Fox 8

"Finally!" Levi cheered as he looped his arm through my own and practically dragged me through the throng of loud, obnoxious students. Quickly I snatched Alistair's hand in my own and brought him along for the ride as we were pulled down the hallway.

"Sl-Slow down Levi." Alistair tried to reason with him.

"But I'm so hungry!" He whined like the petulant child he was.

"There's enough food to go around." I laughed.

"Yes, but I still want to be the first one there." He pouted turning around to look at me for a second before he shoved past a rather large fellow who looked like he was two seconds from attacking us.

"Sorry!" Alistair called out on our behalf as we finally made it into the dining hall where many of the tables were already filled with students eating and chatting about today's events.

Levi pulled us to the line then finally released me from his death grip. Alistair huffed besides thankful that we had stopped moving and Levi wouldn't stop bouncing at the thought of food.

"Calm down." I smiled.

"I can't help it. I'm so hungry." He whined. "We haven't had anything to eat all day!"

"That's your fault though. Me and Tae were up and ready to go to breakfast but you refused to wake up." Alistair reminded him.

"No one in their right mind wakes up at five in the morning for any reason." He replied with a serious look.

"I'm pretty sure there's a good number of people who actually do wake up that early for all sorts of reasons, food being one of them." I laughed.

"Well not me! Next time we'll just have to conjure up some snacks." He replied.

"I'm not conjuring you up any food." Alistair replied as we all moved forward in the line.

"What? Why not?"

"Because you don't know how to be inconspicuous when it comes to sneaking snacks."

"That's not tru-" Levi started to reply with one finger up ready to start arguing with Alistair.

"You remember when we were at the movies that one time?" Alistair questioned as Levi promptly dropped his finger and closed his mouth. He ran his hand through his hair and kept his mouth closed before reaching out and grabbing a plate full of some sort of pasta.

"Whatever..." He grumbled as he grabbed two rolls. I couldn't help the smile that found made it's way to my face. Watching them as they interacted with each other was always entertaining.

"So after lunch Levi can go back to his room while we go to our other classes?" I questioned as we sat down at a vacant table.

"It seems that way." Alistair replied as he stabbed his salad with the fork.

"Lucky duck." I grumbled.

"Fox...I'm a lucky fox."

"Whatever you are, you're lucky." I laughed.

"Not really. I might come to class with you guys anyways."

"What? Why?" I questioned.

"It's going to be weird being in the room all by myself while they two of you sit through your classes. If anything I'm sure I can shift and sit with you guys in the class without anyone really making a fuss about it."

"Well we do live in a magical academy now so I doubt they'll be too mad about my familiar sitting in on a class or two." Alistair shrugged.

The rest of lunch was quite uneventful as we sat there and just talked idly about whatever came to mind. Briefly my thoughts went back home to my parents who I'm sure hadn't even realized that I was missing yet. They were probably still in the apartment in the city living the life they wanted.

"So what do you think they do around here for fun?" Levi questioned with a mouth full of food.

"Really Levi?" Alistair laughed as he held up a hand in front of his face to shield him from the bits of food flying from Levi's mouth.

"I don't know but I'm sure we can find someone to show us around; other than Alex of course. Not that he's not cool or anything but I'm sure he'll get sick of us soon." Levi replied.

"Can't we just explore by ourselves?" I questioned.

"I don't see why we can't." Alistair responded. "We can do it after our classes are over."

The conversation sort of died down after that with us just talking about meaningless things that happened in our classes so far. It was funny to see how excited Levi had been about actually being back in a classroom setting, especially a magical one like this.

The bell chimed telling us that it was time to leave and head to our non-magical classes. Levi shifted instantly and Alistair sent his clothes back to our room as he climbed up into my arms. He snuggled close to my chest as I carried him through the halls and to our next class.

"Oh do we have a new slave auction going on?" A shrill voice laughed from down the hall followed by an eruption of laughter.

Looking over I noticed the mermaid from last night with her hair up in a tight, polished bun with pearls surrounding it. Her perfectly glossed lips were fashioned into a smirk as she stared at us from down the hall. For someone who seemed so against our bond as mage and familiar it seemed like she had no problem bullying us familiar who she claims were the victims.

