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Neil was utterly engulfed in flames now, and he was aware that he was not likely to make it out of this. Even if the fire department came, these were kitsune flames, and those were harder to put out.As the flames licked at him, Neil let out a hysterical laugh. He was more Nathaniel than Neil now. He didn’t mind so much now that any part of him that resembled his father would be burned away to ash.He had spent his entire life focusing on just surviving, but he had always expected to die a painful death. At least this one would mean something.At least he’d given them something to remember him by.Three  months earlier:“You're going to ruin your lungs if you keep chain-smoking like that,” Kevin said as Andrew stubbed out the end of a cigarette and pulled another from the carton.“Oh, wow,” Andrew deadpanned as he held his finger up to the end of his cigarette and sparked a flame just big enough to light up. “You have made me see the error of my ways. I am truly a changed man.”Andrew took a particularly long drag from his cigarette just to irritate him.“You are going to ruin my lungs,” Kevin insisted.Andrew thought Kevin had much more dangerous things to worry about than a little secondhand smoke.“If you don't like it, you can leave,” Andrew said. He knew Kevin wouldn't. He never did.Kevin huffed and sat down with a grumble.Kevin was annoying even more than usual, but Andrew knew it was because Kevin was stressed. He was nervous about his first season back and playing right handed. Plus, the Ravens had switched to their division, which meant Kevin would have to face them sooner. Andrew still was irritated with Kevin for hiding information that was critical to their deal.But, most of all, Kevin had become particularly unbearable because it was two days before he would have to go on Kathy Ferdinand’s show for an interview about how he had returned to the court on the worst team in the league. Andrew could hardly wait to get that over with so that Kevin could go back to something that closer resembled his typical brand of irritating.Andrew turned away and glanced out the window. That's when he saw it for the first time in months. A black fox with glowing blue eyes staring up at him from between the trees outside the parking lot.He told himself that it wasn't really there. He was hallucinating it. Foxes didn't come in all black with eyes that glowed in the dim of the late afternoon. Then again, foxes weren't supposed to have more than one tail, or also have a human form. But as far as Andrew knew, he and Aaron could turn into strange looking foxes themselves. Either that, or he was locked up in some padded room somewhere and none of this was real anyway.Andrew scolded himself and blinked, but when he opened his eyes again, the fox was still there and still watching him, or at least watching the building.Andrew dragged the blinds down aggressively enough that he nearly yanked them off of the wall. He hated the sensation of being watched, especially through the window of what should have been the privacy of his own dorm.He was going to have a lot to talk about with Bee next time he saw her. He wouldn’t tell her about the fox, but he would tell her that he felt eyes on him and was uncertain if he had been hallucinating. That was much safer, and didn’t risk bringing up the topic of kitsune.Andrew used to tell therapists about his uncanny ability to transform into a fox and his knack for starting fires out of nothing, just to see the look on their faces. It had been amusing with the first few, but he had stopped after one had decided that Andrew had probably convinced himself those things were true as a defence mechanism to feel protected from those who would try to hurt him, and had tried to diagnose him. Andrew did not like being accused of being a liar, and he did not like that the therapist’s theory was nothing he had not already been considering himself. It was one thing for him to convince himself he was probably hallucinating, but it was a whole other thing for someone to pretend they knew better than him to psychoanalyze him, and dub him a liar.He had told Bee though because she hadn’t gotten ruffled by any of his usual strategies and he’d still had time left to make her give up on him during that first session. Bee had just asked how his fire powers worked without ever asking for a demonstration to prove whether he was insane or lying. Andrew had asked her if she’d thought he’d been lying and she had said that she didn’t know, but she couldn’t prove if what he’d told her was true or not.Andrew had decided he liked her for her honesty, and the fact that she had not written him off as a compulsively lying nut job the moment the words left his lips. He still didn’t tell her about Aaron having the same powers, though, and he had not mentioned his secret fox powers since that first session. It was better if he left it and she thought he had been just joking or pushing her buttons. It was safer not to bring the fox thing back up, even if Andrew did trust Bee.“At least close the window if you’re going to do that,” Nicky insisted.Andrew flicked the blind out of the way to close the window, only because Kevin had not been the one to ask and because he wanted to see if the fox was still there.It wasn’t. The thing had vanished from sight, presumably back into the trees.Then again, Andrew was the only one who had ever seen it when it had started showing up halfway through last season and the thing had disappeared from sight while he was looking right at it before.The interview on Kathy’s show was an even more unbearable experience than Andrew had expected.First of all, the entire team had gone instead of just Andrew and his lot. They had even taken the bus so Andrew was trapped with the upperclassmen around him all day.Second, Kevin was the highest strung Andrew had seen him yet as they traveled to the set, and Kevin spent the bus ride going over his plans of what he would say for every scenario. Clearly, he was not looking forward to explaining his decisions, especially when he couldn’t breathe a bad word about the Moriyamas or the rest of the Ravens without putting himself in greater danger.None of that compared though to how incredibly wrong things went during the filming. Kevin was doing what he did best, sweet-talking his way through interviews, right up until Kathy brought Riko out as a surprise for Kevin and suddenly Andrew was being manhandled to be kept in his seat while Riko chattered on with a sick smile and Kevin looked like he would pass out any moment.When filming was finally over, Andrew jumped from his seat and headed backstage to get Kevin away from Riko. He found them in a hallway just off stage and pulled Kevin backward by the shoulder so that he could stand between Riko and Kevin.“Oh look,” Riko said in a disinterested tone. “Your guard dog is here.”“You do not talk to him,” Andrew warned.“Are you really such a coward that you will not speak with me alone, Kevin?” Riko asked.Andrew took a step closer, trying to block Riko’s view of Kevin, as his hands began to smoke in warning.Riko’s attention snapped quickly from Kevin to Andrew’s hands and an unsettling smirk crossed his features.“Interesting,” Riko said. “Kevin, you never told me your new pet is a kitsune.”Andrew felt his stomach drop. The smoke was supposed to intimidate Riko, not interest him.“Stay away from Kevin,” Andrew warned.“I’ll leave,” Riko said. “For now, but this is not finished.”That night, Andrew was smoking on the roof of Fox Tower when he received a phone call from an unknown number.He hit answer and asked, “Who are you?”“I looked into you and your brother,” Riko’s voice said. “You are identical twins, aren’t you? That means Aaron is a kitsune just like you. There have been a lot of mysterious fires in your pasts, haven’t there? ”“What do you want?” Andrew asked.“Send Kevin back to the Ravens,” Riko threatened. “Or I will share what your brother is with people who would love to have a real, live kitsune to use as a lab rat until they are ready to dispose of it. Who would you rather protect? Who can you live with abandoning? You have until the winter banquet to figure it out. Make we wait, and you will find that I am not very patient, and I find creative ways to entertain myself while I wait.”This secret wasn’t only Andrew’s to keep hidden. Andrew probably would not have cared if it was just his own safety up for grabs, there was no way that he would let anyone find out that Aaron was a kitsune and poke or prod or kill him over it.It was a lose-lose situation. Andrew could not break his promise to protect Kevin from the Ravens. He could not hand Kevin over to be tortured and imprisoned by Moriyamas all over again. But he could not subject his brother to torture, and he could not let him die either. Andrew had made a deal with both of them and he was not willing to lose either of them.“Let me know when you make your choice.”There was a click as Riko hung up.Neil had been keeping an eye on Kevin for months, ever since he had caught word of Kevin’s broken hand, and how he had left the Ravens to become an unofficial assistant coach for the Foxes.With his father in jail and his mother dead, Neil didn’t have many connections left in his life. Kevin was a tether to Neil’s past, and that made him dangerous, but he had also been kind to Neil so many years ago, and was the embodiment of what Neil could have been, and what he sometimes still wished he had become.Neil had figured out about the fire kitsune Kevin kept plastered to his side months ago when he had watched as Andrew Minyard had sat on the hood of his car and lit up a cigarette with a flame that he produced with his bare hands.Since that moment, Neil had been keeping an eye on the Minyard twins too. He had never met another kitsune besides his mother before. There was something terrifying and appealing about not being the only one of his kind anymore, even if he was a different kind of kitsune.Neil had been caught by Andrew before. The man had stared right at him and Neil had panicked and disappeared, reappearing a few yards away where Andrew would not be able to spot him.He should have run the first time Andrew had looked directly at him, but his curiosity had gotten the best of him. He wanted to keep track of Kevin and he wanted to learn more about fire kitsune. So he started lying low for a little while whenever Andrew seemed to notice him from afar and then he would go back and be more careful.For a while, over the summer, Neil had even stopped watching them. He’d lived on the run as a human and kept tabs on Kevin in the papers and online. That was how he found out that Kevin would be playing for the Foxes this season, not just coaching.He never should have come back to Palmetto after the summer. He’d planned to leave Kevin and his kitsune twins behind. Neil’s mother had told him never to go to the same place twice, and she would have doubled down on that if she had known that Kevin was in the picture as well.But Neil was curious and he had come back, intending just to get one last look and check that Kevin was actually safe with his kitsune bodyguard. One last look had turned into one last week and Neil was saying his silent goodbyes to Fox Tower late at night when Andrew rushed outside with no warning and Neil froze on the spot.Andrew needed to get some air when they got back from Kevin’s stupid night practice. He had thought that Kevin had been unbearable about Exy when he hadn’t been able to play, but he had gotten worse since he had signed to the Foxes for this season.The first game had gone less than ideally for Kevin. The Foxes had lost and Kevin had been impossible to be around since.Andrew debated going up to the roof for a smoke and some quiet, but he decided that this was frustration that required a little reckless driving, especially now that he could drive again after he had gotten off his court-ordered medication over the summer.He had just made it down to the parking lot and taken a step outside when he spotted the black fox in the grass next to the parking lot.Andrew didn’t dare blink or look away. He knew it would disappear if he did. He knew it still might disappear, even with his eyes on it.Andrew was definitely losing his mind worse than usual. Maybe, the hallucinations were getting worse without the meds.“Don’t you dare disappear on me again,” Andrew snarled out, even as he wanted to shout at the fox to go away and leave him the hell alone. “I don’t know if you are real or fake but I am sick of you disappearing before I can figure it out.”The fox just stared back at him. Suddenly, Andrew wished he had something to throw at it.“Actually, you know what?” Andrew demanded. “Leave me the fuck alone, or make yourself useful because I’ve got bigger problems.”The fox tilted its head at him and Andrew wondered if he could get close enough to kick it.“If you’re a kitsune too, then maybe I’ll turn you over to Riko and his hunters instead,” Andrew insisted. “He can have you and leave us and Kevin the hell alone.”Something in the fox’s expression contorted and then it began to walk toward him. In the blink of an eye, the fox was replaced by a man still walking toward him. The man was beautiful, but Andrew had a lot more to be confused about than why he was possibly hallucinating up an attractive kitsune that was the only other kitsune he’d ever met other than Aaron.

