command chair. I flashed her a grin and received a punch to the ground as a result. "Someone's a little touchy about the beating they got-UGGH!" I groaned as Dante kicked me in the stomach.

"Enough! Stop kicking my niece, Dante. I need her to be intact when she gets here. I'm glad to see that you aren't as incompetent as I thought you were, Maxi. Make sure she's contained until I can get to her and keep her from killing you. She's infected with something that might make it hard on you to keep her locked up. Best of luck Maxi." Michael ended the transmission with a grin as he lit a cigarette. When I was sure he wasn't going to come back, I straightened up and glared at Dante with electricity sparking in my eyes.

"You think you could've eased up on the kick, Dante? I think you cracked a rib." I growled. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged as he inched away from me.

"You think you're in pain?! You crushed my hand with your teeth, Hazel! I think I have the right to be in more pain than you are." Felix complained as he started resetting fingers into place with a grimace for each one. I scowled in his direction as I struggled against my constraints, trying to get out of the straight jacket without falling onto the floor. Maxi growled irritatedly and moved behind me to unclasp the buckles on the jacket, limping from the fight we'd had to get into to fool Michael.

"There, done." She muttered as I straightened up and slipped my arms out of the jacket's sleeves, letting the heavy thing fall to the floor with a thud. I stretched my arms over my head before getting a punch in the back from Felix, knocking me forward a couple of steps before I could get my balance. I spun around and glared at him before he stepped up infront of me, his eyes glaring death into mine. I stood my ground and glared back at him, though my thoughts were probably betraying me to him, cause he took a step closer and gripped my arm with his good hand. He stared into my eyes for what seemed like forever before grinning at me and giving me a quick peck on the cheek before walking off out of the room, leaving me with a strange fluttery feeling in my stomach. Maxi looked at me then at Felix and back again before realization shone on her face. I held up a paw for her to stop before she could say anything and looked out the window, my paw against my cheek where he kissed me while my eyes were clouded with mixed emotions; the betrayal I felt at the love I'd pledged for Jasper, embarrassment at the butterfly sensation in my stomach leftover from when Felix had kissed me, confusion as to what he had seen in my thoughts, and curiosity as to what he sees in me to try to go out of his way to like me.

"Felix is something else, isn't he?" Maxi asked, breaking my train of thought as she joined me at the window. I looked over at her and gave her a half-smile before touching the dog tags around my neck.

"I've met a lot of men in my life; jerks, romantics, racists, and a host of so many others. I've fallen for kind people who turned out to be rotten and nearly killed the man I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with. I even met the fur who pledged his undying love to me and still ended up losing him in a fit of rage. After all this, I think I'm just not cut out to be in a relationship. This arm," I lifted it up to the light so that it reflected slightly. "Has made me unbalanced. I can't function right with it and I even have nightmares of myself killing my friends and family in times when I'm not in control of it. I don't know what to do, Maxi." I whimpered sadly as I rested my head against the glass and let the tears flow unrestrained down my cheeks. She patted my shoulder and took a couple steps back when I took a swipe at her, barely missing her left eye by an inch.

"I was just trying to help, Hazel, no need to attack me." Maxi growled, though it sounded like a whisper in a long tunnel to me as I gripped my head in my paws and sank to the floor. Electricity arched off my body and mixed with the flames roiling off my limbs as I opened my maw to scream, but the sound was cut off as my body started convulsing while my heart hammered away against my ribcage. I flopped down onto my back and stared blankly up at Dante and Maxi while my mouth opened in a silent shriek of pain, my eyes rolling in my head while my breath became shallower and shallower until it felt as if I weren't breathing at all. My eyes focused long enough to see Maxi order Dante to get the medipack, but I couldn't hang on long enough to see what happened next. Unconsciousness won out over survival instincts and I blacked out thankfully.

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I was standing in a field full of dead bodies, the reeking stench of rotting flesh and singed fur that was thick in the air made me want to gag. There was ash falling like snow and I couldn't see the reason for all this mindless destruction.

