Alright, bird. It's just you and me... and one of us is going to have dinner at the end of this little dance. Fox flattened his ears and hunched as the thought ran through his head, his tail swishing back and forth with excitement.

The hawk perched on the branch above him lifted its wings, slanting them slightly downward, ready to attack. Fox reacted as soon as the bird took flight, launching himself into the air to try and snag a claw in the bird's feathers and bring it down. He did manage to make contact, but had misjudged the thickness of the birds plumage.

Darn winter.

His claws slipped, just barely grazing the animal's skin right before he felt talons rip into his left shoulder. The hit sent him somersaulting into the thin layer of snow on the ground. Pain made him dizzy, making his vision blur as he stumbled to his feet and turned to face his adversary.

The hawk was nearly on him before he even managed to register its wing-beats overhead. The next dive skimmed his back, sending a small spattering of red into another patch of snow a few feet away.

ow.

His left side gave out at that moment, dropping his body right back down into the snow. The hawk didn't hesitate to land on his back, its talons sinking into his darkening, matting coat. Fox was fading in and out of consciousness, but thankfully it was freezing outside, making it hard for his chilled, damp body from wanting to pass out. As soon as he felt the bird's sharp beak at the back of his neck, he screeched out a panicked snarl and squirmed around abruptly, landing a ferocious bite to the animal's face.

It gave a shrill cry of surprise and lashed out with its talons as it beat its wings, trying to put distance between them. Fox wanted to deliver a killing blow, but he knew that he was the one about to be taken down if he couldn't get away. As the hawk's talons sliced down his throat and chest, Fox fumbled onto his back. Searing pain made his body stiff as his muscles fought against the deep cuts made in them.

Thankfully, the hawk seemed to have taken enough damage to not want to risk another attack.

It hurts.

Fox fought to simply roll himself over on the cold, damp ground.

It really hurts.

His eyes were barely cracked open as he watched the light of mid-day start to fade towards dusk. He could hear cars in the distance coming and going. He just couldn't bring his body to function enough to simply stand on his own four paws, though.

Hurts.

The wind picked up as night time fell, whipping his dirty, stained coat and chilling his damaged body. He had no doubt that he'd likely freeze before morning, but at the same time, he understood and accepted that. It wasn't something that he truly wanted, but he was a fox and he'd fought with another predator. In those types of situations, the loser usually didn't get the chance to walk away alive.

It was unfortunate that the hawk hadn't managed a good killing blow, though. Fox could feel his damaged muscles trying to contract to shiver in order to keep his body warm, but all it managed to do was escalate the pain to the point of making him black out repeatedly. When he came to some point during the early hours of the morning, his body was numb and there was some sort of mumbling static in the back of his mind.

Not... dead yet?

He heard some sort of muffled sound in response, but couldn't make out what it actually was. It was soon accompanied by the feeling of weightlessness, however, making Fox think that it was finally time to go.

"You need to stop fidgeting if you're going to hold his paw, he's already in critical condition and I need to start the surgery as soon as his breathing steadies or he won't make it."

Ah, not dead yet. Let's try again.

He was feeling pretty exhausted, however, and had no qualms with letting his consciousness slip again as darkness took over his mind.

The next time he awoke Fox actually felt a little better. Still terrible, but a little less terrible. He still couldn't find the energy to do anything, or even open his eyes, but he could feel fingers gently stroking the fur between his ears.

Ah, my body isn't as numb as before.

The pain was definitely flaring up, but it wasn't nearly as bad as he expected it to be.

"You're going to be okay," came a whisper from somewhere nearby. It sounded familiar, but his mind was too muddled to place the voice.

"You won't be if you keep touching him. He needs to rest, Noah."

Ah, so one is Noah. Then the other is probably Henry.

The hand petting his head disappeared, allowing whatever medication he figured that he was on, to work. It knocked him out again in seconds, dragging him under to a very pleasant, pain-free sleep.

It felt like days later when his eyes finally cracked open. It was dark all around him except for a faint light flickering some distance away.

Not dead yet.

It was a surprise. He still didn't feel well, but it was definitely not ad bad as before. His muscles ached, but his injuries weren't making him want to cry out. Well, that was a lie. He was whining a tiny bit, but he was managing it decently enough considering how damaged his body was.

"I swear I won't touch him again. I just need to know that he's okay."

The faint voice was muffled, and clearly in another room.

"You can check him, but if you bother him one more time, I'll tie you to a chair in the corner with leashes if I have to."