“What does Riko want with Kevin?” The man who used to be a fox asked.“What do you care?” Andrew demanded. It wasn’t the most effective way to get help, but as much as he could use assistance in this situation, that didn’t mean he trusted this mysterious kitsune’s motives.The man ignored his question and asked, “You said you wanted my help. Would you rather I leave?”“Either I turn Kevin over to Riko or he takes my brother instead and sells him to people who will use him as a lab rat before they kill him,” Andrew said. “I have until December to decide, but I won’t let Kevin go back and I won’t hand my brother over.”The kitsune looked concerned, although Andrew did not know why and didn’t trust his reaction.“I thought you would already know that,” Andrew said. “Since you’ve been stalking me.”“I haven’t been stalking you,” the man insisted. “I’ve been keeping an eye on Kevin.”“Well, if you want to take him, you’ll have to go through me,” Andrew said and his hands burst into flames in warning. “Tell Riko the same.”“I don’t work for Riko,” the man said. “And I don’t want to take Kevin. I want to protect him, just like you.”Andrew’s hands were still burning as he challenged, “Why should I believe you? Why shouldn’t I burn you dead here and now and send a message to Riko?”“Because I’ve met Riko and Kevin before,” the man said. “I heard who really broke Kevin’s hand months ago. I know how dangerous the Moriyamas are. I don’t want Kevin going back there either. If you want my opinion, I would hand your brother over to keep Kevin away from him. But I am guessing that is not a deal you will make, so we’re going to have to make a different one.”“What is your name?” Andrew asked.“It was different when I knew them,” the man said. “But now, you can call me Neil.”“I do not trust you, Neil,” Andrew insisted.“Smart not to,” Neil agreed, much to his frustration. “But you still need help. What are you willing to offer me?”“Name your terms,” Andrew said. “You help me find a way to stop Riko from taking either of them and I will give you whatever you want.”“I want to play Exy on your team,” Neil said. “And I want you to help me hide that I was born anything but Neil Josten from everyone. Riko. Kevin. Your team. The media. Everyone.”Andrew was not sure what request he had been expecting, but that was not it.“That’s all?” Andrew asked doubtfully. “You want to be a Fox?”He wondered if Neil realized that their team was the joke of the league.“Let me join your team and I’ll stay to help keep Riko from getting them for as long as no one knows who I really am,” Neil said. “Do we have a deal?”Neil’s demands were lacklustre at best, and Andrew didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him, but he didn’t have many options so he put the flames in his hands out and grunted out, “Yes.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Neil stayed in his fox form in the thick trees as he watched Andrew’s lot leave for practice the next afternoon. Neil was anxious about playing with them. Playing on a team with Kevin was everything that he could have dreamed of, but it was also terrifying. He was afraid that Kevin might recognize his style of play, even in a different position than he had seen him in before.

If that happened, Neil would walk away right then and there. Whether or not he would actually get to play for the Foxes almost entirely depended on Kevin’s reaction to his performance. If Kevin found him familiar, Neil would walk away without even breaking the deal he had made with Andrew.

Neil had made a promise to Andrew, but he was not afraid to break it, even if he made it until December without Kevin or Riko or anyone else recognizing him or figuring out his true identity.

Andrew had asked Neil to protect ‘them’ and Neil had promised to help keep Riko from taking ‘them’. It was clear from context that Andrew’s them meant Aaron and Kevin, but Neil’s did not. His version of them was Kevin and whatever Foxes would become collateral damage if Andrew didn’t hand either of them over.

Neil didn’t care about keeping the deal. He would have broken it just as easily if Andrew had caught the wording and made him promise more specifically. Andrew was worried about finding a way to keep Kevin and Aaron both safe, but Neil planned on handing Aaron over to protect Kevin if he was still around come December. Andrew would definitely be mad, but that just meant Neil potentially had up to four months before he would have to run from the Foxes and never look back.

Now, all that he had to do was impress Coach Wymack and Kevin without giving away who he really was.

When the Foxes met in the inner court at the start of the practice, ‘Neil Josten’ was already waiting in the inner court. His eyes were brown today, although they had been bright blue the night before. Andrew supposed the new colour was part of his attempt to hide his true identity, but it was a shame, because brown eyes really did not suit him.

“Who are you?” Wymack asked. “How did you get in here?”

“Andrew gave me the code,” Neil lied. “I’m his new recruit. Your new striker got hospitalized before the season even started and I hear you could use another.”

The entire team was staring at Andrew now as Neil tarnished his perfectly good Exy hating reputation. The worst part was that Kevin was looking at him with something resembling appreciation. For a moment, Andrew hoped that Neil would be an atrocious player, but then he figured that would just complicate their deal and he would be forced to

actually

vouch for Neil.

“You’re

Andrew

’s recruit?” Allison asked skeptically.

“Well, that should be an easy no then,” Matt said.

“I bet he’s never even played before,” Seth muttered.

The Foxes glanced around at each other for a moment, then Renee said, “I’ll take that bet for twenty bucks.”

Andrew did not appreciate her faith in his recruit.

“You’re on,” Seth responded.

“You may as well just give him the money now,” Dan commented.

“Does that mean you’re going to let me play to find out?” Neil asked.

“I say we let him play and see if he’s any good,” Kevin says. “If he has potential we keep him. Otherwise, we stop wasting our time on him.”

Wymack nodded. “Sounds reasonable to me. There’s extra equipment in the change room.”

Wymack split the Foxes into two teams and put Neil on the same team as Kevin and Andrew.

Andrew wasn’t sure if Coach wanted Neil to shoot on Renee because he was worried that Andrew would be too hard on him or too easy on him.

Neil was by no means the most impressive striker Andrew had ever seen, but he was fast and fearless on the court.

He was no match for Matt or Aaron when he had the ball and they had time to get into position, but that did not stop Neil from charging straight into Matt anyway, regardless of the huge size difference. But when someone passed him the ball in a tight situation, Neil would zig zag past Matt before either backliner realized what had happened. That was how he managed to make most of his shots, although Andrew thought that he would have stopped the four goals that Renee let in out of his many shots.

The scrimmage lasted twenty minutes before they took a break and by that point, Neil had scored four goals and Kevin had scored fifteen, even though he was playing right-handed and had been feeding Neil the ball more often than not to see what he was capable of.

When they went over to the benches to get water at the break, Neil was looking up at Kevin like a little kid awaiting praise.

“You have potential,” Kevin said. “You’re going to need a hell of a lot of training, but you have potential and speed on your side.”

“Oh, Kevin,” Andrew said. “You do remember you are not even our assistant coach anymore. Your opinion is worthless.”

“Actually, I still value his opinion,” Wymack insisted. “He’s right. Neil’s got potential, and he’s a fast little bastard. We need another striker. We’d be stupid to turn him down.”

Neil grinned and something in that smug expression spelled out danger to Andrew.

“Right now, you have the potential to be good,” Kevin said. “Give your game to me, and I will make sure you are great.”

“Whatever it takes,” Neil agreed.

“Are you sure you’re

Andrew

’s recruit?” Nicky questioned.

“I figured he was pathetic enough to be Kevin’s type and get him off my back,” Andrew said.

Maybe that would be true. Maybe Kevin would put all of his Exy energy into training Neil instead of pestering Andrew to meet his potential. That should have been a relief. Instead, Andrew did not trust Neil spending extra time with Kevin, and he found himself disappointed that Neil had turned out to be so dull after all.

Neil moved into the dorms after practice and that night, he was surprised when Matt answered the door to the dorm he had moved into with Matt and Seth and called out, “Neil, it’s for you.”

He thought that Matt was probably wrong, or maybe it would be Andrew, but instead he found Kevin waiting in the doorway for him.

“What are you doing here?” Neil asked. He was worried Kevin had recognized him after all and come to talk to him about it.

“Get ready, we’re leaving,” Kevin said.

“Leaving for where?”

“Night practice,” Kevin said. “You gave your game to me, remember? If you want me to teach you, then you’re going to have to put in the extra work.”

Neil could hardly believe his luck. Kevin was going to let him in on he and Andrew’s extra practices, and he was going to get even more out of however long he managed to safely stay at PSU.

“I’m ready now,” Neil said.

Kevin looked impressed for a moment and Neil basked in that approval.

“Seriously?” Matt asked. “He just joined the team. Can’t you at least give him a night off before you rope him into your obsessive practices?”

“The season already started. He has a lot of catching up to do and not a lot of time to do it in,” Kevin insisted. “He needs to start as soon as possible.”

“I want to go,” Neil said honestly.

Matt looked doubtful, but he didn’t stop them from leaving.

Out in the hallway, Neil saw that Andrew was waiting for them halfway down the hallway. Kevin led the way and Andrew trailed behind them when they passed him.

When they made it to the parking lot, Kevin got into the passenger seat of Andrew’s car like always, but Andrew hesitated outside of the car.

“Don’t you think a better use of your time would be figuring out what to do about Riko?” Andrew questioned.

Neil really did not, but he knew better than to say that.

“You told me you would help me be a part of this team,” Neil pointed out. “You remember your part and I’ll remember mine.”

Andrew stepped closer and Neil refused to dodge his eye contact.

“You can be a part of this team without attending night practices,” Andrew warned. “And if I think you are paying too much attention to Exy and not enough to your end of the deal, I will make Kevin leave you behind.”

Neil said nothing. He supposed he would have to give the impression of working on it.

Neil had been at PSU for a few days when Andrew decided to take a look in his dorm. He skipped his own class and picked the lock on Neil’s dorm when he was sure Matt and Seth had classes and when Neil had told Nicky he would be in class, only to find Neil sitting on the couch.

“What are you doing here?” Andrew asked.

“This is my dorm,” Neil pointed out. “What are you doing?”

“Checking if you stand a chance at fooling anyone into thinking you’re an actual person and not a false identity,” Andrew lied. “Nicky said you had a class now.”

“Everybody else goes to classes,” Neil pointed out. “I have to make them think I go to university here somehow.”

“You didn’t register for any classes?” Andrew questioned. He could not fathom the sheer stupidity of what he was hearing.

“Everyone thinks I’m taking classes anyway,” Neil pointed out. “Would you rather I spend time coming up with a solution or going to classes?”

“If you are not a real student, people are bound to find out,” Andrew pointed out. “Best case scenario, you get kicked off the team. Worst case, Riko digs up information on Kevin’s new teammate and realizes you’re a fake and starts looking closer.”

Neil’s ugly fake brown eyes widened with fear.

“When you filled out the paperwork for the team, you already enrolled here,” Andrew told him. “But no one’s going to believe you’re a real student if you don’t register for classes and if anyone finds out you’re not taking any, you’ll be off the team in a second.”

“How do I register?” Neil asked.

“Do you have a computer?” Andrew asked.

“No.”

“Come on,” Andrew said and he turned for the door.

For a moment, Neil didn’t follow, but then Andrew heard footsteps behind him. Andrew had no desire to go to the library, so he led Neil back to his own dorm and stole Kevin’s laptop off of his desk.

“You had better pick fast,” Andrew said as he booted up the PSU website. “I am not your secretary. I’ll give you one minute before you lose your choice.”

“I don’t care,” Neil said. “Sign me up for whatever you want.”

Andrew stared at Neil for a moment, but he offered no more explanation.

“Do you really think it is a good idea to trust me?” Andrew asked.

“All that matters is that I look like a real student,” Neil said. “And you can’t ruin that without potentially putting Riko on my scent. You wouldn’t be registering me for classes if you didn’t still want my help and I can’t help you when I’m on the run.”

Neil had dodged the question, but he had answered it all the same. Neil believed Andrew would keep his promises. Andrew tried not to let that mean anything.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Neil still had zero ideas to provide Andrew with by the time that the fall banquet came around. It was always early in the season, and since Neil had joined the team after the first game, it took place less than a week into Neil’s time with the Foxes.

Kevin was terrified on the bus, although as far as Neil knew, he had no idea about Riko’s demands.

“Relax,” Nicky said as he leaned over the back of his own seat to peer down at Kevin. “The attention won’t all be on you. Everyone is going to be gawking at Neil. I mean, he joined partway through the season and no one’s even heard of him before. They’re definitely going to be staring at him. Maybe they’ll even forget about you.”

