FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sorry for the long wait! this has been mostly edited for a while now and im only just posting!

Chapter 13

"I'm gunna kill her," Miki fumed; closing Ricky's door after one more glance in, "Why the hell would she go for Ricky though? That doesn't make any sense. Calper I thought you said she wanted time with him not this!"

"It makes the most sense. Ricky can't defend himself and we all care." Pence stated under his breath, sitting against the wall outside Ricky's door like a watch-lion. "She's always been a problem and annoying as shit but this is something else."

The boy had finished showering but told him he was too tired to stay up any longer and went off to bed. The rest of the gang had showed up for the fun night they had planned, but no one was really in a party mood anymore.

"Credit where credit is due on revenge tactics though," Calper stated. He was un-happy but he wasn't destroyed like Pence and Miki, and they all knew Klain would either over react when he showed up, or just not care in the least. "She's awful and cruel but crafty and smart, this was well played."

"I'm just sorry he got caught up in all this shit on his second day," Shell tossed in, "Kochi was just kinda our problem and he got dragged into it."

"So what's our next move?" Miki asked, the living room felt like a war room, like everyone was going to give suggestions, but no one said a word; they were all thinking the same thing, but didn't want to be.

After a moment Calper sighed, "Okay I'll say what we're all thinking, no one wants to act right?" he paused, getting no rebuttal. "No one wants to continue a back and forth for the sake of whoever is on the receiving end of her bullshit?" No one spoke, it was hard to say they wanted to walk out of this after unfair countermeasures, that Kochi started and ended this by attacking the weakest members of their group successfully, first their much loved pig, and then Ricky.

"I'm all for asking her to keep Ricky out of it if we keep messing with her personal appearance out," Miki tossed in.

Calper shook his head in disapproval, "That's telling her Ricky is her target if she needs it, that he's important more so then the rest of us."

"Well she should fucking know that, he's a foreign guest," the dog grumbled in reply, his attention going back to the door same as Pence.

The lion, still standing against the wall by Ricky's room slammed his fist into the metallic surface, "There shouldn't be god damn war tactics!" He shouted a bit louder than he intended, lowering his voice, "This isn't a damn war council." he rolled his eyes and closed his eyes, resting his head back against the wall.

"We can't exactly tell an officer," Felix stated, "We did kinda take that dye without permission."

"And we can't live in "what if's' and 'should have's" Calper added, "This is what's up, so this is what we have to deal with. The question being how to deal with it."

"Well it sucks. I don't want to go out to her, tail tucked between my legs after this," Pence paused, "THIS was literally illegal and I plan on doing something about it." The lion looked at Calper, who stared a bit mystified back, it was a different look. Before Calper only saw feral desire when Pence got into one of his fits, but this look was smarter, devious and cunning, this look wasn't to be trifled with even with brute strength, it was brilliant and angry...Vengeful even.

Pence looked around the room for some form of agreement. A silent nod or a something verbal even. Just something. He would act alone, it wasn't new territory for him, but it would be nice not to have to.

"When does it end?" Shell asked, "I mean really, think about it, Kochi always needs to have the last word or she sees it as defeat. It will go on forever, that's just ending any form of calm we could ever hope to have honestly."

"I don't care when it ends," Pence stated, "She fucked with my friend; if it's that easy for her it's that easy for me."

Calper sighed, "You don't have to stoop to her petty level Pence, really. It's okay to let this slide in the big picture." He stared up at the new eyes of his old friend, "She won the battle but we will win the war."

"Do nothing?" Pence asked offended, "You want me to sit on my ass and do nothing? How is that winning exactly? Moral high ground?" he asked dubiously "that is a bullshit excuse for winning. If we dont act we cant have won something like this and you know it."

"Calm your ass down," Griffin moaned, "You think we all want to say she got our 'pack'? You think any of us WANT to say Kochi won the battle? We're in the same boat you moron." Shell put a hand on his chest but he waved it off in the moment. "Really I mean think about it, really think about it, why wouldn't we feel what you feel? Hell it was our pack first, we should feel worse that it got...INSULTED like this."

The cat waited for an answer from the lion, and Pence couldn't provide one, but it did nothing to calm him down, he huffed, looking away in anger.

"Let's chill out here," Calper started again not liking the feline stare down. "Nothing good can happen from rushing, she got back at us the same day, but there is no rush. If we don't make a move for two days, she might start talking about her 'Victory' but even after then we can come back. The ball is in our court." He looked up at his old friend Pence, trying to break through the blind vengeance, "Waiting isn't necessarily doing nothing, think of it as waiting for the right moment to strike."

