Kingdom Anaria (Part 1)

Everyone went to sleep, the Magic Alphas in a single room, the girls taking one side and the boys with another, Sean and Silver slept in their own rooms while Feather wanted to stay with her new idols. The moon was bright outside and stars decorated the night sky, a tall window was beside the boys' bed, Hunter's body faced it and he looked out at the sky. He couldn't sleep, the voice still haunting his mind and keeping him awake, his back was turned to everyone else. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, trying to sleep again.

...

"Hehehehe..."

Hunter's eye shot open, he looked around at the blank room he was in, he was in his mind again. His heart picked up as he heard the voice again, he shook his head and then growled. His torn cape suddenly appeared as dark gray smoke started to fly from the ground and into the air, Hunter stared up at it as it grew, a pair of red eyes appeared, two ears formed on the head, then a curved mouth of sharp teeth. Loud erupting laughter came out from the being's mouth, Hunter's eyes narrowed and his teeth were bared. The shadow of a being looked down mockingly at him.

"Well, well, well!" He echoed, raising an invisible eyebrow at Hunter, "We haven't spoken for weeks!"

"And I was glad for that No-Death-Holiday." Hunter growled, Death laughed again, throwing his head back and then stared at him again. "Where were you anyway?"

"Aw, he does have a soft heart." Death cooed mockingly, Hunter growled again, his left eye glowing dark gray as it did before when they spoke. Death reared back a little, as if sitting down on an imaginary chair, "Well.. I was pushed back in the deeper parts of your mind.. it seems a lot of things kept me away from haunting you."

Hunter's nose twitched a little, "Were you busy finally tormenting other's minds those times?"Hunter asked, unamused. Death's eyes showed no amusement too, as his eyes flattened to rectangles, Hunter scoffed a little.

"Well.. I tried to." Death answered still, he started flying around Hunter as he spoke, "But we were too attached and I couldn't get out of your mind.." He said in a pretend sad tone, Death started floating with his back turned to the ground as he stared up at the blank ceiling. His eyes narrowed, "I guess you could say I'm attached to your mind only." He shrugged a little. Death's eyes suddenly faded to pure white as he smiled amusedly.

Hunter wasn't used to Death not haunting him about his past that made him appear in the first place, but for some reason it was better. His ears raised a little, he stared at the shadow, "Too attached I must say." Death stopped flying around him, and stopped, he flipped downside up and stared at Hunter in the face. Hunter wasn't too fazed, and just stared back at Death's blank white pupils. Death flew back a little.

"You're probably wondering why I'm not reminding you of your past." Death said, raising another imaginary eyebrow, Hunter blinked, Death rolled his head like he was rolling his eyes, "I'm attached to your mind so I know what you're thinking about." He sighed.

"That makes more sense." Hunter replied, shrugging.

"Sometimes I just get tired of reminding you so much about it, I think 'eh, he already knows about all this stuff', and here we are, just having a conversation." Death said, suddenly four limbs appeared from the sides of his body, and then a big bushy black tail from behind. Death was a full fox now, he sat down and looked at Hunter, he was still huge compared to him. "But that doesn't mean I'll stop."

"I figured that ages ago." Hunter said. His tail flicked to the side, "Us having a normal conversation looks almost.." Hunter trailed, his paw on his chin in thought, Death tilted his head a little, "..Strange." He finished, Death laughed again, it echoed in the endless stretches of his mind.

"You're right about that." Death said, he closed in on Hunter again, "We'll go back to our normal routine soon." He said to Hunter, a light suddenly appeared..

Hunter's eyes opened, he sat up, looking around the room where everyone else was still asleep, Feather was sprawled on the bed, Swift slept with Jake beside her, they were cuddling, Kyle was asleep behind him, snoring quietly, and Laika was asleep with her back on everyone, Hunter looked beside him, he doesn't remember Izzy being near him but she was there, sleeping peacefully. Hunter's heart beat faster as he looked at her, he brushed some fur from her eyes. His face turned a little warm as he admired her silently.

He laid back down, keeping Izzy warm since she was shivering, he levitated a blanket for both of them and then he finally went back to sleep, and Death didn't bother him this time.

Morning...

Sunlight shone from the windows, illuminating the room where they were sleeping, Izzy blinked an eye open and stirred a little, she looked out the window, seeing the sun already up and clouds surrounded the sky. Izzy noticed a blanket on her body, and her back felt warm and she could feel someone's steady heartbeat. Izzy turned slightly and there he was, Hunter was sleeping peacefully, a foreleg draped around her as he kept her close. Izzy smiled softly, blushing at how close they were, he looked at the others from behind him, some of them we're gone, probably already awake. She turned to face Hunter fully, he stirred a little, his body shifting as he rubbed his eyes. Izzy's heart beat faster. Then red eyes met her green ones.

Hunter's face suddenly turned red, almost like the color of his eyes, Izzy chuckled softly. Hunter blinked multiple times and he cleared his throat, looking away. "Um.. good morning..?" He greeted weakly.

