It was dark.
A dim light from the hallway shone under the door, but in the interest of saving money on electricity this too was extinguished. It was cold, musty smelling, cramped.
Yes, the crawlspace under the stairs a home did not make, though for Taika this was the only place she could be. A tool stashed away under the stairs, drawn out by the home’s inhabitants when needed. At least she could count her blessings that a light was provided for her to read, though today’s chores had been particularly taxing – she just wanted to sleep.
Old pillows and comforters, discarded by the manor’s occupants were what she used to construct her makeshift bed. The masters of the manor even joked about being environmentally conscious by donating these luxury items to her – that is to say they certainly made her earn them.
That went doubly so for the books she loved and cherished. Truth be told they were malicious tomes, but even if their intent was to crush her by showing her lives she couldn’t live, she found hope within their pages.
In this hell she called life, all she could cling onto were the fantastical stories of those penned by another.
This hell…
…wait a minute…
----------------------------------------
Taika awoke with a start, her eyes wide, a thick sweat coating her from head to toe. The distinct lack of a connection, a void normally filled by her beloved Maestro, the threads of rhythm that connected her to Shouri – they were gone.
Something was wrong.
What time was it? There was the faintest hint of light coming from the window, the makings of dawn. It was summer, and given where they were at in the world, Taika knew it was pretty early, but still. Grabbing her own tuner from the nightstand where she left it, she shook it awake and found the current time.
2018 July 8th
5:01AM
Slowly her head rose. Rebecca was passed out on the couch, having been waiting for their friends' return. But…
“Wh-where are they?” Taika squeaked. Her heart hammered in her chest, refusing to slow as her mind processed a million possibilities, none of them good.
“REBECCA!” the lunar maiden cried.
“WHAT?! WHO!?” The fire fox jumped up from the couch. “Taika wha-?”
“Sho and Paci are missing!” Taika shouted.
Rebecca processed that thought, panic washing across her face as the realization dawned upon her. “Oh god… Oh god what time is it?” Her breath labored as her eyes met the ever-growing light of the rising sun the same way her fellow vixen had.
“What do we do Rebecca?” Taika whimpered, only a hairpin trigger away from totally breaking down.
“Ok, let’s calm down, let’s calm down.” Rebecca struggled to regulate her own breathing, pacing back and forth. She stopped. “They had a VIP client thingy last night for the Feroce thing. Maybe they went out to a late dinner to celebrate?” She was just throwing proverbial darts at the board, trying to think of some reason for the absence of Shouri and Pacifica.
“Sho would have called us, I know he would have,” Taika pointed out.
“I know you’re right, but god I hope you’re wrong.” Rebecca shook her head.
“So… what do we do?” Taika repeated her earlier question.
“Right, thinking thinking.” Rebecca resumed pacing. This was hard, what she wouldn’t have given for a hit of knowledge-strong rhythm right now. “Wait.”
Rebecca returned to the couch she had fallen asleep on. From between the cushions, she drew out her own tuner. “Uhhh, phone phone, where was that?” She tapped around the interface for a moment before locating the app in question. It took another moment to figure out how to actually use the phone, but thankfully it was pretty intuitive and she held the device around her mouth.
Taika watched on, uncertain of what she should be doing. Rebecca was calling someone.
“Colette?” Rebecca asked into the phone, revealing the identity of the person she had decided to call.
Oh, that’s a good idea, Taika thought to herself. If anyone knew where their missing Maestro was it was Colette.
THUD
Black fox ears twitched at the sudden noise, their owner’s gaze meeting the other vixen. Rebecca stood there, trembling, face devoid of color. The red tuner laid on the ground where the fire Resonator had dropped it. Colette called out for Rebecca from where the device laid.
Slowly, Rebecca’s head shakily jerked towards Taika’s direction. “H-he’s in the hospital…” the fire Resonator revealed.
Taika’s blood ran ice cold, her heart now truly pounding as their worst fears were confirmed. Finally she spoke. “Wh-WHAT?!” Taika threw herself out of bed. However as soon as she did so, the still ill Resonator discovered her limbs had betrayed her. As soon as she put weight on them, Taika found herself plummeting towards the floor as her knees buckled under the load of her body.
Even with the mental state Rebecca was in, she still found the strength to rush to her fellow Resonators aid. She grasped Taika’s shoulders as the two foxes tried to make sense of the situation. “Sh-sho… What happened?” Taika asked.
“She-she said that he uh, he got stabbed and they had to rush him to the hospital,” Rebecca informed the other Resonator the best she could.
This wasn’t happening. They had to go; they were needed – that’s what Taika determined at that moment. “We have to go to him.” The lunar element tried to get to her feet but stumbled. Once more she fell to her knees. “LAVORA DANNAZIONE!!” She pounded her non-functional legs with her fists; tears pouring from frustration. “Just work…” the lunar sniveled, trembling with a mix of fear and anger.
KNOCK KNOCK
The foxes both looked in the direction of the door. Who could that be at nearly six in the morning?
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“This is a well-being check from the front desk!” they heard from outside the door.