Neil felt his stomach lurch. He should never have gotten on this bus. He contemplated if the risk would be worse to disappear off of the bus onto the side of the road to get away before Riko would see him and potentially recognize him, or if it would be worse to do nothing and go to the banquet, knowing there was a chance that Riko would know exactly who he was.

“Riko is not going to forget about me,” Kevin pointed out. “I can’t do this. I should have stayed home sick.”

Andrew stood up and leaned over the back of Kevin’s seat as he told him, “Nothing is going to happen. I won’t let him do anything to you. Don’t you trust me?”

“Yes,” Kevin said, but his voice was still shaking.

“Liar,” Andrew accused. “I kept him away from you after Kathy’s show, didn’t I?”

Kevin nodded his head and Neil was surprised by how much Kevin seemed to want to trust Andrew.

“But you can’t just start-” Kevin said, then he glanced in Neil’s direction as if he had rethought the point he was about to make. “People are going to be watching. It’s bad enough Riko saw last time.”

Neil had seen their interaction on Kathy’s show, but he hadn’t known that anything had happened after. He had a feeling that he knew what Riko had seen last time. If that was true, Riko was blackmailing Andrew and putting Aaron at risk because he had used his powers to protect Kevin, and yet Andrew was still desperate to protect Kevin anyway.

Neil felt an unexpected rush of admiration for Andrew. He wouldn’t use his powers in front of anyone to protect Kevin. Neil was a coward. He wanted to protect Kevin, but he was already planning on disappearing and leaving him to whatever fate he may get stuck with, and Neil hadn’t even had to face Riko yet.

He would stay on the bus after all. Maybe, if Neil was lucky, Riko wouldn’t recognize him. And if he did, then Neil would just have to make his escape from there.

Neil was acting weird. He had been since they had gotten on the bus back at PSU.

Andrew was well aware of the fact that Riko was at the banquet and that Neil had known him long ago when he was someone else. Andrew had promised that he would do what he could to make sure that no one, including Riko, found out that Neil wasn’t always Neil Josten.

He hadn’t lied. Andrew took his promises seriously. But Andrew did not really think there was anything that he could do to change whether Riko recognized him or not and he had more to worry about.

“Stay away from Riko,” Andrew warned him as they entered the court that had been decorated and covered in tables for the event. The music was loud enough that Andrew could lean to speak in his ear without risking anyone else overhearing. “Do not give him a reason to recognize you. I do not need you disappearing on me before you come up with a plan.”

Andrew didn’t wait for Neil’s response. A striker from USC-Columbia, the only other Class I Exy team in their state, was waving Kevin over. Kevin was in public, so robot-Kevin had been activated, and he walked over with a smile as phony as Andrew’s had been back when he’d been on drugs that had forced a grin onto his lips.

This would be a long night. Other players and coaches loved to talk Exy with Kevin because he was good-looking, famous, and a son of Exy. Andrew had no doubt those conversations would be even more unbearable since Kevin had returned to the court right-handed. Unfortunately, there was no way that Andrew would leave Kevin alone for a second at a banquet filled with Ravens, and that meant he would have to endure all the mind-numbing Exy talk.

At first, things went well. Or, at the very least, they didn’t go horribly. Kevin was nervous, but covering it with his best camera smile.

Players on other teams kept calling him over, wanting to talk about his return to the court and his switch to his right hand. Andrew was bored out of his mind, but Kevin was safe.

When the dance floor was opened up and teams began to mill about and mix more, Andrew kept Nicky, Aaron, and Neil close to himself. He wouldn’t leave Kevin’s side, but he needed to keep them away from the Ravens too.

Three songs into the dance portion of the evening, Riko strode straight toward them.

Kevin and Neil both tensed on either side of him. Andrew half expected Neil to disappear, but he stood in place.

Andrew moved to stand directly between Kevin and Riko, taking enough steps forward to block Riko from any of them.

“Kevin,” Riko said with a smug smile that made Andrew want to choke the life out of him.

“Riko,” Kevin acknowledged in a shaky voice behind him.

“You don’t talk to him,” Andrew warned Riko. “You lost that privilege when you broke his hand.”

“Kevin broke his hand in a skiing accident,” Riko said with a smile that did not match the tone of his words. “It was a horrible tragedy, but no one could have prevented it.”

“Stay away from him or you will suffer a tragic accident of your own,” Andrew warned.

“You are quite a loyal guard dog, I will give you that. But you are nothing more than a small dog yapping at my heels.” Riko’s smile spread into a cruel smirk and his eyes shifted to Aaron for a long moment before he looked back at Andrew again. “Does this mean that you have made your decision?”

Andrew’s entire body tensed.

“No.”

It was an answer and a warning, all wrapped up in one.

No

, he had not made a decision.

No

, Riko could not have either of them.

No

, Riko was not allowed to so much as look at Aaron like that.

“Hmm,” Riko said with a hint of amusement to his tone. “I advise that you think about it. I am not a particularly patient man.”

With that, Riko turned and walked away, back to where Jean Moreau was waiting for him a few yards away.

“What was he talking about?” Kevin asked.

“Nothing,” Andrew lied.

“That wasn’t nothing,” Aaron insisted.

“What choice was he talking about?” Nicky added.

“He was just trying to scare Kevin,” Andrew said. “It doesn’t matter. He’s not getting near him.”

Andrew could feel Neil’s eyes heavy on him, but at least he did not contradict anything that Andrew had said and he didn’t fill in any details.

“He said you had to make a decision,” Aaron said. “We’re not stupid. We know that wasn’t just trying to scare Kevin. What decision?”

“We’re leaving,” Andrew said. “We’ve sat through this banquet long enough. Nicky, go tell Coach.”

“Nicky, go get Neil,” Andrew said.

“Why?” Aaron asked with disapproval clear on his features.

“He’s coming to Columbia with us,” Andrew told him.

“No way,” Aaron insisted. “We are not bringing him.”

Nicky looked between them, as if he was trying to decide whether or not to leave.

“I wasn’t asking,” Andrew said. “Go, Nicky.”

Nicky left the dorm and Aaron only looked more annoyed.

“Seriously?” Aaron asked. “How am I the only one with a problem with this? Neil is annoying and weird. How does nobody else on this team see that? I can’t believe even

you

are acting like he’s some special commodity.”

Andrew was relieved that he was no longer the only one that realized that there was something off about Neil. Aaron didn’t seem suspicious that Neil wasn’t who he said he was, but he was not a fan of him. The only other person on the team who seemed to dislike Neil was Seth, but Seth hated everyone and everything.

Andrew wondered if the fact that Aaron was a kitsune was part of the reason he wasn’t falling for Neil’s tricks as heavily as others.

“You are right,” Andrew said. “There is something weird about him. That is why we are going to test him.”

Neil did not want to go to Columbia with Andrew and his lot. He would far rather stay back at PSU without them, but Nicky made it clear that Andrew wasn’t asking and Andrew knew too much so Neil reluctantly went along with them.

The car ride to Columbia was long and suffocating.

Their trip to Sweety’s wasn’t much better. All any of them ordered were sundaes. Neil hated sweet food, but he picked at his anyway because he did not need to gather any unnecessary attention toward himself. When the bill came, it came with a few packets of yellow powder, and Neil wondered what exactly he had gotten himself into.

The worst part of the outing was Eden’s Twilight.

As someone who did not drink, bars were not Neil’s favourite place. Eden’s was worse than a bar. It was a packed club with music so loud that it shook the floor. The place was so packed as they pushed their way to a table that Neil could hardly breathe. He resisted the urge to disappear every time that someone brushed against his shoulders.

They had barely stopped at the table when Andrew dragged Neil off to get drinks with him.

“What are we doing here?” Neil questioned. “What does this have to do with Riko?”

“Nothing,” Andrew said. “If you are going to meddle with Kevin and my brother’s fates, I need to know who I am trusting. That is what we are doing here.”

Neil felt his skin crawl at the idea of Andrew finding out any more information. He had already told him too much. He did not need to give him even more ammunition.

When the bartender noticed Andrew, he began pouring drinks without Andrew even having to order.

“I don’t drink,” Neil said, when he saw how many glasses the man was piling onto the tray.

“Suit yourself,” the man said. He reached under the counter and then set a can of soda on the tray.

Neil was not a big fan of soda. It was far too sweet for his taste, but Andrew had already grabbed the tray so he didn’t argue. He didn’t have to drink it.

When they made it back to the table and Nicky pulled out the packets of yellow powder again.

“Cracker dust,” Nicky explained. “Tastes like sugar and salt and gives you a small rush. You want some?”

Neil shook his head. “I don’t do drugs.”

He felt a surge of disappointment when all of the others, even Kevin, downed the cracker dust themselves.

Neil sipped at his soda for something to do. It was horribly sweet. He tried not to visibly wince.

“So,” Nicky said. “Neil. Tell us about yourself. You’re a part of this team and we hardly know anything about you.”

Neil took another sickening sip of the drink to avoid answering.

“I’m not that interesting,” Neil said. He was surprised by how dizzy the soda was making him. It must have been a long time since he’d last had one.

“I’m sure that isn’t true,” Nicky pressed on.

“I have an idea,” Andrew said. Neil doubted that it had just occurred to him. “How about you tell us about yourself and we decide if you’re boring or not.”

“Pass,” Neil said.

The dizziness was getting worse. He was starting to wonder if his drink was really just a soda after all.

Had the already been open when the bartender had set it on the tray? Neil couldn’t remember.

“I don’t feel so good,” Neil said as he stood up.

He nearly fell over as head rush hit him. They were all just sitting at the stools. Neil had been stupid to think it was just the bartender. Obviously, they had done this to him.

“You don’t look very good,” Aaron said. “Maybe you should sit back down.”

Neil pushed off of the table. He was aware that he shouldn’t use his powers as he pushed through the crowd, but he couldn’t fully remember why. All he knew was that he needed to get away from them before he would slip and say something stupid. Like his real name. Or his plan to hand Aaron over.

In a way, it was a good thing that Neil had gotten up from the table and fled.

There was no way that he would get far with the drugs in his system. Andrew was certain he would find him and with Neil away from the others, he would be able to ask whatever he wanted without worrying about accidentally making Neil give away his real identity in front of the others.

“Stay here,” Andrew said as he got up. “I will find him.”

It didn’t take long. Andrew was surprised he had managed to make it down the stairs to the first floor, although he wasn’t sure what Neil’s plan was. Either way, it did not take long for Andrew to catch up to him.

Andrew grabbed onto the shoulder of Neil’s shirt and spun him around.

“You drugged me,” Neil accused.

“Actually, Roland did,” Andrew said. “I have some questions for you. Answer right and you will be one of us. You do not want to know what happens if you answer wrong.”

Neil stared back at Andrew for a moment and then he was gone. Andrew’s hand was closed around nothing.

Andrew cursed and looked around, trying to find Neil’s short form in the crowd. He knew how drugs had dulled Aaron’s abilities. He knew how his court-ordered drugs had dimmed his own abilities when he had been on them for months. If Neil really was like them, his powers shouldn’t be as strong while he was drugged, and that meant he still had to be around there somewhere.

Andrew noticed an area where the crowd was shifting and he shoved his way over, ignoring the swears and complaints in his direction as he went.

He found Neil again, but this time there were two of him. He reached out and grabbed one, but his hand went right through him before that Neil disappeared. The other disappeared a moment later, but this time he reappeared only a few feet away.

Andrew pushed his way past a couple practically having sex in the middle of the dance floor as Neil stumbled away. He was getting weaker and more disoriented. Andrew was going to catch him any moment.