"Isn't this just beautiful, Hazel?" Someone asked me from nearby. I turned around to find the source of the voice and was met with my blood-splattered doppelganger; a maniacal smile splitting her face while her hair blew in the wind behind her. I growled and whirled around fully as I put my paws up in defense, but she just laughed and put her paws up in submission. "Oh quit being so uptight all the time, why don't ya? I just wanna talk vixen to vixen. No fighting, no pain just talking. If you ask me, that's reeeealy boring, but I'm curious as to why you keep fighting. Why not just let me take over and run your body? It would be a lot easier for both of us and I could get a taste of what it's like to be you for a while. But then again..." She trailed off as she paced over to a dead tiger and coated her claw in his blood before sucking on it like a piece of candy. "I could just force you to the depths of your own psyche and take over that way. Personally, I hope you fight, cause it wouldn't be quite as exciting or enjoyable if you went quietly. So, what do you choose?"

I couldn't believe what she was asking. My lips curled from over my teeth into a snarl before I shook my head and made my arm spark dangerously. She clapped eagerly for the fight that was about to happen and stood up from the tiger's dead body as the same black aura I'd had appeared around her; almost obscuring her completely from view while her giggles filled the clearing eerily, making my skin crawl and sweat dew on the back of my neck. I balled my paw into a fist and watched her disappear in a black flash, leaving me temporarily blinded and deafened by her horrible giggle in my ears. I ducked to the side and lashed out with my heel, connecting with her side while she sliced into my leg with her claws. I jumped back on my good leg and blinked the stars out of my eyes so I could see clearly again, only to find that she was gone again.

"You've gotten better since we last fought, Hazey-wazy, but I'll still win out in the end." She called out condescendingly ahead of me. I growled angrily and charged after her voice, pulling Bella's staff from her lifeless corpse as I went, using to the hatred I had for this thing' inside of me to fuel my drive to fight her. When I found her, she was holding a broadsword that reminded me of Alexander's and had a confident smirk on her face as she lunged at me with the sword point out, poised for a quick thrust into my heart. I brought the staff around in time and parried her thrust before twisting the handle and knocking her sword out of the way so I could punch her in the face, but she read my movements and brought her palm into my chin; knocking me back a couple of steps before attacking me ferociously. I blocked most of her slashes and thrusts, but a few of them found their way past my defense and bit vengefully into my limbs. I winced as I brought the staff infront of me, the motion bringing waves of pain to the hurt parts of my body, and let the blade ignite with the black fire I had used before on Nanuet. I swung the staff quickly in her direction and started raining blows down her steadily, slicing into her sides and legs while desperately trying to find an end to this fight. We locked blades and struggled against each other with blood matting our fur and sweat dewing on our foreheads, exhaustion making us grip our weapons loosely. She gave a heavy push backwards and I hadn't seen the corpse behind me, so as I was falling backwards, I saw a flash of silver and felt a searing pain in my stomach as she stabbed me through and imbedded the sword into the ground underneath me. I coughed up blood onto my chest as I gripped the sword handle feebly, the strength already leaving my limbs as she laughed triumphantly. She grasped the handle through my paw and wrenched the sword from my body, letting me fall to the ground with a soft thud before stabbing me again through the center of my chest up to the hilt, pinning me there with her foot on the pommel as she looked down at me.

"Looks like... I win... Hazel. I'll take good care of your body in your stead." She laughed happily before stooping low to pull the sword out of me again. As her paw gripped the handle, my paw shot up and gripped her wrist before sending electricity rebounding all throughout her body, focusing on the brain and heart so that I would know she was dead. Her eyes went wide as she saw the bloody smile I gave her and she screamed as her heart stopped from the sheer amount of energy flowing through her. When her fur started smoking, I let go of her and watched as she fell backwards onto the ground, her maw open wide in an eternal scream while her eyes were still wide in surprise.

"Looks... like... I win... you bitch..." I whispered faintly as I let my paw ball into a fist in the air, a lone spark fluttering off into the air weakly before it fell to the ground next to me. I closed my eyes and let the strength ebb from me as I faded away, my heart beating out its last few before giving out.

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"Is she gonna be alright..." Felix's voice asked from a far, fading in and out as if it were being fed through a fan.

