By the time Noiz, Billy, and Kura had returned to the camp, Apollo had tied Sora’s arms around a nearby tree trunk. Despite Sora currently having no intentions of attacking anyone, Apollo didn’t want to risk him losing control a second time. Despite the already taken precautions, Billy, mostly out of panic, double and triple knotted the half-infected fox’s arms tightly.
As his hands were tied twice more, Sora spoke. “Isn’t this a little much?”
Billy shook his head, looking to be in a panic as he did the knots. “N-no, I think it’s p-perfectly necessary!”
Sora had blushed hotly by this point, embarrassed not only due to his current predicament, but also because he felt like he was a burden to his group. He wanted to fight this infection himself, and how the group was having to care for him like they were now.
Noiz was sitting against the tree, looking at the ground in sadness. He had been crying nonstop since he had returned to to the camp, specifically because he hadn’t told the purple fox about his infection after so much interrogation.
At this point, Billy was forced to come to terms with the fact that the thing he wanted to do the least was the very solution presented to him in this moment. Kura tried to get through to the light blue fox, but to no avail. Apollo took a shot as well, but Billy remained stuck in his refusal to attempt the task that was so daunting to him. It wasn’t until Sora himself spoke up, telling Billy that it was alright.
After watching his friends try and fail, Sora spoke nervously. “Billy… If it’s for a cure, you can take a sample of my cloth…”
Billy glared at Sora, partially astounded at the infected fox’s willingness, but also still in denial that he should even consider the solution in the first place. “B-but I can’t! I just CAN’T!”
“You can, Billy. I’ll be okay, I promise. Think about it, would you rather watch me rot and go insane right in front of you, or would you want to try every last possible solution to save me?”
Billy almost said no on instinct, but he stood in front of Sora, silent as his mind began to accept the truth. With a sigh, he nodded. “W-well… okay…”
Billy moved to where he had been working most of the time: a makeshift desk that had many bottles and vials on top of it. With a shatter, Billy broke one of the larger vials, finding the largest shard he could before approaching Sora with a fearful frown. Sora only gave a nod of consent before he turned and closed his eyes, and Billy knelt to do something he would very much regret.
A few minutes and many internal struggles later, Billy held a square of gray cloth in his hand, taken from Sora’s side. The fox tied to the tree, meanwhile, was leaking the mist inside him, and Noiz was hurrying around to find any way he could to patch the spot. Billy wanted as little as possible to do with that cloth, and he was quick to get to work as he started trying to make yet another experimental cure with the acquired sample.
Meanwhile, Sora could still feel the disease encroaching on more and more of his mind, and he was having to fight harder and harder to keep himself in control. Time was their enemy at the moment, and every fox there was hoping it didn’t run out.