Neil disappeared again and Andrew spun around as fast as he could to try to find him. He managed two full circles before he spotted him, lying on the ground a few feet away.

Andrew pushed his way over and stared down the man standing over him. “What did you do?”

The man raised his hands in a sign of innocence. “Hey, don’t look at me, man. The guy paid me a hundred bucks to knock him out in one punch. I guess he didn’t think I’d be able to do it.”

Andrew doubted that was the case. Neil had paid a stranger to knock him out instead of answering Andrew’s questions. That did not bode well.

“Go away,” Andrew told the man.

“But I didn’t get my hundred bucks.”

“You should have gotten it up front,” Andrew said and he ducked down to grab Neil off of the floor. There was no way that he was going to leave him unconscious and vulnerable in the middle of the floor.

“What happened?” Kevin asked when Andrew returned to the table with Neil over his shoulder.

“He paid someone to knock him out,” Andrew said bluntly.

“Yeah right,” Nicky said. “What really happened?”

Andrew ignored the question. He felt no need to tell the truth twice. If Nicky didn’t believe him, that was his problem.

“We’re leaving,” Andrew said.

He didn’t wait for them to react. He just turned around and headed for the door.

The next morning, Neil woke up in a strange bed with a horrifying headache. When he sat up, Nicky was staring at him.

“Did you really pay someone to knock you out?” Nicky asked.

For a moment, Neil was confused, but then it came back to him.

“You drugged me,” Neil accused.

“Sorry,” Nicky said. “Andrew has trust issues. He needs to test people before he decides if they’re worth keeping around.”

“So you let him

drug

me?” Neil questioned.

“No one really lets Andrew do anything,” Nicky said. “But you’re going to need water. That stuff dehydrates you like crazy. I’ll go get you some.”

Nicky left the room and Neil did not stay there to wait for him to come back.

Instead, he pushed his way out of the bedroom and found himself in a living room. Kevin was sitting up on the couch, looking hungover and half asleep.

“Where’s Andrew?” Neil asked.

“Upstairs,” Kevin said.

Neil headed straight for the stairs and stormed up them. The hallway split in two with a door at either end, but Andrew was standing in the doorway of one as if he had just been about to come downstairs.

“We need to talk,” Neil insisted as he headed down the hallway.

“Funny,” Andrew said. “I tried to talk to you last night, but you weren’t very cooperative.”

“Because you

drugged

me,” Neil insisted. “We need to talk alone.”

Andrew still stood in the doorway, but Neil did not want to risk any of the others overhearing.

Andrew hesitated a moment and then stepped out of the doorway to let Neil inside. When Neil was a few steps into the room, Andrew closed the door and leaned against it. Suddenly, Neil felt like this was some trap Andrew had set for him and not a conversation he had started of his own accord.

“It was a test,” Andrew said. “I needed to know if I could trust you. Trustworthy people don’t generally pay strangers to knock them unconscious, by the way.”

“Trustworthy people don’t generally drug people they are supposed to be helping,” Neil countered. “You want to ask me a question? Fine. Do it while I am sober. But do not drug me so that I could let anything about my identity slip in front of them and call me suspicious.”

“I would not have let you say something to them,” Andrew said. “I told them to stay at the table.”

That wasn’t good enough, but Neil was surprised that Andrew cared enough to make that distinction.

“I am not a trusting person,” Neil said.

“Neither am I,” Andrew told him. “If I protect you and keep you on this team, then you stab me in the back and hurt one of them, that is on me.”

Neil was surprised by the glint of guilt he felt at that statement. It had been so long since Neil had felt guilty, that for a moment he did not even recognize the emotion.

“That isn’t true,” Neil said. “If I backstab you that is on me.”

“No,” Andrew said. “It is my job to protect them. You do anything to get in the way of that and it will be my fault for making a deal with you and bringing you here. I do not believe in forgiveness. If you put any of them in harm’s way, I will kill you. I can promise you that and I keep my promises.”

Neil was a little comforted by the honesty, although it did not suit Neil’s agenda very well. Neil still had no ideas of how to actually protect Kevin and Aaron both. If he didn’t figure it out, he still would hand Aaron over. He had no doubt that Andrew would keep his word and kill him after given the chance. Neil would disappear before Andrew had the chance but, in the meantime, Neil had not done anything to break Andrew’s trust yet, and that meant Andrew would not act against him yet.

“I believe you,” Neil said. “And I meant what I said when I made that deal with you.”

Andrew gathered the others in the living room after they dropped Neil off when they made it back to Fox Tower.

“Neil is one of us now,” Andrew said.

“How?” Aaron asked. “You have got to be kidding me. He ran away and paid somebody to knock him out. There is no way he passed.”

“I found out what I needed to,” Andrew said. “And I made sure he knows what happens if he betrays my trust.”

“Everyone on this team is so far up Neil’s ass,” Aaron insisted. “Give him to the upperclassmen. Why should he be our problem?”

“He’s one of us now,” Andrew said. “That’s final. Make sure he knows his place.”

Aaron did not look happy, but he didn’t argue. Andrew knew he wouldn’t do anything to stop Neil from joining their group, whether he liked it or not.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

All morning, Kevin had been telling Neil where to sit in Andrew’s group. Neil only caught a break during his morning classes, but the moment it was time for his lunch break, Nicky appeared outside his classroom.

“Don’t you have a class to be in?” Neil questioned.

“Nothing too important,” Nicky said. “I have a much more important appointment with you.”

Neil narrowed his eyes at him. “Where are we going.”

“The library.”

Neil tried not to look as disappointed as he felt.

When they made it to the library, Nicky led Neil deep into the back until he found a table in an abandoned area.

“Aren’t you looking for something?” Neil asked as he hesitantly sat down next to Nicky.

“No,” Nicky said. “I’m here to fill you in now that you’re family.”

That statement that he was family was jostling to say the least.

“We couldn’t have talked about whatever this is in your dorm?” Neil asked.

“Andrew is taking a nap,” Nicky said with a shrug.

“What exactly are you here to fill me in on?” Neil asked.

“How much do you know about the twins?” Nicky questioned.

It felt like a trap question and Neil didn’t think saying that he knew they were both kitsune was the right answer, so he shrugged.

“For the sake of this explanation, suspend your disbelief, okay?” Nicky asked. “Or, I guess you can think I’m crazy or lying all you want, just don’t go spreading the word around. I’m sure Andrew will show you later anyway when he’s lighting up sometime.”

“Show me what?”

“Do you know what a kitsune is?”

Neil’s throat went too dry to answer, so he just shook his head no.

“Oh, okay,” Nicky said. “Well, basically they’re fox spirits.”

“Like ghost foxes?” Neil asked, because he wanted to seem as impossibly unknowledgeable on the concept as possible, instead of saying something stupid to reveal he knew too much, and because he was interested in knowing more about the other kinds of kitsune.

“More like shapeshifters,” Nicky said. “Foxes with human forms. There are different kinds, but we only need to worry about fire kitsune right now. Because that’s what Andrew and Aaron are.”

“So you’re telling me that they’re not just Foxes, they’re

foxes

?” Neil asked.

“Yes,” Nicky said.

“So then are you a kitsune too?” Neil asked. He figured this question would be innocent mixed in with his other ones, but he wanted the answer. “You are there cousin, right? And if they’re both the same thing…”

“No,” Nicky said. “They’re my cousins on their mom’s side. Their dad was the kitsune, but they never met him.”

“So they can what? Turn into foxes and control fire with their minds?” Neil asked.

“At first it was just the fire thing,” Nicky said. “The twins grew up separately. Aunt Tilda gave them both up at birth, afraid of them because of what their father was. But she ended up taking Aaron back a few days later and leaving Andrew in the system. They didn’t know about each other for a long time. They’ve only really known each other for a few years.”

Neil was surprised by that information, and by just how much Nicky was sharing with him unprompted.

“Andrew kept getting kicked out of foster homes for mysterious fires, or his foster families calling him a ‘little arsonist’. Aaron’s mother was afraid of him and his powers. She abused him verbally and physically. She thought of him as a monster for his abilities and raised him to be afraid of them and guilty,” Nicky said. “The fox thing came later. Around puberty. Andrew won’t say anything about when he started turning. Aaron didn’t know what the hell happened to him, but Aunt Tilda chased him out of the house with a broom and locked him outside for a day and a half. Even when he found his way back into his human form, she left him out in the cold for hours.”

Neil still did not like Aaron, but he couldn’t imagine what it would be like growing up with a mother that despised him for his powers. Neil’s mother had been a nogitsune like him, and even though his father was a nightmare, he had at least seen Neil’s powers as something beneficial.

“Aunt Tilda’s death was the first time someone died in one of the fires in Andrew’s homes,” Nicky said. “But the police couldn’t prove any source for the fire. They decided she probably fell asleep with a lit cigarette too close to a bottle of alcohol.”

Nicky studied Neil’s expression as if he was waiting for him to freak out.

“Sounds like it wasn’t much of a tragedy,” Neil said.

He didn’t know why Nicky was telling him any of this, but it was nice to have a little information that he could use against the twins.

Nicky looked relieved like he had spent a lot of time trying to convince himself and others that Andrew wasn’t an utter monster for killing his brother’s abuser to protect him.

“Just don’t say that around Aaron,” Nicky advised.

The Ravens had changed divisions, so the Foxes were forced to play against them halfway through the first part of the season.

Kevin put on a front of confidence by listing off every statistic and weakness he knew about the Ravens. Neil tried as hard as he could to pay attention and remember the information.

Part of Neil just wanted to make it through this game without anyone uttering his birth name. He was so used to survival and secrecy being his one and only priority in life, but somewhere along the line, he had grown another priority since he had joined the Foxes and started training with Kevin.

Neil wanted the Foxes to beat the Ravens. He wanted to be a part of the team that bested Riko Moriyama. He wanted Kevin to show everyone just how impressive he was, even right-handed. He wanted Kevin to put Riko to shame after all that Riko had done to him.

When they went to the court, Neil felt a small sense of comfort when he had his helmet on. He and Riko were both strikers and would not be playing on the same side of the court. Neil’s helmet would make him more difficult to recognize. Maybe, if he was really lucky, he might make it through the game after all.

The score was already 13 to 3 in the Ravens’ favour when Andrew took over the goal in the second half of the game. There was no chance that the Foxes would win, but Andrew couldn’t care less.

Neil hadn’t disappeared from the game yet, so Andrew guessed that meant none of the Ravens had breathed a word about his identity being false to him.

Kevin and Neil were strikers just like Riko, and that meant they were on the exact opposite end of the court at all times. Andrew didn’t have to worry about them too much. He was more concerned about Aaron, who had ended up as the backliner on Riko.

Thirty minutes into the second half, Riko knocked Aaron to the ground and then stepped on his throat in front of everyone. He stumbled and covered it up as tripping and catching himself accidentally on Aaron’s throat before falling over him while Aaron was left coughing on the ground, but Andrew knew it was a deliberate message for him.

Andrew dropped his racquet and charged across the field quicker than he had ever moved before. In a matter of seconds, he had Riko pinned to the court wall by the throat.

“Do not touch him,” Andrew warned.

“Time is running out,” Riko choked out. “You can’t keep both.”

“I should kill you here and now,” Andrew said.

Riko laughed a horrible laugh that quickly turned to a cough. “Do you really think I do not have a contingency plan?”

Andrew reluctantly loosened his grip, but only enough to let Riko keep talking.

“If you kill me, Tetsuji sells your brother’s name to anyone who will listen,” Riko said. “He’ll still be sold as a lab rat before he dies. You will go to prison and Kevin will be all on his own with no one to protect him. How long do you think it will take before he comes crawling back himself?”