"Only time will tell for sure... there was massive internal bleeding and bone fractures from the... growth spurt... but he's done all he can do for her... all she needs is rest..." Maxi reassured Felix, her voice sounding a little bit sharper, yet still far off. I felt someone squeeze my paw in their gentle hand and I yearned to tell them I was all right, to comfort them, but my body felt as if it were made of jelly. I couldn't even open my eyelids they felt so heavy.

"I'm staying nonetheless... please, don't deny me that right." Felix pleaded as he clasped my paw in his warm hands, making me wonder why he cared so much about me. I heard Maxi sigh from somewhere to my right and mutter something inaudible before walking out of the room, the door hissing open and closed, leaving me with Felix in my vulnerable state.

For what seemed like an eternity, the only sounds I could hear were the steady beeps of an EKG monitor as it pulsed rhythmically in time with my heart, my shallow breathing and Felix's slow, even ones, meaning that he was probably asleep, though his grip on my paw didn't let up. This struck me as odd because we hadn't known each other long enough to even be called friends, let alone girlfriend and boyfriend. But the way he had pleaded to stay with me till I woke coupled with the way he was clutching my paw made me wonder; what did he see in my mind when he read my thoughts? Had he seen some subconscious thought that would lead him to think that I was in love with him or was he trying to convince me that he was the one for me? I couldn't voice my opinions aloud due to the exhaustion I was feeling and the mental strain my fight with the infection, I couldn't even speak if I wanted to.

"Hazel... is that you?" Felix murmured in his sleep, stirring slightly while he tightened his grip on my paw. "I... want you to know... I like you... a lot." He murmured before returning to his light snoring. I was touched that he admitted this to me, though I didn't know what to say to that. The choice set before me made my insides boil with uncertainty; do I follow my heart and stay true to my pledge to Jasper or do I take my chances with Felix, who I just met a couple of days ago yet felt closer to thanks to the intimate connection he set up between us before Michael had called. Remembering that the link was there made me feel even weaker because I couldn't even hold a mental conversation with a friend when I was supposed to be capable of salvaging any reputation of my race had left. I'm sorry Felix, but I couldn't even stop myself from letting my infection take the better of me. I don't deserve you to feel anything for me and I shouldn't even be alive today. I sobbed inwardly as I curled into a ball inside my head. As I sobbed desperately in my head, strength started burning through my limbs, chasing out the morphine that had probably gone into my body when they had to reset my bones and burning any impurities out through my pores. My eyes opened wide in surprise and a cloud of steam wafted out of my mouth to mix with a dark cloud hanging over my body. I felt my heart speed up almost tenfold and I sat up quickly, waking Felix up with my sudden motion and making him fall out of his chair onto the floor.

"What the hell just happened?!" He exclaimed before looking at me from the floor, catching me off-guard with his shocked expression. "Hazel... you look..." He trailed off as he took in my body with wide eyes. I looked down at myself, knowing I was still fully clothed, but I was still shocked at what I found. My clothes were a little snugger than they had been before I had gone under and my paws were slightly bigger, as were my breasts and my tail looked thicker with a darker coat with the silver tip a little brighter than it had been before. I looked up and saw Felix scrambling to get up while he held a small mirror in his hand. "Ummm... I think there is something you should see, Hazel." I hesitantly took the mirror from him and felt my paws shaking slightly as I looked at myself in it with a gasp. My muzzle was elongated slightly and my eyes were now colored silver with the whites of my eyes now as black as my fur. I raised my paw to my cheek and almost threw down the mirror when I noticed my right paw wasn't metallic anymore but back to normal, flesh and bone covered with fur again. I dropped the mirror onto the bed with a muffled thud and felt myself hyperventilate in shocked joy, my heart almost bursting with excitement as I felt tears drip down my cheeks. I turned to Felix and gave him a wide grin before I lunged at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my muzzle against his lips, catching him by surprise and forcing us both onto the ground. We hit the ground with a hard thump that almost knocked me off of him, but I held fast to his face and gently bit his lower lip while my tail wrapped around his inner thigh. He soon started reacting to kiss with a passionate fire of his own and placed his hand at the back of my neck while he moved his other hand down to my waist, softly following the curve of my butt cheek with his fingertips. The sensation of his fingertips sent an electric shiver up my spine and I pressed my lips closer to his, my tongue straying into his mouth while my paw lightly gripped some of his hair, clutching him to me so I could convey the choice I'd made. When it seemed that both of us were about to pass out from lack of air, I pulled my lips from his and rubbed my nose against his cheek, giggling slightly as I felt him shiver slightly when it touched his warm cheek.