"Princess, would you like to be sent to the Headmaster's office once more?" An utterly charming voice spoke up from behind us. Turning around I found myself actually smiling when I noticed Jason standing there with an annoyed look on his face.

"No sir." The girl pouted as she flashed him the largest pair of puppy dog eyes I had ever seen. "I was just teasing. It's all in good fun, wasn't it?" She questioned turning her attention to us once again.

"Regardless, it's inappropriate and in violation of the school code. If I catch you behaving like this one more time I will report you regardless of your family's standing with this institution." He remarked smoothly. "You're dismissed."

She huffed before spinning around and stomping off like the spoiled child she was. Jason let out a small sigh before turning to face us. A small smile appeared on his lips as he noticed Levi in my arms. He reached out and scratched between his ears lightly causing the small fox to let out a little whine of contentment as he stretched himself closer to Jason's fingers.

"Thank you." Alistair offered his thanks.

"No thanks required. It wouldn't be the first time I've caught her harassing the mages or the familiars." He sighed. "You would think that as a princess she'd want to maybe be the one to set an example for the other students here, at least a positive one."

"What's her deal anyways?" I questioned.

"What do you mean?" Jason replied as he pulled his hand away from Levi who looked up with wide eyes silently pleading for the man to continue scratching him.

"She's always talking about how the mages are terrible and everything and how us familiars are pretty much slaves but then she bullies us as well." I tried to explain the best I could.

"Well the problem is that she doesn't know what she's talking about. There have been a few rumors that there are some bonds that have been forced upon familiars which is against our laws. However, in ever world, mortal or immortal, there are the good and there are the bad. Can we always catch them before they do something terrible? No, but we are working on it.

Unfortunately, these rumors spread through our worlds and reach the Academy and the students, being the hormonally unbalanced creatures that you are, take it and make it ten times worse than it already is. We had a problem like this a few years back with the vampires that we admitted to this institution. It'll all blow over eventually." He explained.

"I guess we'll just have to endure it until it does." I sighed.

"Yes, we will." He smiled briefly before regaining his serious composure. "Now get to class. I'd hate for you two to be late."

"Yes sir." Alistair and I said in unison as we quickly left him standing there in the hallway and made our way to our mortal classes. As soon as we walked through the door the shrill ring of the bell sounded through the room and we instantly found some vacant seats in the back of the class between a guy that was already fast asleep and a girl with huge glasses who stared straight ahead with two notebooks on her desk ready to take notes.

Once the teacher walked in we were once again forced to introduce ourselves as well as Levi. There were a few students that shared a few of the mage and familiar classes with us. But then there were a few students that had seemed like a completely different world to me, which of course they were. As we walked from the front back to our seats in the back I tried to figure out what each of our classmates were judging by their appearances only.

The rest of the class seemed to fly by as we sat there. Levi was quite restless the entire time and every few minutes Alistair had to quite him or distract him with a toy of some sort. If I didn't know he was actually a human I would assume that he was an actual pet. Two and half hours later and the bell rang once again signalling the end of the class.

"I think it's safe to say that I'll probably be falling asleep in that class." I sighed as I walked out the door carrying Levi in one hand.

"Don't do that. We both need to pass that class in order for us to move on. I can't have you failing the both of us." Alistair tsked.

'I think I'll be asleep most of the class too.' Levi chimed in.

"Well that'll be much better than what you were doing today." Alistair sneered as he reached over and flicked Levi on the nose. The small fox shook his head and flinched away before glaring at Alistair.

'Don'r do that! You know how much I hate that.' Levi snarled.

"Well then behave." Alistair shrugged as we continued to push through the crowd to head back to the dorms. The day was officially over for us and we were free to do whatever it was that we wanted to do, whether it be homework or socializing. We were fine to do as we pleased as long as we were back inside our room before curfew which was hours away.

"So what do you wanna do?" I questioned as we made it to our room.

"I think we should practice your shifting and then go exploring." Alistair suggested as we entered the room.

"Do we have to?" I whined as Levi hopped from my arms to the floor before he scurried off to our shared room.

"Yes, Jason said that it would be best for you to practice and Mr. Corin agreed." Alistair reminded me and I was hoping he'd forget the homework I was given earlier in the day. I sighed loudly just as Levi came walking out the room in just a pair of sweatpants and a smile.