The door to the room opened at that moment, bringing with it the light from the hall. Fox twitched his little nose and gave out an unintentional tiny cry.

"He's okay!"

Noah's enthusiasm spoke volumes that made Fox's ears ring.

"Hush. He needs to rest, not be yelled at," Henry chided as they both walked closer.

Metal brushing against metal sounded, then Fox felt something pinch his left front arm. He didn't have the energy to fight it, but he did give a little growl, just to let them know that he didn't appreciate the extra pain.

"Sorry, hun. Need to take out the I.V.. You finished all your fluids and I don't want you to accidentally rip it out and cause yourself more harm."

I guess that makes sense.

"I feel like a bird got him," Henry added as he started walking away in Fox's blurry vision.

Noah stayed right beside him, clearly holding himself back from reaching inside the cage. It was a good idea. He didn't want to bite, but he was feeling horrible and even if the guy meant well, which he was pretty sure he did, he wouldn't be able to hold back his instincts to protect himself if he got too stressed out.

"I'm sorry I'm crowding you, Fox. I understand, I've just been so worried," Noah said as he took a few steps back and clasped his hands in front of him.

Fox watched Henry's blurry figure moving around behind him for a few minutes before the man came close enough to see clearly.

"It's a good thing that we had developed a bond, kid," Henry said as he slowly leaned into the large cage Fox lay in and lifted up one of the soft blankets covering his sore body. "Just checking your stitches. I promise I won't mess with them."

Fox bristled but held himself back just long enough for Henry to back away.

"You're looking good. Can you tell me what happened? It looked like knife wounds at first, but it could have also been an eagle or hawk?"

He had to give the guy credit, he put things together quickly.

My dinner struck back.

The joke actually got a chuckle from Noah, making Henry blink at him in confusion.

"I don't think he can choose who his thoughts go to yet, but as far as what he said; it was that his dinner had struck back."

Henry snickered behind his hand and shook his head. "Glad he's still got that spunk."

Looking back at Fox, Henry gently closed his cage door, then nudged Noah toward the door. "We're going to head out, but we'll be back later today. If you're doing well enough, we'll take you home to recover there."

Home.

He wasn't sure if he really wanted to recover, though. The pain was pretty bad, and if recovering meant that he'd have to go through more of it, he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

What is that thing when you humans let your animals go to sleep forever? Can I get some of that instead?

Noah tripped on his way out the door, fumbling until he fell forward, smacking his forehead against the wall. He seemed to shake the hit off pretty quickly, because he was soon running back into the room to stop in front of Fox's cage.

"Hell no you can't have some of that instead! You are coming home with us later and you're going to be just fine. You got that, you brat?"

Why would I want to be hurting this badly for days when I could just go to sleep, though? I lost the fight and I'm a fox, not a person. I know that I shouldn't be alive right now.

"You might consider yourself a fox, but I am a veterinarian. My job is to help animals, and when I felt your pain, I followed the feelings and found you on the sidewalk near the park," Henry said calmly, though Fox could hear some sort of new stress in his tone.

"I understand that you're hurting badly, but I won't let you just die on me. You will survive and get better. It won't take long, either. Your body is already healing and I'd say give it a week and you'll be up and walking around, even if I recommend that you wait a while longer before being active."

But I want it to stop hurting now.

Shaking his head, Noah sighed and grabbed Henry's hand, squeezing it gently. "I'm going to stay here tonight," he said said as he dropped down into a very uncomfortable looking chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

Henry seemed unimpressed by his friend's gesture, as was Fox..

"I guess you can stay if you want to, but you seriously can't bother him," Henry grumbled as he headed for the door. "I'll be back later. Try to get some sleep. There's a couch in the back room when you decide that that chair is no longer comfortable... so, in about fifteen minutes or so."

Noah grumbled, but Henry just smirked and left, and around that time, Fox felt his consciousness slip again. He had no qualms about letting it take him under to sleep, but he had one more question before he let that happen...

Hey, Noah?

"Hmm?"

Can I have some pancakes?

There was a quiet chuckle in response before he heard Noah shift a bit in his chair.

"If you go to sleep now and agree to rest for the week, I'm sure Henry will bring you some in the morning?"

Henry had paused by the door, so when Noah spoke, the other man responded after a moment of thought.

"That sounds reasonable. I'll bring you some in the morning if you behave."

I guess I can do that... not like I have much of a choice right now, anyways.

Letting his eyes close as Henry left, Noah grinned and added for Fox's ears only; "that's the spirit, punk."