"Does this mean we're a couple now?" He asked with a gasp as my tail brushed over his growing erection. I pulled him back into a deep, passion filled kiss before feeling my slit start to burn slightly as well as wetten, desire and need building up inside me quickly to an almost frightening degree. I'm going through heat... I thought with an inward groan as I traced patterns on his cheek with my claw with my closed so I couldn't look into his forest green eyes, so I wouldn't get lost in their depths and clarity as well as to not give my new body anymore reason to love him. He started playing with my tongue with his and slipped his hand into the back of my pants before giving me a slight pinch before moving down to my needy lower lips. He ran his fingers down the length of my slit and pinched my swollen clit, sending pleasure shooting through my body while his other hand slipped up the back of my shirt to run his finger down the crease of my spine. I moaned into the kiss and pulled my lips from his as I felt my cunt wetten even more, some of my juices coating his fingers while I unconsciously bucked my hips into his fingers, wanting to be filled with him and taste his cum on my tongue.

"More... please, Felix... MORE!" I begged as I ground my hips into his fingers, feeling them slide into my needy pussy and rub against my aching inner flesh. Felix smiled lustfully at my pleasure clouded eyes and pulled his fingers out of my cunt, much to my discontentment and slid his hands out from underneath my clothes before pulling my paws from his cheeks. He motioned with his eyes towards the bed and smiled as the answer dawned in my sterling eyes. I got up off of him and let him up before pushing him onto the bed with his head resting against the pillows I was sleeping on.

"Someone's spirited today." He said with a grin as he watched me struggling with his pants, though I finally unbuttoned them after what seemed like an eternity to my pleasure deprived brain. I peeled both his jeans and his boxers back from over his crotch and let them rest against his ankles so that I could get at his eight-inch dick. I crawled up to him so that my mouth was hovering above his tip and let my paw softly pump him, enticing pleased groans from him as my tongue slipped from my mouth and teased his tip, lapping up a pearl of pre as it bubbled out the opening. I started pumping his shaft a little harder and wrapped my lips around his tip before sucking him for his hot pre, the taste sweet in my new mouth yet oddly familiar to my brain. Felix's groaning became more and more frequent as I started deepthroating him heavily, my nose touching his well-toned stomach each time while I inhaled his heavenly musky scent. I felt his shaft start to pulse gently in the warm confines of my mouth and redoubled my efforts to make him cum, feeling the need to have his seed in my mouth almost overwhelming my brain with its strength. I didn't have to wait long for the feeling to be sated, though. Felix gripped the sides of my head and grunted softly as he pushed my head down all the way onto his pole, the tip brushing up against the back of my throat as he came violently, his semen exploding from his cock and billowing my cheeks as it flowed down into my stomach but also down my windpipe into my lungs. I coughed and gagged on the hot liquid, but there didn't seem to be any relief in sight from the slight discomfort of not being able to breathe right. It felt as if I were drowning in a sea of thick, stagnant water. I heard Felix gasp in shock and felt his hands leave my head to let me up, though the first thing I did when I was up was vomit some of the spooge he'd shot into my lungs onto the floor, glad that I hadn't eaten anything. "Oh God, Hazel I'm sorry. I-" I cut him off with a lust filled glare as I wiped off my mouth on the back of my arm and let my eyes stray down to his still hard member, my paw already rubbing his sack, though the texture of the skin felt different than it had before. I looked back up and gasped in astonishment as I saw Felix's face had changed to that of a dragon's; the scales covering his face a shimmering onyx while his eyes had changed to a honeyed golden color, as if they were meant to be the opposite of mine.

"Anything else you didn't think to tell me, Felix?" I asked gently as I leaned forward and kissed his neck gently before giving it a slight nibble, making him sigh pleasurably while I tried to pull his shirt over his head.