Riko began to laugh again and Andrew choked him harder. Maybe, he couldn’t kill Riko, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t shut him up.

“Andrew, get off of him!” Wymack shouted as he crossed the court toward him. “He isn’t worth it.”

Andrew ignored him, for the moment, but when Matt and Wymack grabbed onto Andrew’s shoulders to tug him back, Andrew released his grip so they would let go of him.

When Andrew finally turned away from Riko, Aaron was standing up again, staring at Andrew with wide eyes. A referee held up a red card that meant Andrew was kicked out of the game.

Andrew cast Riko one last warning look before leaving the court. “Touch him again and I will make you wish you were never born.”

The game ended with a final score of 19 to 7 in the Ravens’ favour. The Foxes had clearly lost, but their defeat would have been much greater if it had not been for Andrew only allowing the team with the highest scoring average in the division to score three goals during his thirty minutes on the court.

“You were incredible tonight,” Neil told him after the game.

“I got kicked out of the game,” Andrew deadpanned.

“You were still amazing when you were on it,”

“I do not care about the score,” Andrew said. “And neither should you.”

For the first time, Neil was not so sure about his plan to hand Aaron over. Sure, Aaron annoyed Neil and was disposable to him. But Neil could not lose the image of Andrew nearly choking Riko out in the middle of the court. Andrew would have murdered Riko on live television to protect his brother if he had to, regardless of the consequences.

Neil had known Andrew was protective of his brother for the entire course of this deal, but he had never really thought about the effect it would have on Andrew to lose his brother.

Now, it was all Neil could think about.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Neil Josten was the worst thing that had ever happened to Andrew.It was November and Neil still hadn’t come up with any magical ideas that would make Andrew’s problem disappear.Neil had invaded his life and his team. He’d befriended Kevin and together they were twice as annoying as they ever were separate. Neil was an Exy-loving pain in the ass and Andrew had promised to protect him. Worst of all, he was an interesting asshole.Every time Andrew was ready to write him off, Neil showed a level of trust that Andrew hated meant something or he made some smart ass comment that pissed everyone else off but only interested Andrew more.At this point, Andrew was grateful for Neil’s ugly contacts. They were one of the only things leaving him with any brain cells when it came to Neil. It was like Neil’s stupidity was contagious.One night, after yet another night practice that Neil tried far too hard in, Andrew invited Neil up to the roof with him against his better judgment.Andrew sat on the edge of the roof and used his fingers to light up.Neil sat down next to him and asked, “Can I have one?”Andrew lit up another cigarette and handed it over, but Neil just cupped it in his fingers instead of smoking it. That was a frustrating waste of a perfectly good cigarette and irritatingly interesting at the same time.“You have been on this team for months,” Andrew said. “You said you would help me protect them. You had better start giving me ideas or I am banning you from night practice.”“I think we should kill him,” Neil said.Andrew couldn’t tell if he was joking. His gaze was perfectly level and his voice was utterly calm. It seemed that death wasn’t a particularly foreign concept to Neil.“When?” Andrew asked. “We would have to be able to get to him.”“At the banquet,” Neil said. “That’s your deadline, right? So we get him alone, say we’re going to hand Kevin over, and we kill him. He can’t take either of them if he’s dead.”“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Andrew asked.“I know you are not afraid of killing,” Neil said. “Nicky told me about Tilda.”“Apparently, you are not afraid of killing either,” Andrew commented.“Not when the person we’d be killing is a piece of shit that would gladly do the same to all of us,” Neil said without a hint of sympathy in his tone.Andrew felt a grin tug at his lips for the first time since he had come off of his meds.“You are just full of surprises,” Andrew said. “Too bad I already thought of that. We can’t kill him. He has a contingency plan. If we kill him, Tetsuji sells out Aaron and takes Kevin.”“Killing them both would be harder to cover up,” Neil said in a disappointed tone.Andrew stubbed his cigarette out and studied Neil’s expression. Neil did not break eye contact or shy away and Andrew had a feeling he was seeing a truer version of Neil now than he ever had before.He leaned closer and hooked his fingers under Neil’s chin until he had almost closed the distance between them.“If I could get them alone, I would kill them both with my bare hands before either of them could even look at Kevin or Aaron,” Andrew said.Neil didn’t flinch. He didn’t look away from Andrew’s eyes. He just stared right back at Andrew.Andrew’s gaze lowered to Neil’s lips for a moment and by the time his eyes flickered back up, Neil was looking at his mouth.“Can I kiss you?”Neil was startled now in all the ways he had not been during all the talk of murder.Andrew was already pulling back away when Neil said, “Yes.”Andrew leaned forward again and grabbed Neil’s wrist to hold them away from him as he kissed him. Neil let Andrew pin his arms in midair and Andrew thanked him for his cooperation by deepening the kiss.Everything about this was dangerous. Andrew knew that it was a stupid move, but Neil had said yes and it wasn’t like this could last long anyway.Andrew had already figured out that the only way to protect Aaron and Kevin both would be to hand himself over in their place. He only had a few weeks of freedom left. Neil might be a dangerous distraction, but Andrew was already handing his life away anyway.

Neil wasn’t entirely sure what had happened up on the roof. He did not know how suggesting murder Riko had led to Andrew kissing him. He did not know why he wanted Andrew to kiss him so badly when Andrew had started to pull away after he had asked to kiss him. Neil didn’t know why kissing Andrew felt like nothing Neil had ever experienced before.All he knew was that he wanted to try it again. It was only a few weeks until Neil would have to betray Andrew and disappear from his life.Neil didn’t understand what had developed between them, but he did know that he wanted to explore it in the few weeks that he had left.That night, Neil laid awake for hours. He couldn’t sleep as the scene from the roof played over and over in his head.The next day was the longest day of Neil’s life. Usually, he enjoyed practice, but he could not wait for it to be over that afternoon. More than anything, he wanted to get Andrew alone again.The drive back to Fox Tower was unbearably long. It was like someone had stretched the road out to three times its usual length. By the time they made it to the third floor, Neil could barely contain his anxiousness.Neil stopped in the staircase and let Nicky, Aaron, and Kevin go into the hallway ahead of him.Andrew took the hint and stuck around in the stairwell with him.“I think we should do what we did yesterday again,” Neil said.Andrew didn’t acknowledge what he said. He just turned and headed up the stairs, so Neil followed him.It wasn’t until they were up on the roof that Andrew asked, “Do you want to repeat the smoking or the other thing?”“The kissing,” Neil said. “Well, both. But especially the kissing.”Andrew stared at him for a long moment and Neil wondered if he had been a truly disappointing kisser and Andrew wanted nothing to do with him and his mouth again.“If we are going to do this, you have to follow my rules,” Andrew said.“What rules?” Neil asked.“You do not kiss me unless I ask you to,” Andrew said. “I don’t kiss you unless you say yes. You keep your hands and body to yourself or we stop and never start again. Can you handle that?”“Yes,” Neil said.“Do you want me to kiss you again now?”“Yes.”Over the next few weeks, the roof became a sanctuary and a routine for them.Andrew was a little terrified of how comfortable he was growing with Neil, but it was a little reassuring to know that it would be over soon enough.Still, it was nice to have someone who respected his boundaries. After the first week, Andrew even let Neil put his hands in his hair.Part of Andrew wondered what it could be like if they had more time together, but that was a pointless path to go down so he tried not to think about it too hard.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The winter banquet came all too soon. Neil had come up with a solution, but he hadn’t pitched it to Andrew yet. He knew enough about Andrew to know that he wouldn’t knowingly let Neil hand himself over as a replacement kitsune. He would have to make that offer himself.

At the banquet, Neil kept as close to Andrew as he could. He couldn’t risk the chance of Riko talking to Andrew without him. Whatever Andrew’s plan was, Neil needed to be there to see if it would work and if it didn’t, he needed to be there to hand himself over.

The evening dragged out horribly. It wasn’t until they had been there for two hours that Riko finally approached them.

“Time is up,” Riko said as he pushed something into Andrew’s hands. “Take this ticket. Send whoever you have chosen to give up on this flight tomorrow or I will have them both killed.”

Andrew stared down at the ticket in his hand and said nothing. Neil knew that Andrew wouldn’t send either of them. He wouldn’t let them die either. That meant Andrew was probably planning to board the flight himself and that option was utterly unacceptable.

Neil could have handed himself over then, but fear took over. He did not want to reveal who he was yet. He wanted to have one last day as Neil Josten and one last day with Andrew before he would steal the ticket and hand himself over in Andrew’s place.

The next morning, Andrew went up to the roof for a little privacy and dialed Riko’s number that he had stolen out of Kevin’s phone.

Riko picked up on the third ring. “Hello?”

“This is Andrew Minyard,” Andrew said, skipping right past any formalities. “I want to make you a deal.”

“You already know the deal,” Riko said with distaste in his tone.

“Aaron doesn’t know how to control his powers,” Andrew pointed out. “He is afraid of them. He crammed them down for years with drugs and alcohol and fear. He still avoids them as much as he can. I know how to use mine. I’ve been using them since I was a child. I started the fire that killed Tilda Hemmick.”

“What is your point?” Riko questioned.

“You don’t want Aaron,” Andrew said. “You want a strong kitsune that is in control of his powers. If you let Aaron and Kevin stay here and leave them alone, then I will hand myself over to you. I’ll take the ticket you gave me and I’ll transfer to Edgar Allan. I’ll sign to your team like you wanted me to last season. I’ll use my powers for you.”

Riko was silent for a moment so long that for a second, Andrew wondered if he had hung up on him.

“Hmm,” Riko said after a dramatic pause. “I suppose that could work, but you know that I cannot be easy on you. I will have to make an example of you to show that I do not like plans to be changed on me.”

“I don’t care,” Andrew said. “Just stay away from my brother and Kevin.”

Andrew was still on the roof when Neil showed up twenty minutes later.

“Do you want some company?” Neil asked.

“I don’t want anything,” Andrew said, but he moved over and lit up another cigarette for Neil anyway.”

Part of Andrew hated that Neil had come up there. It would be easier to hand himself over without spending any more time with Neil first. Part of him was glad for one last moment on the rooftop to themselves.

“Do not ask me what I am going to do,” Andrew warned.

“I don’t need to,” Neil said. “I know you. You would make the choice to protect us all.”

“Do not look at me like that,” Andrew said. “Do not say things like that. I am not a hero. Do not pretend I am.”

“I guess that means this is our last time up here together then,” Neil said.

“I do not do goodbyes,” Andrew warned. “So do not try one.”

He was terrified of what Neil would say to him. Whatever it was between them was terrifying enough without the idea of Neil telling him everything they could have had right before he walked away.

“So then what should we do?” Neil asked. “Treat it like any other day.”

“Yes,” Andrew said, even though he knew that there was no way that either of them would really be able to do that. He stubbed out his cigarette anyway and turned to Neil as he asked, “Yes or no?”

“Yes,” Neil said with a weight to his tone that Andrew didn’t let himself think about.

Neil left Andrew up on the roof. He had no doubt that Andrew was up there mentally preparing himself for his trip and that meant that Neil’s time frame was limited.

When he made it back down to the third floor, he desperately hoped that Kevin, Aaron, and Nicky would be anywhere but their dorm.

He knocked on the door to their dorm and waited, but to his luck no one answered. He just hoped that Kevin wouldn’t be in there with his headphones on.

Neil picked the lock as quickly as he could and let himself into the dorm. He looked around until he found Andrew’s keys and ticket sitting on his desk.

