[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Nox flopped on to the ground, listless and morose. He simply couldn't understand why. Why he always felt so downhearted, Why he could never seem to summon up that overwhelming happiness too often displayed by his friend, Bali.

He sighed. At least his sister had found a way to cope he thought...with her artistic talent, painting was the only natural choice. She had even opened her own shop in the marketplace! But Nox wasn't like that, he just wished there was something he could do to lessen the heartache... or at least to cope with it.

Image created with the Candybar Doll Maker
Sighing again, he changed to human form and climbed the nearest tree, choosing a thick branch as a safe place to sit where he could watch the ocean and simply doze away the hours...


{1}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Nox awoke with a start! Someone, somewhere, was calling him, he had heard his name on the breeze... He changed forms again (Tali have better hearing) and listened closely, but he heard nothing more. "It must have been a dream" he said to himself. Human once more, Nox climbed down just in time to see the sun's last rays sinking over the horizon...

"Oh great" he said aloud, "just what I needed...alone in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the night with no light to see by. Perfect." He changed Tali and started walking in what he believed to be the right direction, but he was actually heading deeper into the forest...

A short while later, after stepping on three sharp rocks, five thorny twigs, two giant ants - "and a partridge in a pear tree", he thought - he came across a tree he liked the look of, mainly because it was his tree! The poor Tali had been walking in circles, and as clouds began to drift across the moon, he decided there was nothing else for it. "Up the tree again" he sighed, and turned Human. "Things can't possibly get any worse-" he stopped as a great big raindrop plopped onto his cheek, followed by what felt like an ocean falling on him. Soaked and annoyed, he took up his favourite place on the branch and settled down to a very uncomfortable sleep...


{2}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

He stiffened, then opened one eye slightly. Something wasn't right, he could feel it, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. He sniffed the air, then panicked as something - or someone - landed in front of him and covered his nose and mouth with a cloth. He inhaled in shock and he practically swallowed a mouthful of fumes, before passing out on the spot...

The person/thing stood up and let out a loud shriek whitch sent a nearby flock of matches scattering. With a grin that no-one saw, the creature shouldered the man - or what it thought was a man, and flapped off into the storm...


{3}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Nox was awake, but he kept his eyes shut. He had a vague memory of meeting a cloth in his tree, but he couldn't remember what the bearer had looked like. His head hurt and his thoughts were still fuzzy, so he just lay there- wait, lay where? Where was he? How had he gotten there? Why had he been brought there? He groaned quietly, and sat up. Looking around, he saw that he was in a cage, and he wasn't the only one. He was in the middle of a clearing that was packed to bursting with hundreds of creatures of all shapes and sizes! Suddenly, he heard a shriek, and a large flying... thing... dropped to the ground in front of his cage!


{4}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

It looked like a hollowheart, and his heart leapt into his mouth when he noticed there was a rider on it! Quickly, Nox dropped his head and pretended he was asleep, as the rider of the hollowheart surveyed the are, smiled cruelly, then whipped his hollowheart into the air.

Once he was gone, Nox looked at the size of the space between the bars on his cage, and decided to try to squeeze through them and find out what was going on. In Tali form he was much smaller and within a couple of minutes he was walking towards a large group of stacked-up cages.

In one of the nearer ones a tiny cake kuhna kit was curled up and crying. The bars were too close together for the Tali to enter the cage, so in his human form he opened it and lifted the little kuhna out, then held it up to look at it.

The cake kuhna sniffled a bit and held out its paws towards him, begging to be comforted, so Nox took off his shirt and put it on the ground with the Kuhna on top of it. After morphing Tali, he put the shirt back on and lifted the kuhna kit into it, so that he could carry it with him safely. The kit yawned then curled up against the Tali's soft purple fur, feeling safe for the first time in a long time.


{5}[1]

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Nox sat down on the ground and looked at the khuna kit, then he smiled for the first time in his life. "Well well" he thought to himself, as a warm glow began to creep over his heart. The little kit yawned in its sleep and crawled closer to him, seeking his warmth. He cuddled the kit, and then hurried out of the clearing. Behind him came the sound of furious shrieks and viscious cracks of a whip, but Nox didn't dare stop to look back. The sun was in the sky now, and he knew his way through the forest.

He ran, and he ran, and he ran, faster than he had thought possible, without stopping, until he came to the edge of the forest, and then he didn't stop until he reached his front door. Bursting in with a crash, he skidded on the floor and turned to slam it shut, bolting it firmly shut behind him.


{6}[2]

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

“Where on earth have you been?! And what on earth is the matter?!” exclaimed Nina, as she bent down to pick up the paintbrush she had dropped in surprise when Nox burst through the door.

“Can’t *pant* explain *pant* yet *pant* must-catch-breath”. Nox collapsed on the floor, worn out and weary, then smiled as he felt the little bundle in his shirt start to wriggle and squirm.

Nina’s jaw dropped, and she forgot all about the paintbrush. “Nox, you’re smiling! I haven’t seen you smile in years! What happened to you? And what on earth is that wriggling thing in your shirt?!”

Nox smiled a little wider, then very carefully went human, drew the little bundle of fluff out of his shirt and laid it on his lap. “She’s a cake kuhna kit. I found her in a cage in a clearing, close to the one I was in. I couldn’t just leave her.”

{7}[2]{1}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

“Cage? Clearing? What happened to you yesterday?” Nina asked, shocked, as she knelt down to examine the little furball, who shivered a little bit and tried to huddle even closer to Nox.