"I'm Rapturian, like you, but I don't think that matters much, now does it?" He asked, his voice now sounding like a rich bass that had been sprinkled with a hint of an angle's voice. I shook my head and pulled away from his neck so I could get his shirt off, only to feel his strong yet gentle paws move mine down to my side so he could do it himself, giving me a magnificent view of his muscled chest covered with silver gray scales that supplemented his black scaled body and beautiful eyes perfectly. I soon began feeling self-conscious sitting next to this beautiful dragon, my cheeks burning slightly at the thought but as I looked Felix's body over, I couldn't help but feel a little plain compared to him. He tilted my chin up with his finger and surprised me by pressing his muzzle to mine, his slightly forked tongue slipping easily into my surprise slackened mouth while his free paw held onto my arm to keep me from falling back as he unfurled his wings from behind him, the sight making my heart skip a few beats as he wrapped them both around me, enveloping us in a semi-twilight like atmosphere while he gently tugged at the bottom of my shirt to pull it over my head. I complied readily as I pulled my arms into my sleeves, reluctantly pulling away from his lovely tasting lips to let him pull the shirt over my head and toss it out of our little bubble of the world before bringing our lips back together, my tongue eager to play with his again. I brought my fingers up to gently feel the new contours of his face; the three inch horns that grew out of the crown of his head, the velvety soft hair that ended at about the base of his neck, the two small horns on either side of his jaw. I continued my questing along his back, feeling the strong muscle along his spine where his wings joined with his spinal column, and down to where his tail joined just above his tailhole. He pushed a little harder into the kiss when I touched the base of his tail and I felt the heat between my legs intensify again as his dick touch my stomach when he drew me closer to his chest. I was about to start pumping his member again, but he beat me to it and unbuttoned my pants before slipping his hand into them to rub my slit, getting a pleasured growl from my throat. He disentangled our tongues from one another and leaned forward to give my neck nip while he easily slid his fingers past my lower lips, rubbing his claws against my sensitive inner walls and playing with my clit with his thumb.

"Mmm... Felix thank you." I moaned as I leaned into his teasing, feeling his muzzle move from my neck to my breast as his tongue flicked sensually over the nipple, making me gasp lightly as he started pumping his fingers into my quickly wettening cunt. I brought my paw to his waiting cock and pumped a couple of times before feeling him let go of my arm and gently lower me onto the waiting bed before letting his wings furl back behind his back, the soft light of the medical wing casting a gentle glow to his scales after the semi-twilight. He gently slid my jeans from around my waist and pulled them off of my feet before throwing them in the pile with his stuff next to the bed. The cold air from the climate control blew across my nipples and I gasped quietly as I felt his hot breath break against my outer most folds, his nostrils flaring slightly as he inhaled the scent my womanhood was giving off.

"You smell heavenly, my love." He whispered, his eyes conveying the grin his lips couldn't form at the moment as he plunged his muzzle into my waiting cunt, his tongue easily reaching the more receptive areas of my depths without him having to plunge any farther than a quarter of his muzzle. The way his tongue was lashing around inside of me had me panting before long, but I wanted more than that. He seemed to read my thoughts and thrust his muzzle deeper into my aching pussy, his tongue lapping at my g-spot and quickly bringing my climax to boiling point. He realized this and rolled my clit between his fingers, shooting me over the edge as I gave muffled scream into my fist while my pussy constricted around his tongue. I thrust my hips into his muzzle and wrapped my legs around his neck, forcing him deeper into my cunt so he could lick every inch of me. When he started tapping my thigh to be let up, I unwound my legs from around him and he pulled out of my tunnel with cum dripping from his muzzle, his eyes glazed over in pleasure as he sucked in a couple of deep breathes of air before looking down at me. I gave him an innocent giggle and sat up to wrap my arms around his neck as he got up off of the bed. He gripped my butt gently to keep me from falling and easily thrust his waiting cock into my still sensitive cunt, hilting inside me for a few minutes, both of us reveling in the feel of our closeness and the way my inner walls squeezed against his member. He swung me around so that my back was to the wall and let me rest against it as he started gently thrusting into me, his hips barely leaving mine while our lips touched each other again. I loved the feel of his cock inside me and ground my hips into his whenever they touched, getting him to moan into our kiss as he picked up his pace, his dick rubbing against my g-spot easily while our tongues played with one another. I could taste my sweet juices still on his tongue and felt that, in this closeness, I could truly love Felix. Not the Felix he should me before, the human whose spiky hair and gentle smiles would only serve as a good friend in the future, but this Felix: the one whose eyes proved as a direct opposite to mine and looked into my soul with a depth that couldn't be described with mere words. I felt something press against my tailhole and gasped as the tip of his tail drilled its way into me, stretching the small hole slightly as the appendage continued to delve into me. His thrusts became stronger as I clenched my anal muscles around his tail, a devious grin on my muzzle as I pulled out of our kiss.