He grabbed both of those and dropped a note from his pocket on the desk in their place. A note wasn’t the most satisfying goodbye or way to explain the lies he had been telling Andrew for months, but it was the best option Neil had in this situation, so it would have to do.

He wondered now if he should have written more, but he didn’t have time to worry about that when Andrew could show up looking for his ticket any moment, so Neil forced himself to leave it and head for the door.

Neil took one last look back at the dorm as if he could make up for the fact that he would not get to see Andrew once more by casting one last lingering look toward his beanbag chair, then he turned and opened the door to leave.

Kevin was already standing in the doorway and he looked startled for a moment then furrowed his brows and frowned at Neil.

“What are you doing in our dorm?” He asked.

“Nothing,” Neil lied.

“You are obviously lying,” Kevin pointed out.

“I am not,” Neil lied some more. “I just forgot something when I was over earlier.”

Kevin glanced down at Neil’s hand and he tried to hide it behind his back, but he was too late and not at all subtle as he hid his arm behind his back anyway.

“So you broke into our apartment?” He asked. “Should I call Andrew and tell him about that plane ticket you forgot?”

Neil was only mildly relieved that Kevin hadn’t noticed Andrew’s keys were also in his hand.

“No,” Neil said urgently. “Don’t call him.”

If Kevin called Neil, Andrew would take his keys and ticket back and sacrifice himself like he had originally planned. That was a risk that Neil refused to take.

“Then start talking,” Kevin said.

Neil glanced down the hallway in both directions and considered his options before he softly admitted, “Riko wants Andrew to send you or Aaron to Evermore. The idea is he gets you back or he gets a kitsune to use and exploit and have doctors do tests on. Andrew’s going to go there and hand himself over instead of giving either of you up. I made Andrew a deal months ago to help him figure out a way to keep you and Aaron both away from Riko, but I never planned to keep it. I was going to turn Aaron over to keep you away from Riko, but now I can’t do that to Andrew and I can’t let him hand himself over. My real name is Nathaniel Wesninski. I played with you a long time ago. I’m a kitsune, too. I took his ticket so that I can hand myself over in his place, and if you want him to stay and protect you more, then you will let me go and wait until I am on the plane if you decide to tell anyone.”

Kevin stared at him for a long moment and then his jaw dropped open. “You’re the butcher’s son?”

“Yes,” Neil said. “I told you all this because I need your help. Do you want Andrew to stay here?”

Kevin nodded his head weakly. “But-”

“No, but,” Neil said. “I am asking you to do me this favour. If my friendship and Andrew’s friendship mean anything to you, you will let me go in his place. I have been running from this for years. I bought myself plenty of extra time. This is where I’ve always supposed to end up.”

Kevin looked utterly sick. Neil wanted to push harder. He knew it would only be a matter of time until Andrew would come back down from the roof and he couldn’t afford to get caught there by Andrew, but he also couldn’t afford to push Kevin into calling Andrew and telling him everything now.

After a long moment, Kevin said, “I don’t like this at all, but if you are sure this is what you want, I won’t stop you.”

“I’m sure,” Neil said.

“There’s something you should know,” Kevin said. “Jean is a fire kitsune. After he saw you play, Riko became obsessed with kitsune. He convinced Tetsuji to buy Jean off of his parents to repay their debts and Jean’s been stuck there ever since. He will help you if you help him.”

Neil gave him a nod in thanks, then because Kevin’s face was already crumbling from guilt he added, “You’re a good friend, Kevin.”

He pushed his way past Kevin and was a few steps away when he heard Kevin’s response. “You are too.”

Andrew finished smoking his last cigarette as a free man and then went down to his dorm to gather his things. He knew that he couldn’t tell the others where he was going or why. He wouldn’t even leave a note. Maybe Neil would tell them when he was gone, but he thought that it would probably be better if he didn’t.

Aaron had hated him for refusing to be around him before and all of them would be safer if they hated him and believed that he only cared about his own self-interest again.

Andrew went over to his desk to grab his keys and the ticket Riko had given him, but both were gone and replaced by a folded up piece of paper with his name written on it in Neil’s writing.

He opened it and read it as fast as he could.

Andrew,

I can’t let you do this. Hate me if you want, but at least I know you’re safe. When I made the deal with you, I fully planned on breaking it and handing Aaron over to protect Kevin. That was before I got to know you. Now, I couldn’t do that to you and I couldn’t let you hand yourself over to his torture.

You have your family and Kevin to look after. I have no one and nothing. I was going to disappear or end up dead anyway.

This isn’t the way that I wanted to say goodbye, but I couldn’t tell you in person and let you stop me. For what it’s worth, my real name is Nathaniel Wesninski. My father is a serial killer and a human that used my abilities to show off to people he wanted to impress and to scare the hell out of his victims. He is in prison now. My mother was a nogitsune like me who ran away with me after I messed up and showed off my supernatural skills in an Exy match with Riko and Kevin. My father was planning on selling me to the Ravens, but my mother ran away with me that night before he could. I’ve been living on the run ever since. She died a couple years ago and I’ve been on my own ever since.

It was nice being a part of a team and a family for a little while, even if it was all based on lies. It was nice pretending I had you for a while.

DO NOT COME AFTER ME. THERE IS ZERO SENSE IN GIVING RIKO BOTH OF US AND HE WILL JUST USE YOU TO GET AARON AND KEVIN. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY.

- Neil

Andrew crumpled the note up in his fist and burned it until his fist was smoking and Neil’s words were nothing more than ash.

He had to go after Neil before the plane left, but Neil had stolen his keys and taken his car.

Andrew stormed out of his room and over to the girl’s dorm, but no one answered the door. He needed Renee to get him someone else’s keys, but all the banging on the door he could manage didn’t get the door open.

He picked the lock and searched their dorm, but he couldn’t find Allison’s keys anywhere so he stormed back out, not bothering to close the door on his way out. He hoped they hadn’t already all left for their holidays.

“Did you just break into their dorm?” Matt demanded and Andrew had never been so annoyed by Matt’s presence or so relieved to see him.

“Give me your keys,” Andrew said.

“What?” Matt questioned.

“

Give me your keys

,” Andrew repeated. “I won’t ask nicely again.”

“Nothing about you is nice,” Matt said. “And why the hell should I give you my keys? How about you tell me what the hell you were doing in the girls’ dorm and I consider lending you my keys.”

Andrew pulled a knife from his armband and in one swift movement shoved Matt into the wall behind him and held a knife against his throat.

“Give me your keys now or I leave you bleeding out on the floor and just take them anyway,” Andrew warned.

“You’re fucking crazy,” Matt said as he finally fished his keys out of his pocket. “Take them. I hope this is some kind of fucking emergency.”

It was, but Andrew didn’t owe him any kind of explanation. He shoved Matt away and then took off with his keys in hand.

“Where are you going?” Kevin asked when Andrew made it to the parking lot.

Andrew didn’t know what Kevin was doing standing there. He didn’t care. He just pushed past him.

“Andrew,” Kevin called after him with a hint of desperation in his tone. “Stop. Where are you going?”

Andrew said nothing and kept walking as fast as his legs would carry him, but Kevin’s legs were longer and Kevin could run without immediately getting winded like Andrew did thanks to his smoker lungs. He caught up with him in a matter of seconds and stood between Andrew and the driver’s door of Matt’s truck.

“Get the fuck out of my way or so help me I will move you out of the way myself,” Andrew warned.

Kevin frowned and hesitated for a moment, but he did not move.

Andrew took a step toward him, but Kevin stood his ground.

“He doesn’t want you to go after him,” Kevin blurted out.

Andrew shoved Kevin into Matt’s truck as hard as he could, holding him by the throat.

“You knew that he stole from me and you let him walk away?” Andrew demanded. His grip tightened further as he asked, “You covered for him? After everything I have done for you, you chose him over me and stalled for him?”

“He is trying to protect us,” Kevin choked out. “He wanted to go.”

Andrew released his grip on Kevin’s throat and shoved him away as he insisted, “I will deal with you later.”

Andrew got into the driver’s side and Kevin didn’t seem to have any survival instincts left because he ran around the cab and got in the other side while Andrew started the truck.

“You had better hope his plane hasn’t already left,” Andrew warned.

Andrew drove at a reckless speed, but Neil’s plane had already boarded by the time they made it to the airport. He tried to figure out a way to stop it, but instead he watched through the window as the plane took off in front of his eyes.

Never before had Andrew wished that he was on a plane.

It figured that it had to be the only flight in the history of ever to take off on time.

“I didn’t want him to go,” Kevin said. “I didn’t want either of you to go.”

“But you let him,” Andrew pointed out.

He headed back toward the parking lot without waiting to see if Kevin was following him. He would still keep his promise. Kevin’s actions would not turn Andrew into a monster he did not want to be. That did not mean that Andrew had to speak to him though.

When Neil arrived at the airport in West Virginia without his contacts, Riko frowned at the sight of him.

“I was supposed to get Kevin or Aaron,” Riko said. “But I was promised Andrew instead. You are none of them. Why should I not dispose of you and take one of them anyway?”

Neil took a deep breath and then told him, “Because I’m the kitsune you’ve been looking for all these years. I’m Nathaniel Wesninski. The Butcher’s son. I impressed clients for him and terrified his victims. I played as a backliner with you and Kevin when I was younger. I used my powers to appear in your way out of nowhere or make it look like there were more of me so you had to guess which area was actually open. I am the reason you have been looking for kitsune, and I will transfer to your team and do whatever you want me to.”

Riko stared at him closer, as if he was trying to judge if Neil’s words possibly could be true, then a cruel smile spread across his lips.

“You will do,” he said. “For now.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Neil spent weeks trying to use his powers to escape, but it was no use. Something about the way the Nest was built drained his powers and Neil supposed that made sense, since Kevin had said that Jean was a fire kitsune, and the Moriyamas had been forcing him to stay there for years. Still, it was a pain in the ass. Neil couldn’t even use his powers to protect himself for long, let alone escape.The furthest he could reappear from where he disappeared was about three steps that he could have traveled faster without disappearing.So, Neil laid low, for a while. But when the end of winter break was approaching and Neil realized that he would really have to play as a Raven and his team would find out about the transfer, the urge to escape came back even stronger.Riko was not a man of his word. He would find a way to use Neil against the others if Neil stayed. The Foxes had been nothing but kind to Neil, but they would believe that he had thrown them away like nothing without even offering an explanation because a better offer came alone.So, late one night in the underground dorm he was forced to share with Jean, Neil tried with all of his strength to disappear out of the Nest instead of just to the other side of his bed.“It’s better to play along,” Jean said. “Conserve your energy instead of wasting it fighting to use it. That’s how they drain you most.”“Is that what you’re doing?” Neil asked.“That’s what I’ve been doing for years,” Jean said. “Riko and Tetsuji have become complacent. They think they broke me in. They think my powers are too weak to be much of a threat anymore, even if I did get fed up. But one day, I’m going to burn this place to the ground.”Neil felt a grin forming on his lips.“What?” Jean asked with a frown.“How would you like to bump one day up a little sooner?” Neil asked.The opportunity didn’t come until after afternoon practice. Neil and Jean were stuck cleaning up the court while Riko was stuck in Tetsuji’s office after he had performed with less than pure perfection during practice.Neil was aware that the doors were locked and their odds of getting out in a fire were not the greatest, especially if he wanted to make sure that Riko and Tetsuji didn’t get out. But the only way to be sure that Riko or Tetsuji would not go after Andrew and Kevin and even Aaron anyway now that they had him was to make sure that they did not make it back out of that building.“Are you ready now?” Neil asked.“I have been ready for years,” Jean said, and his hands began to smoke.The fire started on the court, but it didn’t take long to reach Tetsuji’s office.Outside the doorway was mostly aflame, but there was still a path when Tetsuji opened the door so Neil rushed over. He couldn’t let them escape.“Burn the office!” Neil shouted as he rushed over and pushed Tetsuji back into his office with his racquet.He used what energy and strength he had left to make copies of himself blocking the doorway. If Riko or Tetsuji tried to push through them, they would be able to, but in Neil’s experience intimidating for his father, the fear was enough to send most men stumbling backwards instead of trying.There was a split second where Jean seemed to hesitate, and for a moment Neil thought that all of this would be for nothing, but then the fire blazed higher all around him, blocking off any chance of escape without becoming severely burned.The heat of the flames all around him was too much. Neil couldn’t hold the illusion of his copies anymore, but that didn’t matter. The fire was a much more effective way to block their paths anyway. Neil stayed in the doorway anyway to ensure that they would not push their way out.As the racquet in his hands began to burn, Neil tossed it at the Moriyamas and they instinctively backed up further into the office.

