Samantha had never heard such a heart-wrenching whine in her life, and given that she had lived decades side-by-side with animals for whom she had cared profoundly, that was not a small feat. Ao-ao looked less like a fox and more like a deer in the headlights of, apparently, Samantha herself. She immediately reproached herself for being so harsh toward the fox; without Ao-ao's kindness, where would she be in this world? "Hey," Samantha said quietly, trying to sound reassuring through her fear, "Ao-ao, it's okay. You have no reason to trust me, I understand that. I just want my clothing back because I'm cold and I don't feel well, and I think I might need to use the material to make something to absorb all this blood better than these leaves can. Do you know where they are? I was wearing them before I first met you, which is why I think that maybe you have them." She paused, looking deep into Ao-ao's eyes to try and get a feel for the effect her words had on the fox, who was probably just as afraid as she was.

The good news was that Ao-ao didn't look so afraid anymore, but she couldn't tell if the watery look in those fox eyes was from sadness, relief, or if nothing else, she had breathed into them on accident. She tentatively held a pudgy hand out, doubling as a peace offering and an additional way to judge Ao-ao's reaction to her words. Samantha wasn't entirely sure what she felt when Ao-ao nuzzled her hand, allowing it to cradle a small portion of that large, fluffy head. Her anxiety, which was running high, decreased slightly, and she used her thumb to gently caress the soft, short fur covering the fox's face. Ao-ao still gave off an air of dejection, and Samantha felt her chest contract in guilt. Trying her best to hold herself together, she tried to formulate the best apology she could make on the spot. Continuing to make contact with Ao-ao with her hand, she used the other to lower herself to a seated position and further demonstrate that she meant no harm.

Ao-ao watched her move and she sensed her friend's trepidation, so once she was settled on the ground, she slowly moved her other arm toward the fox. She had meant to give Ao-ao adequate time to reject her approach, but instead Samantha found her hand resting between a pair of closed fox eyes. "Ao-ao," Samantha said softly, "I feel like I don't have a lot of time to tell you this, so please listen carefully." She waited for Ao-ao to give a response, but the fox remained still, waiting for her to continue, so she did. "I want to apologize for how I talked to you before. I truly am sorry. I doubted you when all you have done since I've known you is care for me and spend your time and energy to keep me comfortable. When I figured out you could understand the specific things I was saying, I was so surprised that I didn't give you a chance to explain what was probably just one more thing you were trying to do to make me feel safe. I can tell that you have never had bad intentions toward me, and I promise that I won't ever doubt you again."

Samantha paused briefly to assess her friend's wellbeing, and she was surprised to find the fox's face wet with tears. She could have sworn she heard a sniffle, which was not something she thought foxes could do, but she didn't think she had the time to get into that detail. Her gut feeling was that Ao-ao was at least receptive of her apology, so she tried to hurry and finish what she needed to say. "Poor sweet fox," she began, her voice low, trying to fit everything that she felt into her intonation, "I'm sick. Within the next couple of days to a week, I could be dead. But before that happens, my body and mind will start to deteriorate, and I won't be able to act at all like myself. Before I came here, I was taking medicine to help me survive. I'm sure that there's nothing like that here in this forest, nothing even close that you could get for me. I know that if you could, you would, and I want to tell you now that anything that happens to me is not your fault, not at all. You wouldn't have locked us in here if we weren't in danger, and what I need for you to do now is go. You need to run. Take care of yourself, because this is probably the safest place that I can be. Yelling in the middle of an unfamiliar space was an irresponsible thing for me to do; I was afraid that you were leaving me, and I wanted you to come back. I screamed before I could think rationally, and that mistake was mine alone.

"Please, let me help you pack. Show me where the things you'll need to bring are, and I'll help you wrap them in some of the skins from the bed. There's nothing either of us can do to save me, but if you can get out of here, that's what I want you to do," Samantha took a moment to breathe as deeply as she could before confessing, "Ao-ao, the memories I have here with you are some of the happiest that I've made in a long, long time. I never imagined that I would meet anyone like you, so immediately and unconditionally kind. If I can die here, where we made those memories together... I'll die able to think of you. That's more than I had before I came here, and it's much more than existing the way I used to, like a mere shell of a person. I wish that we could have had more time together, but maybe if I get another lifetime, I'll get to have that, too," she finished, tears falling from her eyes now as well. "Now, let's get you ready," she said, standing up and walking over to their bed. She couldn't bear to look at Ao-ao for fear that she would break down crying, because she couldn't deny that in addition to the hormones she felt with her period, she felt her body beginning to feel the effects of withdrawal from her antidepressants and anxiety medications.

Even if she had been able to bring her stockpile of meds with her, this was something she would have had to face eventually. She reminded herself of this repeatedly as she removed layer after layer of animal fur from the bed until she reached the bare skins protecting them from the dirt floor. These would be lightest for Ao-ao to carry, and seemed to be treated with something to make them stronger and more waterproof than the others. She spread all of them out as best she could, since they were much longer than she was tall and it was already getting hard for her to breathe. She remembered that she hadn't eaten, and her body was already weak from illness, but there was no way that she'd be able to keep anything down in her current condition, and she would have plenty of time to catch her breath after she'd sent Ao-ao to safety. The fox had been digging behind her for some time now, and she turned to pick up her friend's necessities and place them on the leather now carpeting the floor.

She turned to look at the changes Ao-ao had made to their home and was honestly impressed with the fox's burrowing skills. There were so many more tunnels and chambers than she had expected, though all of them seemed to lead to dead ends. No light came from any direction save for the sphere Ao-ao had previously procured. Seeing her companion digging at a tunnel that seemed to be larger than the rest, Samantha carefully lifted the surprisingly lightweight orb and tied it into a corner of one of the skins. She wrapped the light-emitting orb carefully but securely, twisting the leather to try and compromise between security and visibility. Ao-ao turned around sharply after noticing the sole light source continually moving, and Samantha took this chance to loop the rest of the leather around Ao-ao's neck. She stood on tiptoe and leaned into the fox with a good deal of her body weight so that she could secure the entire thing like she would tie a tagged collar around a cat.

To say that Ao-ao looked displeased by this development would be an understatement, but Samantha spoke before the fox could attempt to remove her hard work. "Ao-ao, you will travel more quickly and safely if you can see where you are going. I will be here, and the darkness does not scare me. Sometimes, when I'm afraid, I actually turn out the lights and bury my head in my pillows," she explained quickly, not stopping to explain the terms she thought might not be understood. Hopefully, her intent would be enough. "If you can return here safely sometime, please do. I will be here waiting, in life, death, or somewhere in between. Thank you again, for everything, and please forgive me for putting us in this situation. I will miss you," she finished, finally letting herself cry. She embraced Ao-ao tightly for both the shortest and longest few seconds of her life. She rubbed her cheek against Ao-ao's, and placed a kiss on it before telling her only friend to leave, pushing the enormous fox into its tunnel with all her might. Hearing Ao-ao yelp in sorrow and take off, Samantha let the air flow out of her entire body and let herself fall into the pile of discarded furs, feeling empty once again.

----

Author's Note:

Hello everyone, I hope that you enjoyed the slightly longer chapter! I just wanted to give a heads-up that I might not be able to update the story for a few days. Tomorrow, I'll be getting my second shot of covid vaccine (YAY!!), and since I basically have no immune system, I'm expecting that I'll have a pretty strong reaction to it. I, rather like our MC here, am no stranger to being ill, so I want to assure you all that I'll be fine. Hopefully I'll be able to use the time to brainstorm ways to improve the next updates and plot points, and I'll be back soon with exciting developments for you to enjoy! Until next time!