As Nox explained what he had been through with the hollowheart rider, Nina stroked the kuhna, who eventually calmed down enough to move a little closer to her. When he had finished his tale, the two of them sat in silent contemplation for a bit, then Nina said “Those poor creatures, what do you think will happen to them?”

“I don’t know, Nina, but whatever it is it can’t be good. I wish I could’ve freed all of them, but we barely got away as it is.” They looked at the little kit, which was curled up on Nox’s leg with her head on Nina’s hand. “At least I saved one.”

“Yes. And she’ll be safe here, I think. Were you followed?” asked Nina, suddenly anxious. “I don’t think so”, replied Nox, “and it’s just started raining. My tracks should be long gone by now.”


{8}[3]{2}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Sure enough, when they looked out of the window, it was pouring down. “I won’t go out of our clearing for a few days” said Nox, “its not safe deep in the forest at the moment.”

Nina nodded. “Now what are we going to do with this little one?” she asked, her gentle voice tinged with hope. Maybe, if they kept her, Nox would finally have a way to forget his painful past, or at least a reason to look to the future.

Nox smiled. “I’d like to adopt her. Not officially, but I was thinking that maybe we could raise her ourselves. For some reason I feel very attached to her. I don’t think I could bear to let her go.”

Nina smiled, and looked at her brother. He looked stronger, taller, more alive than she had seen him look before. She was glad of the change. It suited him.

{9}[3]{3}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

“What shall we call her then? Or does she already have a name?” Nina asked, looking at the sleeping kuhna, who yawned and gurgled, then shuffled over a bit so that her head was in the centre of Nina’s palm.

“If she does have a name, I don’t think she’s willing to tell us” Nox mused, as he watched the little cake kuhna. Looking at him, Nina decided that something was definitely different about him. “It’s his eyes,” she thought to herself, “the loneliness in them is gone, and in its place...”

Nina frowned, and then spoke. “Since it’s a fresh start for her, why don’t we give her a new name?” Nox looked at her, surprised, then looked back down at the kuhna.

“I hadn’t thought about it that. What name did you have in mind?”

Nina smiled. “Fudge.”

{10}[4]{4}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Nox smiled. Fudge. How perfect.

He looked at his sister, and for the first time, he realised just how much she had grown. She wasn’t the little Tali he had watched grow up, or the one he had seen painting furiously. She was a full-grown Tali now, and she was bolder and stronger than she had ever seemed.

She was already becoming attached to the little kuhna, he could tell, and the kuhna- Fudge, he corrected himself- seemed to like her too.

“It’s settled then.” Nina said, smiling. “I’ll go see Crax in a couple of days, and get him to make you a carry-pouch for her. After all, you can’t keep carrying her around in a smelly shirt, can you!” And she grinned at him.


{11}[4]{5}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Nox grinned at her. “You’re right, but until then, she’s staying in my shirt.” And he picked Fudge up and hugged her to his chest gently.

Nina laughed, then went back to her canvas. It was still blank, for the Tali hadn't had any inspiration that morning, but as she looked at her brother over the easel, an idea sprang to mind.

She sketched the scene first, then painted the base colours. She would have to wait for it to dry before she could add the main colours, but she didn't mind. She hummed to herself as she worked.

Unknown to her, Nox slipped into a deep sleep with Fudge curled up on his lap. After a few minuted, Fudge felt cold, so she woke up, snuggled closer to him, and fell asleep again listening to his deep, rhythmic breathing and the occassional sound of pencil scratchings from the easel.


{12}[5]{6}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Nina worked and Nox and Fudge slept until nightfall. The painting was finally done, and she left it to finish drying overnight. She woke Nox up and helped him up the stairs, carrying Fudge in her other hand.

There was only one bedroom, but they had built a partition with a door long ago, so she led him through the door and laid him down on his bed. As she watched, he went Tali again, and she smiled as she heard the words "Nina" and "Fudge" amongs his ramblings. He always had been a sleep-talker. Carefully, she tucked the little kuhna under the covers (but left her head poking out) and went to her own room.

After going Tali again, she lay down and listened to the quiet snoring coming from next door, then fell asleep with a smile on her face and the thought "And so it begins..."

{13}[5]{7}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Fudge woke up. She had had a nightmare about the horrible hollowheart rider with the whip, and she started to cry silently, burying her face in the blanket. Suddenly, she was scooped up by a furry grey arm, as Nox cuddled her in his sleep. She snuggled closer to him, grateful for the comfort, and fell back to sleep, dreaming of cages and cuddles and all things in-between.

Her nightmare: She was being carried through the woods by her mother, when all of a sudden a terrible shriek rang through the trees. Her mother ran as fast as she could, but she couldn't outrun a massive cursed hollowheart, try as she might. She was cornered, and the rider dismounted, a vaguely humanoid creature with flames for skin and blazing eyes. He raised his whip, and just as he was about to bring it down, she woke up.

{14}[6]{7}

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Nox grunted in his sleep. He was dreaming. He was back in the cage at the clearing, but Fudge and Nina were next to him in other cages. Then the hollowheart rider came, and he had flames for eyes and coal-black hair. He raised his whip, and his face split into a horrible grin, all fangs and darkness. Nox flinched, and screamed as the whip came crashing down on his head- and he woke up sweating. "Urgh, another bad dream." He thought to himself.

He looked at the cake kuhna cuddled up beside him, and sighed. "Lucky thing, I'll bet your dreams are peaceful" he murmered wistfully, before settling down again. But this time, he pulled the little kuhna to his chest, just in case her dreams weren't as pleasant as he supposed.


{15}[6]{7}