After that Pence barely heard what they continued to say, they could have been talking to him directly and he wouldn't have noticed. He knew he had changed, he felt it. Something inside him changed when Ricky was in danger. His little friend, his charge, whatever he was Pence wasn't exactly sure but he was different. When he was in danger in Pence's mind it was like a switch got pulled and he was a protector now. He was protecting the weak from what he couldn't handle. But now it wasn't a physical game if it ever was one, something else had changed. Everything Calper ever talked to him about social graces and webs of connections and people that he ignored came flowing back with clarity.

He 'saw' things now he never would have, the gall it took to get at Ricky with Kochi's connection to the Captain so muddled at the moment. It would only take the Captain thinking she stole the dye...to bad that would bring her revenge to a whole new level. It was a common courtesy amongst the kids of the Ship that the actual crews not get too involved in anything not strictly allowed for the sake of their privileges. Even locked in her room Kochi could do damage...it was all so complex but it all made sense now.

That clarity made not understanding Ricky all the more frustrating. He could see what telling the Captain a few things about one fox could lead too, and who could be involved and how to plant evidence. A side remark at the right time; but he couldn't place what made Ricky so damn special so fast or more importantly what made him tick. He couldn't place why he felt so conflicted about a little furless earth boy and it was eating him alive. He told himself it was a good friendship and waved it off for the sake of a clear head.

****

Klain had surprised even himself when he heard about Ricky and saw the boy in bed, hair altered; he left. He found himself walking down the hall to his cabin, silent, emotionless and stoic beyond what he thought he was capable of. Then emotions flooded back, safely away from his friends. They didn't need to see his shame, those awesome friends who put up with his mood swings and temper and still called him up. Klain cried, he fell backwards onto his bed, the cabin empty as it always was, his dad doing double time.

Klain sobbed and sobbed for reasons he didn't even understand, all he knew was it felt good to keep going. He cried out loud, the walls blocking all sound, he swore and clenched his pillow, claws biting into the fabric until it tore. He hated them. He saw their faces, the list only growing. Captain Issa, Mr. Tequin-Hainse, Halter, Shizza and now Kochi. She hadn't been his favourite, but she officially made the list.

All of those people had somehow in some way made Klain cry.

He would never forgive them. The latest to the list made him feel like he couldn't protect Ricky; made him feel useless and defeated. She had gotten Ricky while Klain was whistling to himself in his own shower. To him now he might as well have been basking in his own safety, a luxury stolen out from under his Beta by that witch...

His Beta...Right?

"No, god damn it not now;" he moaned to himself, the last thing he needed at the moment was confusion on top of reality. "Why are you so broken?" he asked himself in rage, "Why can't you just shut up..."

'Man up, a real Alpha would never shed tears.'

"I'm no Alpha," he screamed at his own inner self, "Nothing I have ever done has ever been the dictations of an Alpha."

'Start now. Get that bitch back. Make her pay for touching your Beta without permission. He's yours, she should ask before touching your property.'

Klain didn't answer at first but offered, "He's not property," lamely. He had stopped crying, but he wasn't at all convincing. "He's a person...an individual."

'Not yet he isn't. You haven't marked him,' the voice responded, ignoring the last bit entirely. Klain began to wonder if he even said it.

The words made Klain shutter, they were so primal, so intoxicating, his head started to swirl around and the ideas the voices offered were oh so tempting...Mark Ricky and he would be his Beta. Klain shook his head, trying to clear it, there was something about the idea of it that seemed flawed but he couldn't quite place it. One bite, one fuck...that's all it would take...Ricky would be his...in turn; Ricky would be safe and untouchable...

The sensation of smooth skin ran over his fingers, even though his eyes were open and he saw he was gripping sheets. The human had been so tempting at the pool, so adorable with his modesty, so distracting. That damned pair of swimming trunks like a censor bar on American television.

'Klain he wants you, he's waiting for you in his bed.'

The image of Ricky's sleeping being sat in his vision; he was glancing at his bed through a mirage of adorable red and blue haired human, like there were two layers in reality.

'Just throw back those covers...' the voice instructed, the image changing to accommodate the instructions, the sheets slowly lowering over his chest. 'Comfort him, feel your Beta, learn every curve and angle of him.'

The sensations of flesh returned. He was directly beside his sleeping Beta, he was just sleeping so uneasily with his recent fright. The dog could almost hear the boys steady breaths. He was under the covers, he could hear Ricky breathe, he could feel his chest rise and fall and he ran a delicate paw down his chest and belly. Swallowing he ventured lower.

'It's all yours,'

But Klains head began swimming. Something was wrong, his paw ventured further but it met no resistance. Puzzled Klain tried again, but his paw only sunk deeper into the empty covers.

Panic set in for Klain, he was unable to move, he was unable to get Ricky back, to protect him, the comfort him in his terror. "NO!" he growled, breaking his own paralysis and clawing at the bed.

