Billy still refused to listen to the idea of taking a sample from an infected fox. In fact, he often snapped at anyone who tried to suggest it to him. He had convinced himself there was some other way to find the cure, something that didn’t involve getting so dangerously close to one of them. As the days passed, the anxious fox’s search became more frantic, and soon he found himself losing faith in himself.
His fellow Scarfoxes, especially Sora, kept encouraging him to continue researching. They wanted to find a solution just as much as he did. Yet, as other possibilities ran out, Billy was forced to come to terms with the fact that the only considerable chance of salvation may very well be the one thing he refuses to do.
It was now that he sat near the campfire, his head in his hands yet again as he wracked his mind with possible alternatives, most of which ended up being deemed as far-fetched and impossible. Kura sat next to him with a hand over his shoulder, trying to keep the fox as calm as possible despite the given situation. Sora was on the other side of the fire, his hand at his side as he continued to carry a pained expression with him. Noiz sat at Sora’s side, trying to figure out what kept bothering their close friend.
Noiz tried yet another time at getting Sora to speak about what was going on. “Sora, what’s wrong? Please, just tell me!”
Sora shook his head with a sigh, along with a slight glare being shot at the purple fox. “I keep saying, I can deal with it myself. I… just need time…”
“But… you still seem hurt, and you’ve had a lot of time…”
“...” Sora looked Noiz in the eyes, anger flaring within him. “I don’t want to talk about it, can you accept that?!”
Noiz, recoiling, frowned as they nodded. They scooted away a little bit, moving themselves next to Apollo, who had remained mostly silent this whole time. Billy most often snapped at him, considering he was the first one to suggest sampling another fox to work on the cure. Currently he didn’t want to speak at all to anyone, fearful of starting another confrontation that would most likely leave him feeling hurt yet again.
Billy groaned, his hands falling to his lap as he looked to the sky with a defeated face. “Why can’t there be another way?! It’s way too dangerous to go out and just… get one!”
Sora opened his mouth as if to say something, but quickly stopped himself and simply looked at a few leaves on the ground. The gold fox genuinely had something he wanted to say, but no words would come to him.
Kura finally spoke up, just wanting to keep Billy calm more than anything else. “Come on, let's get another one of those flowers you found. Maybe they could do something for us.”
Billy nodded quickly. “Yeah, let's do that.”
Kura and Billy stood up, moving to leave before they heard Sora moan behind them. When they turned, they saw Sora had attempted to stand up as well, but had instead fallen to the ground. Sora had been losing his strength as of recent, and this was something the group saw coming with time. However, with Sora refusing to say what was wrong, they had no way of knowing how to help him.
Noiz had gotten up by this point, and was already at Sora’s side, pleading for the gold fox to tell them what was going on. Sora still adamantly refused, and insisted Noiz joined Kura and Billy on their expedition, a request of which was soon reluctantly accepted.
As the three foxes left, Apollo and Sora were left alone by the fire. As the time passed, Sora’s pain was intensifying. Sora felt a huge burning sensation around the wound at his side, one that was almost unbearable at best. He groaned again, and Apollo kneeled next to him, sighing and wishing they knew what to do.
Sora spoke weakly to Apollo. “I-I promise… I’m fine…”
Apollo shook his head, knowing that wasn’t the case. “No. You’re far from fine. Please, just tell us what’s wrong so we can help you.”
“No… I can deal with it myself!” Sora glared at Apollo.
“You’ve been getting worse and worse, Sora! You’ve gotta accept that you can’t do everything yourself!”
“Yes I CAN!” Sora snapped at Apollo, reaching up and grabbing him by the neck, rolling with the other fox to pin him to the ground. Apollo was taken by surprise and was left trying to push Sora off of him, and it was at this moment he noticed a considerably large gray area where Sora had been covering with his hand. The facts added up, and Apollo realized what was going on, making his struggle much more dire.
From Sora’s point of view, everything was red, and he was wrestling with something that had attacked him. He needed to finish the fight, he needed to win. However, this all quickly faded, and he saw what was really happening as he gasped. He attempted to scramble to his feet and run, but Apollo managed to grab his hand and hold on firmly.
Apollo spoke the words Sora didn’t want to hear, but simultaneously desperately needed for a long while. “We’ll make sure you come out of this alright.”