"Morning to you too." Izzy giggled, "Slept well?" She asked. Hunter shrugged a little.

"Someone kept me awake, but then they left me alone." Hunter said. Izzy frowned.

"Was it him again?" She asked. Hunter nodded. "What did he do?"

"Strangely, he only talked to me, not the usual insults and reminders of the past, just.. other things." He trailed, looking bewildered. Izzy slowly nodded and ruffled his hair gently, Hunter blushed again, smiling softly. "I'm okay, don't worry."

"Guys! Wake up! Breakfast!" Feather called from the door, Hunter and Izzy jumped a little, they looked at each other then chuckled awkwardly. They both sat up, smiling, they looked at Feather, who stared at them confusedly. As innocent as she was. Swift and Jake stirred and they woke up too, sitting up quickly with red faces as they looked at each other's close proximity. "Am I missing something?" Feather asked, confusedly. Everyone else laughed, Feather's face scrunched more in confusion, "What am I missing here?!" She flailed her paws in the sides frantically.

...

Sean was cooking their breakfast, which smelled of omelettes, bacon and sausages. The smell alone made them all hungry, at the table were Silver and Laika, Silver was reading a book, yawning as he took a sip of coffee. Laika was tracing circles on the table absentmindedly. her ears perked up when everyone else walked in. Feather swooshed by and flew to Sean. "Heya Sean! Good morning!"

"Morning, Feather." Sean replied. Feather flew to her brother and kissed his cheek affectionately, Silver chuckled and ruffled her head. "Breakfast will be done shortly." Sean said, flipping more eggs. Swift looked around the room.

"Hey, where'd Kyle go?" She asked curiously, noticing that he wasn't here, he wasn't in the room either when they woke up. Feather looked around, Sean's tail flicked.

"Oh, he's outside, said he wanted some alone time before breakfast." Sean said, dismissively waving his spatula then placed it back down on the counter, he turned off the stove and levitated a few plates of eggs, bacon and sausages. "Hungry?" He asked. Everyone started eating, a seat remained empty because it was for Kyle, he wasn't back yet, they saw him outside a window, by a small pond, just sitting still while occasionally talking to himself. Nobody knew what he was thinking about, Sean could. but he let Kyle's thoughts be private.

"This food is great!" Jake exclaimed, swallowing a mouthful of bacon.

"Thank you." Sean said, smiling warmly.

"Right? Sean's a great cook!" Feather said brightly, the door opened slowly, everyone's heads turned to it, Kyle walked in with his head a little down, he looked exhausted. Feather swallowed her mouthful of food, and waved enthusiastically at Kyle, "Good morning!" She exclaimed. Kyle's ears perked up and he blinked, he looked at the cheery coyote.

"Morning.." He replied tiredly, Kyle walked to his seat and rubbed his eyes. "Sorry, I was busy thinking." He smiled tiredly to them.

"You sure are tired and look bothered about something." Jake noticed, raising an eyebrow. Kyle shook his head and sighed. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Probably not now.." Kyle answered, starting to eat to avoid more conversation. Everyone else looked at each other, with knowing looks. Something really was wrong.

"So...!" Feather said awkwardly, really not liking more silence. "You guys said you had to go to the Kingdom, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, I almost forgot.." Jake trailed, scratching the back of his neck. "You guys know the way, right?"

"We do." Silver said, "We've been there a few times before, they'll recognize us and you guys will be too."

"We're thinking of going there after breakfast." Sean added, he was the head of the table, "So after we eat let's all get ready, we'll leave in an hour or so." Everyone nodded.

Later...

Laika entered their room, thinking of going to her bag, she suddenly stopped as she saw Kyle about to go out. Awkward yet slightly tense silence was in the air, Kyle wore an unreadable expression while Laika looked uncomfortable. Kyle looked away and walked out of the room, not looking back. Laika sighed deeply and proceeded to get ready, they really were done. Everyone else started to come on to prepare for their short journey, as Laika rummaged through her bag, she stumbled upon something.

She doesn't remember bringing a photo of her, Kyle and their families.

Shakily picking it up slightly, she looked at the picture, their families were smiling, Kyle's father sat beside him, a paw around his son's shoulders, he was a great jammer, and a good leader to the company. He had the same orange fur, with black lightning markings, and wore a vintage top hat and a vintage tuxedo, with a diamond ring. Kyle's mom was a lighter orange with white spots, a big white spot around her right eye, she wore a half smile as she looked at the camera. Kyle was, very, obviously forcing a smile as Laika hugged him while looking at the camera, his face alone showed the expression 'help'. She winced, she looked at her parents, her father wore a solemn expression, he had a light brown coat, with gray swirls, and striking green eyes as he wore fancy attire. Her mother was peach colored, with pink spots, warm dark green eyes and a nice smile. They sat near Kyle's older sister, Keila.

Laika sighed, putting away the picture and went back to preparing.