"So where we going first?" Levi questioned.

"It seems like you have some place in mind already." Alistair replied with an eyebrow cocked.

"Well I saw this interesting looking forest that had a path leading through it. I say we grab some snacks and go for a mini hike." Levi suggested.

"That's actually a really good idea." I mused.

"Don't make it seem like I can't have them." He whined.

"Stop whining. Levi, go do that whole breathing thing that Jason taught you so you can shift and then our mini-adventure can begin." Alistair instructed as he began to loosen his tie.

With a deep breath in and out followed by another I began to do as Jason had instructed me during class. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the task at hand and soon I could feel my body shifting slightly and a lot less painful then before.

'You're doing great. Keep it up, you're almost done.' Levi encouraged me over the bond.

In a matter of seconds I was done shifting and my eyes popped open providing me with a different point of view as I was unable to shift into a larger form of myself still. I stayed a cute little black fox until I could figure out the more challenging shifts.

"I love how absolutely cute you are!" Levi cheered as he picked me up from the ground and cooed as he cuddled me close to him.

"Stop babying him and go get dressed so that we can get going." Alistair smiled as he walked into the room to get changed. Levi didn't listen as he continued to scratch me behind the ears and tickle my belly. I couldn't help but wiggle in his arms as he continued his cuddly assault on me.

"Didn't I tell you to stop playing with him?" Alistair scolded as he walked out of the room dressed in a plain black shirt and a pair of jeans pants.

"I can't help it! He's so cute! I just love his cute little face and I wanna eat him up." He made chomping noises at me as I struggled to get out of his grasp. Alistair laughed as he reached for me. I made a mad dash for Alistair as soon as I could.

"Maybe we don't threaten to eat Tae." Alistair laughed.

"Fine. Whatever." Levi grumbled as he went to go change. Alistair carried me like a baby in one arm as I tried to crawl up his shoulder. A few minutes later Levi came back out with Khaki cargo shorts and a white shirt and a backpack hanging off his shoulder.

"You ready?" Alistair questioned.

"Yup! Let's go get some snacks from the cafeteria and head out." Levi practically cheered as he walked to the door excitedly. Alistair and I followed behind him with about the same amount of excitement over being able to just be out doing something together. For whatever reason the kitsune inside me just wanted to run outside, in all the bushes and just play.

We walked down to the cafeteria, ignoring a few weird stares from some of the students and narrowly avoiding squealing girls who wanted to get a closer look at me. Levi grabbed some fruits, a few wrapped sandwiches, and some drinks and shoved them in his backpack for later.

"So which way was the forest?" Alistair questioned as we walked outside.

"It was over this way..." He replied as he turned in the opposite direction and began to lead us to the forest with the path that he had seen before. We walked for about ten minutes before we actually found the path that Levi had seen before.

The forest was a beautiful sight to behold. It looked like any of the forests you would see on Earth except for the plants that seemed to grow with a purpose. The vibrant green vines climbed up the tree gorgeously, twisting and turning, creating beautiful designs on the tree itself. The light that filtered in through the canopy lit up the earth below us illuminating that path ahead of us.

"This is beautiful." Alistair was the first out of us all to speak but he definitely spoke for all of us.

"Definitely." Levi agreed as he began walking forward into the wild growth of plants.

It didn't seem like there were any animals in the forest though as it was eerily quiet but in a serene way. It was weird to not hear anything while walking through nature but at the same time between the beauty and the atmosphere that was created it was hard to even worry about it.

'I think we've found our new hangout spot.' I told them just as Alistair climbed over a fallen tree limb.

"Yeah, I could come out here and just relax all night." Levi laughed.

'Can you put me down? I really want to stretch my legs.' I questioned.

"Sure." Alistair replied as he set me down. My paws touched the soft, cool earth and a shiver went through me at the feeling of home. It was strange but it was nice. My tails swished behind me happily as tip toed through the brush walking alongside Alistair and Levi who slowed down so that I could keep up with them.

"So how do you feel about your fox form now?" Levi questioned.

'I love it. It feels like this is how I'm supposed to be like all the time.' I remarked in an excited yip.

Both of them laughed at me as we trekked further into the forest admiring the beautiful plants that weren't native to our home world. We made sure to keep our general distance from them as we weren't sure which one would harm us or not.