Rebecca’s gaze turned to her tuner which was still by the couch. Colette must have called it in – she worked fast. Shaking her head, the fire Resonator turned back to her lunar counterpart. “Stay here, I’m going to go answer the door.”
Taika just shook, neither confirming nor denying she’d obey. Even with Rebecca’s rhythm in disarray, she could sense her fellow fox’s massive panic attack she was going through.
Rebecca rose and stepped over to the door, undoing the lock and opening it. Sure enough, the night shift attendant stood at the door. The attendant looked at the note they had written. “You must be Rebecca – correct?” they asked.
“I am.” The fire element nodded in the affirmative.
“Is Taika there as well?” the attendant also inquired.
“She is.”
“Are you both okay?”
The vixen ground her teeth, refusing the attendant’s gaze. “We just found out our Maestro is in the hospital,” she admitted.
“Right, Mr. Tomoshibi is checked into the hospital next door. Room 409,” the attendant revealed.
“Do you know if he’s okay?” Rebecca asked hopefully.
Unfortunately, she got back a head shake. “I do not. I was only relayed the information by the person who requested the wellness check. She said she would be here shortly.”
The fire fox slumped, hanging her head as she contemplated her next move. “W-we’ll wait for her then. Thank you,” she decided after a moment of thought.
“Of course.”
And with that Rebecca closed the door. She slowly shuffled back to the couch and plopped back down on it, slumping back. “This sucks,” she muttered.
It took Colette around twenty minutes to find her way to room thirty-six.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Rebecca glanced over to the door, glaring at it in a vain attempt to will it open with her mind. When that didn’t work, she begrudgingly rose from the couch and trudged over to the door to let the other Maestro in.
“Good morning!” Colette held up a plastic bag. “We brought breakfast!” the auburn Maestro declared. Rebecca simply stared, before moving out of the way to allow Colette and her Resonator into the room.
“Shouri wanted us to come check on you anyways, so it was fortunate you called when you did,” Colette told Rebecca (and by extension Taika). Both vixens perked up hearing that.
“Shouri’s okay?” Rebecca asked, the hope in her voice palpable.
“Did something happen to Pacifica?” Taika shouted from the bed.
Colette’s expression hardened as she gently set the food on the kitchen counter. “Shouri is in the hospital,” she spoke quietly. “I’ve never seen so much blood before.” The Maestro trembled.
“Is he okay? What happened?!” Rebecca demanded, grabbing the Maestro by her shoulders. Colette refused the vixen’s gaze, her face and rhythm wracked with guilt.
Kaira stepped in, pushing Rebecca off of her Maestro and inserting herself between the two women. “The Resonator we were tasked with attacked Pacifica. Shouri stepped in the way and took the blow for her.” Kaira (unlike her Maestro) kept her emotions even, stating the facts as they were.
Rebecca batted the hands off of her shoulders. “What do you mean attacked?” the vixen growled at the jackal. Her heels sparked as fear melted into anger. “How did this happen?” the fire Resonator demanded.
Kaira kept her cool, though her left hand slowly drifted back towards the satchel at her waist, loosening its drawstring. “The dinosaurian did not appreciate Pacifica’s assistance and attacked her.” The facts were stated to Rebecca with such stoicism it set the vixen off.
A kick blasted towards Kaira’s side. However, the missile that was Rebecca’s foot did not reach its intended destination. Sand held the vixen’s foot in place and suffocated the flames the Renard prided herself on.
“Let me go!” Rebecca shouted.
“No.” Kaira looked down on the hot-headed fox.
Rebecca found her foot being forced back to the ground. She couldn’t resist the pulling power that was dragging her limb back to its resting position.
“Rebecca,” Taika called out.
“What?!” Rebecca shot a glare towards the bedridden fox.
“Smettila di fare lo stronzo.”
Rebecca bared her fangs at her fellow Resonator, ready to snap back, but she paused. Taika continued to scowl at her. Colette held her hands over her racing heart – fearful of the sudden confrontation. And Kaira remained as stalwart and stoic as always, though her sand circled her like a serpent ready to strike, telling more about the jackal’s state of mind than any facial features.
The vixen lowered her head shamefully. Her bottom lip quivered as she bit it. “I just want him to be okay,” Rebecca admitted quietly.
Kaira quietly let out a held breath, her deployed sand slinking back up into her waist pouch. “Go see him,” the earth Resonator told her fire counterpart.
“But Taika…” Rebecca glanced back at the lunar fox.
“Colette and I will stay here with her. I know Maestro Shouri is hesitant about leaving her alone,” Kaira offered.
“By herself?!” Colette questioned her Resonator.
“She can fend for herself,” Kaira replied.
While Rebecca agreed more with Colette’s line of thinking, her desire to see her Maestro outweighed her trepidation. “I’ll go.” The ombré fox turned to her fellow fox. They locked gazes for a moment and shared a nod. “I’ll be back.”
Taika sighed, laying back down and pulling the covers back over herself.
Convinced the sick fox wouldn’t do anything stupid, Rebecca turned her attention back to Colette and Kaira. “He was in room 409, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Colette confirmed.
Rebecca steeled herself, quickly finding her conviction. “I’m off then.”