Neil was utterly engulfed in flames now and he was aware that he was not likely to make it out of this. Even if the fire department came, these were kitsune flames and those were harder to put out.As the flames licked at him, Neil let out a hysterical laugh. He was more Nathaniel than Neil now. He didn’t mind so much now that any part of him that resembled his father would be burned away to ash.He had spent his entire life focusing on just surviving, but he had always expected to die a painful death. At least this one would mean something.At least he’d given them something to remember him by.His disappearing act might be permanent this time, but he had made his mark. His team would remember. Andrew would remember him. The Ravens wouldn’t be playing any games at Evermore any time soon, and his team would be safe. That was a pretty good reason to die.Riko was choking on the smoke and staring at him like he had lost his mind.“Get out of the way!” He snarled.Neil just laughed as he blocked the doorway. His skin felt like it must have been bubbling but none of it mattered. He just had to hold on long enough for them to lose consciousness from smoke inhalation first.“You idiot!” Tetsuji shouted. “You absolute moron! We gave you a team worth playing on and you threw it away. You could have been something, but now you are going to die here!”“Let us out!” Riko screamed over his uncle. “Let us out and make Jean get rid of these flames. You will not make it out of this alive if you do not stop this right now. Are you really so stupid that you are willing to die, for what? Some garbage team that let you hand yourself over? Even if you make it out, do you really think they will be anything less than disgusted with you? They would never take you back. They won’t even mourn you.”The smoke in the room was thick and Riko had to stop a few times during his rant to gasp for air or cough.Neil felt his father’s smirk pull stronger at his lips. He didn’t care if he made it out of here. He only cared that they didn’t and they were wasting their oxygen faster and faster as they screamed and threatened him.The Foxes were gathered in the Fox Lounge for a meeting now that everyone was back from their holiday break. Well, everyone that was coming back anyway. Even Abby and Bee were there.“If you’re going to call a team meeting on my time, it had better be good,” Wymack warned. “And it had better explain why the hell Josten is missing practice.”Kevin was supposed to be the one to break the news that Neil had run off and joined the Ravens over the holiday break, but he was too busy staring at his phone as if he had not heard Wymack.“Kevin,” Wymack said. “Let’s go. I thought you had an important announcement to make.”At first, Andrew had thought Kevin was just being dramatic and making them wait, but now he realized that something was wrong. The colour had drained from Kevin’s face, and he didn’t look altogether dissimilar to how he had when Riko had shown up on Kathy’s show or when they had been on the way to the banquets.“Turn the TV on,” Kevin said. His voice came out shaky.Dan grabbed the remote and turned it on. It opened to the last channel it had been left on, an Exy news station.Castle Evermore was on the screen in ruins. Parts of the building were burnt away entirely. The entire scene was covered in ash and the sky was still filled with smoke. The shot changed and there was a body bag on the screen.“-most made it out in time,” a reporter said as Dan cranked the volume up. “But at least two are dead and two are in hospital, with one in critical condition.”“Neil was in there,” Kevin said.The room erupted into chaos as questions started, but Andrew growled out, “Shut up.”He grabbed the remote out of Dan’s hand and turned the volume up louder. He needed to know if Neil was one of the dead.“-not releasing any names at this time,” the reporter went on. “Authorities want to be sure that families are contacted before confirming any speculation about who has died.”Neil didn’t have any family to contact. There was no one they could call to find out if he was dead or alive. There might not even be anyone who knew he had been there.Andrew pulled his phone out to try to call Neil, but there was no answer. He was directed straight to voicemail.“What was Neil doing at Evermore?” Matt questioned.It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Andrew had brought Neil into this mess. Neil had sacrificed himself for Andrew against his wishes and now Neil Josten was dead because he had met Andrew.Andrew was utterly furious. Usually, he had a firm grasp on his powers, but he was shaking with anger. He was furious at Neil for handing himself over and furious at himself for letting himself give a damn about Neil in the first place. He was boiling at the thought that Riko had not just taken what was his, but erased it from existence.He was shaking with rage and the attempt to keep his burning anger on the inside. Andrew pushed past Kevin whose vacant eyes came into focus for just long enough to look at him startled. Andrew could tell that he had lost control of his body temperature. He could have burned Kevin. He had to get out of there before he would start to smoke or flame up.He had to get past Nicky to get out of the Fox Lounge, but Nicky was heading toward him relentlessly.“Andrew,” Nicky said with a tone of sympathy and concern that would help nothing.Nicky reached his hand out toward Andrew as if he intended to comfort him with a hand on the shoulder or, worse, a hug. Andrew completely lost all control. His body burst into flame in front of the entire team, but at least Nicky retracted his hand.The room erupted into chaos. Nicky, Aaron, Kevin, and Renee shouted at everyone to stay back while the rest of the upperclassmen alternated between asking what the hell was going on and telling Andrew to stop, drop, and roll as if he hadn’t just burst into flames that he had created.The fire detector beeped incessantly and the sprinklers went off as if a little rain could stop kitsune fire.Andrew stayed on the same spot. He couldn’t stop the fire, so instead he tried to contain it in a bubble around himself. Everything in there was too overwhelming. He couldn’t stop the fire. All he could do was keep it on himself instead of spreading. Aaron was already fireproof, but it was taking every last inch of Andrew’s willpower to keep the fire in check so that he would not burn Nicky or Kevin or Bee.Andrew was shocked when something freezing hit his body. It was so startling, it was enough to jolt him back into a greater awareness. He turned around and saw that Wymack had grabbed the fire extinguisher and was spraying him.That shouldn't have put the flames out. Kitsune flames were much more difficult to extinguish than an ordinary fire, but Wymack had managed to tear Andrew out of his spiral so he could focus long enough to dull the flames to a simmer, then smoke, and then stop them altogether. His body temperature was still too high.“What the hell just happened?” Allison demanded.Andrew ignored her. He didn’t owe any of them any kind of explanation.“Are you okay?” Matt asked as if he had ever given a damn about Andrew’s well-being before.Physically, Andrew was fine. He was not the one that had burned to death at Castle Evermore. But, other than that, nothing was alright. Andrew wanted nothing more than to bring Neil Josten back to life just so he could burn him to death himself.

Three days later, there was no word from Neil and it was as good as a confirmation that he was dead.Wymack had canceled practices until further notice, but they were all required to check in with Bee once then and once in a few days. Andrew saw her every day, if only to get a break from Nicky and Kevin trying to force him into grieving with them and to keep himself from doing anything stupid.He didn’t tell Bee what Neil was to him. He wouldn’t even let himself think too hard on that. Labels were stupid enough when the other person wasn’t dead.Andrew was up smoking on the roof and contemplating the distance to the ground when Nicky started texting him.
get down here

they released a new statement abt the fire

riko & tetsuji r dead

i cant tell if kevs relieved or abt 2 puke

still nothing abt whose @ the hospital

nothing about neil being @ evermore 4 no reason either
Andrew stood up with a sense of duty. He would not be a shoulder for Kevin to cry on, especially over Riko and Tetsuji, but at least now he had a familiar sense of purpose to tether him. Kevin was going to need Andrew to stop him from doing something stupid.“Turn that off,” Andrew said the next morning when Nicky sat on one of the beanbag chairs, staring at the Exy news when they would have been at the gym if Wymack hadn’t canceled Exy.“I can’t,” Nicky said.Riko’s face was on the screen and a reporter was listing off all of his Exy accomplishments. Kevin was in the other beanbag chair, staring at the TV with a hollowed out expression.“It’s the red button,” Andrew said. “With the power symbol.”“What if they say something about Neil?” Nicky asked. “Maybe he’s one of the players that got out. Maybe he couldn’t call because they were interviewing him about the fire or because he was in the hospital or-”Nicky’s hope was unbearable.“Neil is dead,” Andrew cut him off bluntly. “The fire was four days ago. He hasn’t answered his phone. He hasn’t called. No one has said anything about a Fox at Evermore in the fire. The only reason they aren’t reporting on his death is because he was already dead before the fire, or he was being kept in some secret cage the fire department didn’t find, or because they couldn’t ID his body with all the burns so they can’t give his name to the media. Or they did ID his body and found out his real name. He’s a runaway. Neil Josten is a fake name. No one mentioning him does not mean that he is alive. He is dead. Watching them praise Riko and Tetsuji like they were saints isn’t going to change that.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Neil woke up to the sound of a beeping monitor beside him. He was horrified when he realized he was in a hospital. He didn’t know if the doctors had already figured out who or what he really was. He had zero plan to stick around and figure that out.

He tried to sit up and felt a tug in his arm. He glanced down and saw that his arms were covered in bandages, covering his burns. There was an iv in his left arm and he pulled it out, then rose from the bed.

He still felt awful, but he was stronger than doctors would probably expect. He could not heal away his burns, but he did recover his strength faster than a human would. Kitsune could heal themselves faster with enough rest. Neil didn’t know how long he had been asleep for, but at least he didn’t feel like he had blown all of his energy anymore.

Neil untangled himself from the bed and equipment and looked around the room for clothes. There was nothing. So he left the room in his hospital gown and hoped that no one would notice him. He did not need to test what little energy he had left by using his powers to disappear in the middle of the hospital. He doubted he would be able to reappear more than a few feet away.

He didn’t know which way to head when he left his room, but he was certain that hesitating would gather him more attention so he headed left.

He figured it must have been the right choice when he passed the waiting room for the floor. When he made it to the elevator, he jabbed the down button with his finger and kept an eye on the desk in case whatever nurse was on duty came back from photocopying or a bathroom break or whatever had her away from her desk from the moment.

When the elevator doors opened behind him, Neil practically jumped at the sound of another voice.

“Oh good, you are awake.”

Neil turned around and found Jean standing there. He pushed his way into the elevator and hit the close elevator button.

“Doctors were blown away by us both,” Jean said. “None of them understood how I got pulled out without any burns or even any damage from smoke inhalation, or how you survived with so many burns on you.”

“I’m not sticking around any longer for them to poke and prod me and try to figure it out,” Neil said. “How long was I asleep?”

“Three days.”

“Three?” Neil repeated. He felt sick. He couldn’t believe he had lost so much time. “Do you have a phone?”

“No,” Jean said. “It was in the Nest.”

Neil couldn’t afford to ask someone to borrow a phone and risk being stuck in the hospital for any longer. He knew that he would not at all be subtle with bandages covering burns on his face and arms and still in his hospital gown. He wanted to call Andrew to let him and the rest of his team know he was alive, but that would have to wait.

