Chapter ? transition
Gus woke up on the grass, it was quite bright outside and his eyes quickly adjusted. He noticed the temperature felt a perfect cozy warmth, normally he was not super comfortable temperature wise upon waking. He looked around and realized everything seemed so vibrant. He scratched at his neck out of habit and realized his collar was not there, he was quite surprised and briefly worried because he lost his shield. He looked at himself, his fur was absolutely perfect looking, that was very unusual. Normally he was all disheveled when he woke up. He didn't feel hungry and he didn't have to pee. He felt slightly euphoric.
Something awfully strange was going on he thought. He looked around the area where he was and though he didn't recognize the area it still felt familiar. He shook his head a bit, confused.
He wanted to find the most important thing to him. Nutmeg was nowhere to be seen. He called out to her but no response. He ran around sniffing everything he could trying to find her scent with disappointing results.
He realized he had full color eyesight again, so strange.
A fox appeared and walked toward Gus. Gus didn't know who this fox was yet the fox really looked familiar.
"Hello", Gus called out, "Do I know you?"
"I helped you escape the burning building, remember?"
Gus did remember. "Oh yeah I remember now, what is going on here, where is Nutmeg?"
"I had saved you because it wasn't your time yet, but now..."
Gus started to understand what was going on now. "Is she okay at least?"
"She will be fine, it is very sad for her right now, even I don't know when her time will come, but it isn't now".
"So what happens now?" Gus asked.
"I am here to help you with your transition to heaven or the perfect here or whatever you call it". "I know your full past and that did complicate things, but it will work out".
"I will help and answer any questions you have."
Two more foxes came out of the woodwork, a vixen and a dog-fox. He didn't recognize the vixen at all but he knew he recognized the dog-fox, he just couldn't put a name on him. "Hi I know I know you, but from where?" Gus asked "And what is your name?"
"I didn't live long enough to get a name, I was one of your first kits but I didn't survive." "I basically started my life here and I found a mate that had a similar fate as me."
The memories came back to Gus and he felt a tear.
"No no, don't feel bad, there was nothing you could have done, you cared enough to give me a proper burial, us gray foxes are not perfect and sometimes it works out that way." "I heard about your life story and it still blows my mind." "You should probably talk with the other fox some more, we can romp around later." They both wandered off.
"So what do I do now?" Gus asked the fox.
"You can pretty much do whatever you want, we can get you a mate if you want since yours isn't here yet."
Gus thought about that with mixed feelings, he didn't want to be alone though. He had a question that was embarrassing and he thought maybe inappropriate but he had to ask. "Can we still mate?"
"Ha ha, that is not at all an uncommon question, I get that question from most of the foxes in fact." "The answer is whatever floats your boat, have fun."
Gus wasn't particularly in that mood but he had to know. Maybe when Nutmeg came over he would consider that. He still felt bad for her on the other side though.
Another fox came out of the woods, this one was a vixen but he didn't know her name.
"You must be Gus" she called out. "My name is Ember, I have heard all about you, fascinating."
"That is a beautiful name", Gus said as he walked toward her. They sniffed each other as per usual and they both kissed each others noses. They both wrestled around a bit in the grass. After that they both bounded off together.
