Fox (mxm) (Rever series 1)

Fox 12

(Don't worry, this story is far from over. I've just been super busy but here's a quick chapter.) 

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.