He stood away from the bed in a cold sweat, tripping over his feet in his backwards retreat. Immediately he called his doctor but before the line connected he chocked in panic. Dropping the Com, he ran for Ricky.

****

Pence was sat where the group had left him, just outside of Ricky's door, plotting revenge of the slow and steady variety. The lion sat still against the wall, ear listening closely to the door in case the human were to awaken. He wore very simple blue shorts and a grey polo, his mane was a bit of a mess from his rush over but he hadn't bothered to fix it. It wasn't even dinner time, but if felt much later to the watch lion, his post not relieved from him, his mind not letting it be relieved.

He came to one simple conclusion in the short hour he had been sitting there, he had failed. The one thing he understood about his connection to Ricky was that he was important and needed to be protected. Pence had not been there. He had not been at his side, he had not bothered to put a combination on the lock, and he had not done so many things that could have prevented this.

The lion sighed, lifting his balled up hand to his nose and taking a long whiff of the hook shaped stone at the end of leather cord. Ricky clearly wore this thing daily, it was difficult to put smells that lasted on such polished rock, but the scent would have been clear even if he had removed the string. He felt a bit creepy doing it, but it calmed him, putting him in a happier place with a better situation.

With eyes closed he pictured Ricky was smiling that amazing smile he hid away. The pair were walking with friends to the beach Pence visited as a cub. The suns were out, the day was bright and warm, laughter, food, drink, friends, fun under the sun, for some reason Pence's cousin Stal was there with solar riders for the water...

Pence allowed himself to grin, opening his eyes to the cold, dark, metallic default of the real world he was actually in. The room seemed bigger, more hollow and empty. Despite his upbringing, Pence could not see Ricky's cabin as a home. It was lacking the comfort of a home. The little touches. The overall atmosphere was off putting.

Pence sighed, despite his 'conclusion' he didn't feel any better. He had long sense settled down from his enraged social clarity, and had long sense settled on a plan of action. The only one that would work and had so few drawbacks and such a low percent chance of actual retaliation. The lion looked up longingly at the door.

It wasn't the first time in his wait he wanted to sneak in and watch Ricky sleep. He realized guiltily it wasn't even sleep, that misplaced guilt forcing his eyes back to the floor.

A loud knocking at the front door broke the silence in the empty space. Pence shot up and was at the door in a moment, turning on the monitor and receiving an image of Klain outside the door looking up at him. "Let me in Pence, what's the combination?"

Pence released a breath he didn't realize he'd held, the air of frustration leaving all the nerves behind as they passed through his nostrils. Pence opened the door, the Doberman looking calmer than usual, that same eerie calmness he wore when he heard about Ricky. There was something about someone with mental problems being calm that made Pence feel uneasy. "What's up?" Pence asked, trying to be casual, but still standing in the doorway, impeding the dog's entrance.

"I want to see how he's doing," Klain started, taking a step forward, his eyes daring Pence to continue to block his path. The lion stood aside reluctantly, "If he isn't getting better then we need to take him to the doctor dude; he creeps me the hell out but he'll know what's best."

"I know that," The lion replied, each of their voices containing the cold steel of a careful and empty businessman. "But are you okay?" he threw in, accepting the unvoiced challenge of dominance. "You seem a bit...off."

The Doberman refused an offered seat, "I feel fine. I feel excellent, rejuvenated even." He pressed, "Why do you ask?"

"You just seem a bit out of sorts," The lion stated with ice on his tongue.

Klain saw the lion's discomfort, and he immediately placed it. It took a lot of strength not to charge him for thinking HE was better than Klain in any way. 'He wants to claim your place as alpha...' the voices insisted, and he didn't put up shields. It made sense. It was logical. This feline wanted HIS beta. His sweet little Ricky...his smooth skin...

"As do you," the Dobie heard himself say, only half thinking about the words on his tongue. "You should rest; I'll take a post for a bit."

Pence stood his ground, his mind returning to the clarity of before. This was a dangerous game they were playing. "I'll be fine I'm used to the quiet. It's been weird hanging out with you guys, it's claustrophobic."

"Well then it's on me Buddy," the Dobie laughed, being casual. "I'll relax here long enough for you to have enough time to at least go get some food for yourself at home with the folks," he grinned, knowing he was winning.

"I'm not hungry," The lion offered lamely.

"Don't you trust me?" The Dog asked, taking every opportunity to throw Pence into a social defeat. It was rude to call another man out on his honor. The entire honor situation was not one easily avoided or trifled with. It was one of the higher social contracts among Varius, a set in stone rule that one not act rudely without proof that the action be deemed necessary for higher causes. If Pence had proof that Klain wanted to hurt Ricky, or wanted anything less than consensual from a foreign visitor he would be completely justified, socially, to push the dog down some stairs at a social gathering. It might be technically 'tactful', but it wouldn't be held against him.