"Ngghh... God, Felix... So, big..." I groaned in between pants, to which Felix just moaned and pumped his shaft into me harder, making me bounce slightly underneath his onslaught. I wanted to outlast him and make him cum first, but his tail started thrusting into my tailhole and expanding my backdoor with its gradual increase in size the more it went in, making me dangerously close to bursting, but I wasn't going out without a fight. I gripped his shoulders hard enough to draw blood and started thrusting harder than he was back into his cock, getting surprised grunts from him as he whipped his tail out from my backdoor, the sensation beyond words as I shoved my lips against his and screamed into his mouth, the vibrations traveling down his throat as I came. He bucked his hips madly into mine for a few more seconds before shooting his seed into my waiting womb, the hot, creamy stuff coating everything in its wake. Even after we had both cum so heavily, we were still thrusting at each other as if our lives depended on it and in a way, it did. I didn't want him to stop until neither of us could move and I'm sure he felt the same way.

I had never had more passionate or intense sex than I did with Felix; the way our bodies seemed to mold to each other in every way there was to heighten our pleasure made me appreciate him for doing it. There was no sense of time when I was with him and the many hours that we spent entangled together seemed to meld into one, beautiful blooming of emotion. Simple words cannot describe what I felt and I didn't want to try to form the words to put the experience into perspective. It wasn't until we were lying on the bed together, sweat making our bodies glisten in the soft light and the smell of what we did still hanging in the air, that I realized that I did love him. It would never be the same kind of love that I had for Axel or Jasper, but a kind of love that I knew wasn't deserving of words either. I turned my head to face his and gave him a tired smile as I buried my head in the space between his neck and shoulder, my arms wrapped snuggly around his shoulders while my tail and his were wrapped around one another at the tips. I felt his paw rubbing my back and murred quietly as the exhaustion started taking its hold on me, catching me off guard now that the fun was over.

"I love you, Hazel." Felix murmured into my ear before giving me a gentle nip. I returned the affection with kiss on his neck and playfully clenched my inner walls around his cock, making him groan softly.

"I know you do, Felix, or else you wouldn't have wanted to play with me like you did." I whispered back as I lifted my head to look him in the eyes. "But if you want me to love you back, this how you'll have to stay. Not as the human Felix, but the real you as you are now. It wouldn't feel right to me and I like you this, although to be fair, I'd love you anyway you were." I gave the tip of his snout a peck and lay my head back down onto his chest, my eyes hovering on the edge of sleep while looking at the reflection of us in a mirror I'd failed to notice before. I cuddled closer to him; comforted in the way we looked, and was cut off from the view as his wings covered over us again, giving me even more reason to fall asleep. I closed my eyes and felt his lips against my forehead as sleep won out finally, sending me off into a peaceful slumber where me and Felix were still together as I hoped we'd be till the end of time.

I'm sorry to tell you that this is the second to last chapter of Infected. I think I did a good job with Felix this time around and have finally found someone that Hazel will stick with. Next chapter... it shall all end...

"I turn my head to the east, I don't see nobody by my side... I turn my head to the west, still nobody beside, so I turn my head to the north, swallow that pill that they call pride; that old me's dead and gone, look at me and everything'll be alright..." -Dead and Gone, T.I.

That song inspired Hazel's resurrection and new life. Goes to show that music is a good inspiration when it wants to be.