“What exactly is your plan?” Jean asked. “We’re going to rush out of here with you in that and what?”

“As soon as we get out of view of the hospital’s cameras, we’ll travel as foxes back to PSU,” Neil said.

“We?” Jean asked skeptically.

The elevator doors opened before Neil could answer. He really did not want to test how far away he could reappear after disappearing, so he headed straight for an empty wheelchair and sat down in it.

“You are taking me out for a smoke if anyone asks,” Neil said.

Jean pushed the wheelchair, although he did not look impressed with Neil’s cover story.

No one asked anyway.

They made it outside and ditched the wheelchair at the edge of the parking lot.

Neil led Jean into a thick patch of trees at the edge of the hospital’s property and Jean frowned at him.

“You said we,” he pointed out.

“The fire worked, didn’t it?” Neil asked. “The Ravens won’t have anywhere to play or a coach anytime soon.”

Jean said nothing.

“Riko and Tetsuji are dead, aren’t they?” Neil questioned.

“Yes,” Jean said. “They are dead and the Ravens are out for at least the rest of the season.”

“So come to Palmetto with me,” Neil said. “You can be a Fox.”

“Your team will be waiting for you,” Jean pointed out.

“I will talk to them,” Neil said. “They’d be stupid not to take a good backliner.”

Jean gave in and turned into an orange fox much larger than Andrew’s fox form. Unlike Andrew, Jean only had one tail left.

They traveled on foot as foxes for the first few hours, until Neil felt confident that no one would grab them and drag them back to the hospital, then Neil switched back to his human form in the parking lot behind a Walmart. Jean followed suit, although he looked reluctant.

“It’s too far to go on foot,” Neil said. “We need to hitchhike, but we’re not getting anywhere with me in a hospital gown. Do you have money with you?”

“I don’t have anything,” Jean said. “It was all in the fire.”

“Then you’re going to have to steal clothes for me,” Neil said.

“Why can’t you steal your own clothes?” Jean asked.

“People are pretty likely to remember a man covered in bandages in a hospital gown robbing them,” Neil pointed out.

“Oh, and the tattoo of a three on my face is a very subtle description,” Jean countered, but he went into the Walmart anyway.

He came back with a t-shirt, sweatpants, and runners for Neil ten minutes later.

The shoes were tight and he had to tie the sweats tight to keep them from slipping off of his hips, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. At least now they would hopefully be able to hitch a ride from a truck stop.

The journey back to PSU was long and tiring. It took three trucks to make it back to Palmetto and they still had to walk the last of the way.

Neil was sore and exhausted when he made it back to Fox Tower. Part of him wanted to go inside to eat and drink before finding the team, but he needed to see them worse than he needed to eat.

None of the team’s cars were in the parking lot at Fox Tower, so Neil headed to the court. It was the only other place he knew to look and they should have been at practice, but the parking lot was barren. Not even Wymack’s car was there.

Neil didn’t know where else to look, and he didn’t understand why practices were canceled, so he headed for Wymack’s apartment building. At least he would be able to gather the team.

Jean was back in his Fox form and he stopped following Neil when the building came into sight.

“Aren’t you coming?” Neil asked.

Jean just blinked back at him, so Neil left him there.

Wymack didn’t come to the door after Neil’s first knock, so he knocked again, even harder.

“Alright, alright,” Wymack insisted. “I’m coming. Calm down.”

He opened the door and froze for a moment when he spotted Neil in the doorway. After a moment, he managed to school his features and said, “You look like absolute hell, kid.”

Wymack took a step back, leaving a path through the doorway, and Neil tried not to think about how Wymack was old enough to be his father as he stepped through it.

“Where’s the team?” Neil asked. “Why isn’t anyone at practice?”

“We thought you were dead,” Wymack insisted. “Kevin said you were at Evermore during the fire and then you didn’t think to pick up the phone in the last four days?”

“I was unconscious,” Neil said. “And then I didn’t have a phone. Where is the team? I need to talk to them.”

“Are you sure you’re ready to face them?” Wymack asked. “You don’t need to rest? How did you even get back here.”

“I walked.”

“From West Virginia?” Wymack questioned.

“I hitchhiked part of the way,” Neil said. Before Wymack could ask him any questions about that, Neil added, “I need to see the team.”

“Alright,” Wymack said. “I’ll call them and tell them to meet at the court in ten, but you have to eat and drink something before we leave.”

Eight minutes later, they were in the parking lot of the Foxhole Court.

Jean was still in his fox form, hiding on the outskirts of the parking lot.

The upperclassmen came into view before Neil could get out of the car, but then Andrew’s car appeared out of nowhere and cut Matt’s truck off. Both vehicles stopped in the parking lot and Neil’s heart pounded in his chest at the sight of his team.

The rest of the team was already climbing out of Andrew’s car and Matt’s truck when Wymack got out of his car.

“What are we doing here?” Nicky asked. “Are practices back on? Because I don’t know about anybody else but I don’t think we should have to go back to practice while we’re still grieving- Holy shit.”

He cut himself off as Neil got out of the passenger side of Wymack’s car.

The team went completely silent for a moment as Neil walked around the car until he stood on the same side as them.

Andrew stared at Neil as if he was trying to determine if he was seeing things and Neil only had eyes for him as he said, “Riko and Tetsuji are dead. Problem solved.”

Kevin looked sick and Matt looked horrified by that comment.

“Problem solved?” Matt asked. “They were people, Neil.”

“There were terrible people,” Neil pointed out. “They were keeping me and Jean hostage and threatening our team. They would have used me to get Kevin back and they were threatening Andrew and Aaron too. Someone had to stop them.”

“Whoa,” Matt said. “Hold on a second. Did you just confess to murder?”

“I didn’t murder them,” Neil said. “I just made sure they didn’t get out. I didn’t start the fire.”

“Jean did,” Kevin said with a sudden certainty that made Neil sure Kevin had known all about Jean’s powers.

“He didn’t kill them either,” Neil said. “He just started the fire. And now he doesn’t have a team, so I brought him back with me and he’s going to join us.”

“You are more bandage than man,” Allison pointed out. “He started the fire that looks like it should have killed you. We thought you were dead and you just disappeared for the better part of a week without even thinking to call us? And now you show up looking half dead and suddenly we’re supposed to let the man who started the fire join the team?”

“I’m fine,” Neil said and he meant it. “And I’m the one who told him to start the fire. I’m the one that stood in the flames instead of leaving.”

“You are an idiot,” Andrew snarled in German. “You are worse than an idiot. I’d ask if the carbon monoxide made you lose any more brain cells, but clearly you didn’t have any to spare before the fire.”

“If you brought him back with you,” Nicky said. “Where is he?”

“He’s waiting to see how things go when I talk to you,” Neil said, but he glanced in Jean’s direction to make sure that the fox was still there. “Maybe, he’ll come out if you agree to him playing on our team.”

“This team needs backliners that know what they’re doing,” Kevin pointed out.

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say anything about him starting the fire and your dumb ass walking into it,” Wymack said. “And say that this team is willing to take a player that helped you.”

Kevin followed his gaze and recognition crossed his features. Jean hesitated in the treeline for a moment longer and then emerged.

“Uhhh, that is not a human,” Allison pointed out. “That is a fox.”

“A live fox,” Dan agreed. “We’re good in the mascot department. Really.”

Andrew, Aaron, and Nicky said nothing. They seemed to already have figured it out.

Neil waited to see if Jean would turn back into human form, but he did not. Neil did not want to keep secrets from his team anymore and he had already confessed to his role in Riko and Tetsuji’s deaths, so he explained by turning into a fox himself in front of their eyes.

Andrew glared at him as he pointed out in German, “You are down a tail.”

“What the hell is going on with this team this week?” Matt demanded. “First, Andrew spontaneously combusts and now Neil turns into a weird looking fox.”

Neil stayed a fox for a moment and let the team get a good look before he changed back to his human form.

“I’m a nogitsune,” Neil said. “Andrew made a deal with me to protect Kevin and Aaron from Riko. I was never supposed to be a real part of the team or stay long, but you all accepted me and made me a real member of the team. I want to stay on this team if you’ll still have me and I don’t want to lie to you all anymore.”

“Obviously, we’ll still have you,” Wymack said.

Most of the team chimed in with their agreement. Aaron and Seth said nothing and Neil considered that answer in his favour enough. Andrew didn’t say anything either and Neil was more worried about his silence.

“And that fox?” Renee asked. “That’s Jean?”

“He’s a fire kitsune,” Neil said. “Riko and Tetsuji kept him as a pet for years.”

Renee walked over to Jean and reached out toward him, leaving her hand a small distance away from him.

“I am glad that you are free of them,” she said.

After a moment, Jean sniffed her hand.

Neil tried to force Wymack into uncanceling practice since he wasn’t even dead, but Wymack refused and insisted that he needed rest, and the team needed to process all the information Neil had just thrown at them.

Wymack offered to take Neil back to his apartment to rest, but Andrew wasn’t about to let Neil out of his sight again and insisted, “No. He is coming with us.”

Neil’s features lit up in the most irritating way and Andrew felt Neil’s eyes on him from the passenger seat for the entire car ride. Andrew didn’t speak a word to Neil the entire way back to Fox Tower or on the way inside.

Nicky tried to fill the silence in the car by babbling on about how happy they all were that Neil was back, but eventually he took the hint when Neil agreed that he was happy to be back once and then stopped responding to him.

When they made it to the third floor of Fox Tower, Andrew watched Kevin, Nicky, and Aaron file through the door into the hallway. Neil shot Andrew a questioning look and Andrew stared at him for a moment longer before continuing to climb the stairs.

Neil followed him up and by the time that they made it onto the roof, Andrew had a cigarette out for each of them.

He handed Neil his, and then sat down on the edge of the building. He lit his own cigarette up with his fingers and then Neil’s as he sat down beside him.

“You are the stupidest human I have ever met,” Andrew said after he took a drag of his cigarette. “And that is not for lack of competition. You are so beyond moronic it’s unmeasurable. There is not even a word for the level of idiotic that you are. I cannot stand you.”

Neil just sat there, cupping his cigarette between his hands, and staring at Andrew’s face.

Andrew turned away and took another long drag before he threatened, “I hate you. Try to sacrifice yourself for me again and I will throw you off of this roof myself. Or burn you to death. Or stab you. Or all three.”

“How would that work?” Neil asked and Andrew hated him more for it and the hint of amusement in his tone.

“First I would burn you. Then, I would stab you,” Andrew said. “Then, when you were weak and bleeding, I’d throw you off the roof.”

“You said you would burn me to death,” Neil said.

“I changed my mind,” Andrew said. “You wouldn’t survive the fall. I’d burn you first.”

“It would still be worth it,” Neil said. “If I had the chance to do it over again, I would every single time. I thought I was going to die in that fire and I gladly would have. You are safe. If I had to do it over again and burn to death over and over for all of eternity to make that happen again.”

“Do not say stupid things,” Andrew said.

“It’s not stupid,” Neil said. “It’s the truth. I would die to keep you safe, but now I don’t have to. We are both safe. Kevin is safe. Your brother is safe. And we don’t have an expiry date anymore.”

“There is no we anymore,” Andrew insisted, but moments later he stubbed out his cigarette anyway and asked, “Yes or no?”

“Yes,” Neil said. “Always yes.”

Andrew ignored that yes for now. He would have to give Neil a talking to about not guaranteeing anything later, but for now Neil was alive and he could kiss him, so he did. They could worry about the rest later.