".......as it's breathing slowed."

-hope that scares y'all cuz it could mean a person

POV: Iskall

A loud snap rang out. He whipped around. Nothing. He looked around. Nothing. He looked down. He had stepped in a twig.

Still tense, Iskall continued lurking in the woods. He had been sneaking around for a while now. Today was April First. No pranks had been pulled. It was April First and Grian had done NOTHING. No pranks, nothing! And no, Grian wasn't dead. That was highly suspicious as it was. Iskall had woken up tense, and ready to be pranked, but nothing happened. He had been on alert all day, and it was near noon. NOON! By now, even the wind made Iskall jumpy. And it didn't help that clouds were low, giving Grian cover for dive-bombing. The fog was JUST receding, and small animals would randomly scurry past. And- a small figure darted from a bush. He froze, not wanting to set anything off. "H-hello...?"

He looked around carefully, but saw nothing. Nothing at all. A small flicker of a movement caught his eye. He whipped towards the movement, and drew an arrow. Nothing. Nothing was there. Another movement caught his eye, but this time, it was closer. He turned, and nothing was to be found. Another movement, another turn, and more nothing. Another movement flashed, closer this time... too close..

Yelping, he fired the arrow. He silently counted to ten before approaching. He crept forward towards the figure. "Hello...? Anyone there...?"

A bush moved and soft sound came in response.

Creeping closer, Iskall looked at the bush. He saw the arrow sticking out of a tree stump. Then he saw the figure. He laughed at his stupidity, scooped it up, and cradled it.

"Awww.....you wouldn't hurt me little guy now would you...?" He smiled at the fox cub, "Where's you momma little one? You seem way to young to be roaming around here by yourself now don't cha?"  It looked between three and seven months. If it was the latter, he would just be becoming independent. But still, he must have run away because foxes don't leave their parents until around ten months.

Iskall smiled at the precious creature. Then he frowned, noticing the fact that it was shaking. "Did I scare ya? I'm sorry about that.....I didn't know it was you! I'd never hurt something as adorable as you! You little bundle of adorableness!" He smiled again at the creature, and it slowly stopped shaking. Then it squirmed around, so its front paws were on Iskall's chest and it's hind legs were on his arms. "Whatcha doin there little one..?" Iskall smiled. The fox licked his cheek. "Awww...."

He looked at the tiny creature. "Let's go find your momma ok?" The fox licked his cheek again, pulled his front paws off of Iskall, curled up in his arms, nuzzled his inner elbow, and went to sleep.

He looked down at the small creature, as it's breathing slowed. He smiled at the peacefulness of it. He gently kissed the top of it's head, not wanting to wake it. It moved a little, curling up even tighter. Smiling, Iskall slowly and carefully walked around the area, looking for something that'd help him find the parent of this tiny creature. He followed some barely visible tiny paw prints for about ten minutes straight before they completely faded. He looked at the small creature, still in his arms. It slowly blinked, and looked up at him. It let out the most adorable, lovable, quietest yawn ever, and looked directly at Iskall. He smiled at the creature. It looked over his arm, towards the ground as if it was wanting down. Iskall understood this and set it down.

Iskall looked around the area, while the fox circled around a few feet away.

They were in a clearing, and there was little to no grass. The ground was level, and Iskall was standing in the middle of a dirt circle that went out for 10 to 13ish feet. The circle was oddly-just-about-perfectly-round. There was about a three foot length of two--three inch grass on the edge of the circle that was met by tall and thick tiaga trees that branched out, covering view of the place from the sky. Oddly though, only one side of the trees let in sunlight, while the other half barely let any in, almost none arguably. Half in between and half in front of the trees were a mix of blueberries and some strange red berry bushes. Iskall hadn't seen this type of red berries before... The really odd thing was, if you looked hard enough, you could see small white specks falling from the trees, but only from one side. And, if you squinted, you could just make out some snow of top of the trees, but only one side of the trees, the same side with little light and the white specks. Iskall moved closer to this side, and attempted to look behind the branches. He got whapped in the face. Shaking his head, he tried again. Again he got the same result.

The fox trotted over to Iskall, and tugged on his pant leg. He looked down at the creature. "Yes you adorable creature?" The fox moved a few feet away, then looked to Iskall, as if it was asking him to follow. Hesitantly Iskall followed the creature. It sat down next to a bush and stared right at it. Iskall looked at the creature. "Yes.......? Is this what you wanted to show me?" Iskall squatted down next to the fox and tilted his head.

The fox pressed its' head into Iskall's hand, then pulled away. It bit one of the red berries off a bush and dropped it into Iskall's palm. He looked at the fox. The fox looked at him, then the berry, then Iskall again. Laughing, Iskall held the berry to the fox, who happily ate it. It looked at Iskall, red berry juice smeared on its' face and then looked to the bush.