Levi shifted into a fox as well so that we could run around with each other once we reached a clearing along the path. We ran around for what seemed like hours before we realized that it was already past curfew. Hurriedly we cleared up our makeshift picnic and tried to find our way back onto the path. The moon's light didn't help us out any as the night's clouds prevented the light from getting through to us.

"So we're lost." Alistair whined for about the millionth time tonight.

"Yeah, we're lost." Levi sighed. He had shifted about ten minutes back when we couldn't find the path.

"We really should have brought someone with us who knew this place better than us." Alistair sighed.

"Well we didn't and now we should probably find a way out of here before we end up having to spend the night." He remarked as he looked around looking for something. It was strange being able to see so very well in the dark. Every little detail was almost amplified with my new enhanced eyesight and yet we couldn't find a simple path back to campus.

'Isn't there some type of spell you can use to help us out?' I questioned.

"I've tried! I don't know what it is but my magic isn't working. None of my incantations are working and it's freaking me out." Alistair seemed legitimately worried and I could feel that worry over our bond and it was starting to stress me out as well.

"Don't worry so much Alistair, we'll get out of here eventually."Levi spoke up. "If not I'm sure someone will figure out that we're missing."

'I don't know if now is the time for jokes.' I chided him.

"Fine. No more jokes but we should probably really figure this out. I have no idea where the path went. We were right past it when we stopped." He growled in frustration.

Alistair opened his mouth to respond when something rustled in the bushes behind us. It was at that point that I realized that the forest had seemed to slowly come to life as we looked for a way out. I noticed the sounds of birds chirping, scampering and other weird nightly noises that we must have tuned out before.

"What was that?" Alistair questioned.

'Apparently there are other creatures in this forest that we didn't no about.' I answered.

"Great. So we can't find the path and now we're going to be eaten. Wonderful!" Alistair groaned.

Before either of us could say anything else Levi shifted into his fox and nudged me closer to Alistair with his nose before standing in front of the both of us. It seemed like he was getting ready for something to attack, what it was I couldn't tell but he obviously heard something that I hadn't.

"What's going on?" Alistair questioned.

'There's something big out there and it's coming this way.'

'Well I can help.' I protested.

"You can barely shift in and out of your forms. Just let Levi do this." Alistair reached down and picked me up cradling me to his chest.

More rustling behind us caused Levi to crouch down into a protective stance in between us and the low growling. Golden eyes appeared in the darkness of the forest coming closer and closer to us. Emerging from behind the trees was a large wolf, raven hybrid with glowing yellow eyes. It's lips puled back into a feral snarl as it's eyes locked onto us.

Large black feathers sprouted out from various spots on it's body as his inky black fur practically blended into the darkness that it hid in. Every so often the moon's light would escape the clouds and make it's way through the canopy's thick foliage and hit the creature illuminating another terrifying characteristic of it.

"Oh shit." Alistair murmured as it took another step closer, it's long wispy tail flowing freely behind it.

'Agreed.' Levi answered as I simply stared at it. Something about it seemed quite familiar but I couldn't figure out what it was about it that was bothering me.

"This thing is too big for you to fight." Alistair took a step backwards as the creature took another step forward.

'Well I have to try something.' Levi snapped just as the large creature lunged forward. Levi barely managed to dodge the attack as Alistair and I hid behind a tree. The creature's movements were almost liquid as he lunged once more and then righted himself when he didn't hit his mark. He lunged once more and caught Levi off guard rewarding my friend with a nasty gash on his left side.

Levi fell to the side on the ground whimpering in pain and I saw my new perfect little family come crashing to a halt right before my eyes. My world had just been changed because of these two and there was no way I was going to allow this thing to take them away from me.

"Levi!" Alistair yelled.

'No!' I shouted as I jumped from Alistair's arm and rushed the beast. Something awakened inside me and before I knew it I was standing in between the large creature and Levi covered from ear to tail in a purple flame.

It burned bright and even the creature of the night seemed to be shocked by the sudden turn of events. I was completely covered in the flame but not one inch of me was burned by it as it licked at my fur. Deep down I was concerned but I couldn't worry about that now. I had to protect my new family and whatever had awakened inside me wasn't about to back down from this challenge.

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New Chapter.

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