Pence swallowed, furious with himself and still determined to stay. Fuck the rules if they took him away from his human. Fuck the rules if they didn't let intuition into play. Fuck the entire social construct if it meant he had to walk out of here, tail between his legs because the ADD Dog was a better speaker!

"It's not trust..."

Klain's face clearly dropped to one of disbelief, "You know you lost here Pence, you know it's a game, and I'm going to ask," His voice seemed annoyed; "If it's not trust then what is it? What could it possibly be?" it was getting frustrating watching the feline think he could break all the rules because of a few months abroad. The Doberman wished the lion would just remember his place in his own society's system.

"It's..."

A scream cut through the room, muffled as it was, and made both Varii spines shiver.

Both guys jumped, eyes flashing to Ricky's door, both moving on autopilot and flying into the Human's room.

****

Ricky awoke in a cold sweat, sitting up slowly, and his memories returning in waves. He was at the pool...no he was walking home from...a Shower...? The memories all sunk into place, the big Varius that had grabbed him...It was belated, but he felt the panic from that moment, the scream he wish he could have screamed before erupted from his throat before he knew what he was doing.

It was one single scream, and then he was done, he cried without reason, his mind a mess and unable to process his current feelings over the waves of raw emotion that had been temporarily locked away. Before he knew what to do next a lion and a dog burst in, the lion at his side first, pulling him into an embrace he didn't quite understand. It was warm...furry, he felt his arms going up around the fluff before he could even speak.

"You're okay?" The lion spoke first, his chest vibrating on Ricky's cheek, then the form was heaving with cries of relief.

"I think so." Ricky managed in a hoarse whisper. His throat felt like sandpaper and the words caught wrong after his scream. Still, despite this he didn't want to ask for water. He sat there in the lions grip, feeling the large paws run over his back and his mind swam with anxiety.

His brain was conflicted in a mess of messages. All Ricky could see was the towering Varius of minimal description, terrifying and powerful, standing over him. All he could feel was comfort and warmth' the steady breathing of a solid Rock to which he could cling too in the storm. He was in a fragile balance, a boat in a violent storm. All he could do was hold on tight and hope that the storm didn't sweep him away.

"Do you need anything?" another voice asked. Somehow this voice was familiar, but it wasn't registering. The boy was too focused on staying afloat and breathing. "Beta, do you need some water?"

The human couldn't even nod, he was held too close to the lions chest, but he could feel the lion shift and every syllable rumble past his throat. "What the fuck did you say?" the rumble and the low growl made Ricky hold on tighter and squeeze his eyes shut.

The lion shifted away from him and let him sit numbly on the bed. The human registered, if only in some clouded way that the Feline and the dog were fighting. Without his boat he fell back into the mercy of the storm of over-stimulation. He fell back asleep.

****

Pence collapsed on Ricky's couch, the boy off in his room asleep again. Since his ordeal with Klain Ricky managed to wake up again and calm down enough to eat some food. Pence was not surprised no one came to visit after he told Calper what had happened. Somehow he knew everyone would stay away from the entire situation at first, even if Calper didn't give them any more details that 'there is a situation stay away.'

'Situation' his ass. Pence huffed at the memory of his very intense moments forcing Klain out of the cabin. There wasn't a lot of shouting, more stern, angry voices and a lot of shoves. Klain had let it happen though. He verbaly defended himself but hardly put up any physical defense. He had only really grabbed the door to try and stop it from closing before Pence had booted him out far enough to get the automatic and safety locked door to close.

The lion removed his shirt for bed and wrestled with some pillows, finally getting them fluffed right. He had always had trouble getting to sleep so he always found himself adjusting the damn things; but once he was asleep he was out cold, dead to the world. Finally he relaxed, physically anyway, his body was still but his mind was a storm of thoughts, emotions, ideas and images. Things were a paradox more often than not at the moment. Kochi was on the offensive but was playing the frightened girl. All of the guys called him a friend, but would trust a mental Dobie over him. Pence wasn't gay, but Ricky made him hot under the collar...

The lion cast the thought from his head. It didn't matter, he didn't need to understand the feelings to keep Ricky safe, he even rationalized it would be more effective if he didn't know how he felt he was so terrified to work it out. He grumbled again, resting his head in one hand and setting the other on his bare belly to sleep, and it came much easier than he had thought.

****

Ricky sunk into his bed; the blanket was comforting against his arms. It felt good to have that familiar thing again. His clothes felt right and after a moment of just sitting there breathing he finally found peace knowing Pence was just outside the door. He finished some pastry Pence had pulled from a cupboard in the kitchen and set the plate on the nightstand.

The strange thing about a blackout was that he was still tired. Sitting there unconscious did nothing for his level of awake and alertness. His head hit the pillow and he was out.