 It bit off more berries off, and had Iskall feed them to it for about ten minutes straight. When Iskall offered the fox another berry, it refused and pushed Iskall's hand towards Iskall. He looked at the fox. "You want me to eat it....? I mean.....ok...?" Iskall ate the berry, and smiled. It was sweet. Like, really sweet. He looked at the fox. "Sweet berries eh?" He smiled and went to reach for another, but noticed something. He looked at the fox. "You smart little creature!" He smiled and looked at the bush. The fox and him had eaten enough berries, creating a small berry-free clearing in the bush. Iskall looked through and smiled more. There was snow! On one side of the clearing was a normal forest, and on the other was a snowy one! He smiled and looked to the fox.

Before he could say anything, another bush rustled, this time, it was right next to him.

Iskall stared in awe as a family of snowy foxes came through the bush. They looked at him. He didn't move. The fox licked his face. The snowy foxes took this as a sign of trust and stared eating some of the red berries. Iskall watched, statue-still, as the family got their food and scurried off. Then he turned to the fox he found earlier. The fox looked at him, then looked around, like it was waiting. Iskall sat down and watched for a while as the fox circled and whined and waited for something. Nothing came and the for went over to Iskall. He figured it was waiting for its' family. He smiled and picked up the creature.

"Hey.....it's ok....I'll be your family ok...?" He smiled at the fox as it licked his cheek in approval. "You like that idea?" Iskall laughed a small bit, "Yeah, me too!"

As he stood up, the fox jumped on top of his head, stretched out, and held on for dear life. Iskall laughed as a paw was placed on both sides on his head, and one between his eyes. Smiling he got ready to leave the clearing. He looked around, then realized something. He was lost. He was lost and didn't know where he was. Thinking for a second, he decided Mumbo would know. The dude knew everything. He pulled out his phone and messaged Mumbo.

"Hey! Kinda lost in the woods.. can I get some help over here?"

He got no response.

"Hello?"

No response.

"Mumbo???"

Nothing.

"MUMBO?? "

Nada.

"R U EVEN THERE?!!!?!?!?!"

Iskall gave up....on messaging.... He called Mumbo, but was shocked at the response. It didn't go off forever, meaning Mumbo WASN'T busy, instead, barely a second after called it made a small ring sound, and the call page disappeared. Mumbo had declined. Mumbo never declined.... "This must be a mistake right?!" Calming his thoughts, he called again. It was declined. Again.

He stood there shocked. That had never happened before....they were friends... Shaking the thought off, he called Xisuma. He was the admin, so he'd have a good chance at knowing. It was declined......why was he being declined.... Iskall started to worry. He was lost and nobody would answer. He looked at the Fox and decided to take his chances. He called Grian. It rang, it rang some more. It went off for a solid 45 seconds before it was declined.

Why was everybody declining him?! He hadn't done anything! What was happening?!

He looked at the Fox. He put his phone away and sat there. Nothing happened. Nobody responded back. Nobody even acknowledged him. This had never happened before...

"I guess it's just you and me buddy..." He smiled at the Fox, in which slid down onto his shoulder. It looked him right in the eye. It licked Iskall, then it slid down his arm and leg, and sat on the ground, whining. It made slow circles around Iskall, slowly getting farther each time it completed a circle. Iskall looked and watched in fascination. He's never seen a Fox this young. He's never seen this place. And he certainly never had been in this situation before today.

Sighing, he sat next to a bush, picked some berries, and ate them. He was lost, so he might as well know his surroundings.

He sat there for hours, watching the Fox circle, with the occasional fox family coming and going. By now it was around three. He decided to try again with Mumbo.

He messaged Mumbo again.

Hello??? Still stuck over here!

No response.

Mumbo! Why'd you decline?

More nothing.

Mumbo! Answer me please! I know your there you've declined my calls!

Not even read.

Please...?

He decided to try with X...maybe that'd work....

X? Little help?

Nothing.

I'm lost and stuck in the woods.

Nothing.

Mumbo's by answering and now you?!

Nothing with a side of nothing and some extra nothing.

Xisuma!

A little extra nothing.

Please! Answer!

Read. It turned from delivered to read.

That hurt worse. Xisuma wasn't busy, he was ignoring him! He left him on read! He'd saw it change! What was happening?!

He tried for Grian. He straight up called this time. It rung. It wasn't declined, so it rang more. After a solid minute it stopped, proving nobody answered. Iskall smiled. At least it wasn't declined "What if it was ignored though? What if Grian just didn't  answer?? What if he didn't care! WHAT IF-" His thoughts were cut off. His phone. Was ringing..

(Word Count: A beautiful 2000)

(Yeah in proud of that. Normally I don't go that far but now I think I've set a standard for myself......yeah that isn't gonna turn out well... Also my mind is starting to go blank so delays in chapters might be getting longer. Oh! Also.. also the next chapter is gonna be 800 words or less so that's why this is extra long.. that and I enjoyed this chapter because of the fox)