At least the tick-eaters had returned the next week after the appearance of the ticks. If Fang were to use Earth naming conventions, he'd call the creature a pinstriped tickbat, but he wasn't sure what they would've actually been called by some kind of... big scientific community that existed here before Chaos took everything from him. He just knew they were a mostly gentle grey-yellow color with pinstripes of lighter and darker grey-greens and grey-yellows to imitate some of the different types of grasses, that they were very cute, and that they ate ticks. The most important factor in their existence, he thought, other than the very fact that they existed again at all.
There was one that stayed near Fang's old den, the one where he'd lived with his Chrysocyon family, that Fang had simply named "Fletigo". Flying friend. It liked to swoop and dive around him, performing fascinating feats of acrobatics that had Fang enthralled. Perhaps Fletigo was a little bit vain, because he seemed to enjoy putting on shows for Fang. Fang loved it.
Besides the bats, small lizards that he didn't know the name of appeared, but they were sleek and pretty and ran very, very fast, with bright blue stripes down their emerald green backs that screamed "dangerous, don't eat!" Fang was pretty sure they'd been some kind of delicacy, if they were cooked right, but he couldn't say for certain, and the idea of "cooked right" scared him enough that he didn't want to try it, even if more lizards came alive to allow him to hunt them safely. He decided, if he didn't remember the name of them right now, to call them rapai lizards for their speed and stripes.
In the weeks after, there had been limdos (apparently called slugs on Earth, but Fang was adamant they were called slimes in his own language), some kind of bird that reminded him of a sparrow, but they only ever clung to vertical surfaces (if they were on the ground, they were sick or injured), mosquitos, and then an even smaller bird that flew so fast it nearly exclusively hunted the rapai lizards, apparently unbothered by whatever kind of stuff the lizards had evolved to ward off other sorts of predators. This one remembered learning about in school in the brief time he'd been able to attend. Winchels. Speed-wings.
The most exciting development, perhaps, was in mid-February, when the anak rabbits had returned. They were small, but still good. Not good for eating by Fangan standards, too much like Earth mice, really, but still nice. He loved them all the same.
What he didn't love was the way the storms made the few animals he had act. While Fang suspected there were a couple more animals he had yet to stumble upon, he considered this the fault of the storms that the Calamitous Hollow brought along with it as it barreled through space towards Earth. He hated it for what it was doing to his planet. He'd worked so hard for so long to clear the air, to see his red sun again, to see the life return. He'd painfully paid for every animal slowly returning to Fang with his blood, sweat, and tears.
He would not allow this creature to harm his home. He would not allow anything to harm his home ever again. Never. This was his home. As much as Earth mattered to him now, Fang would always be where he'd return to. He looked up at the sky, the clouds hanging low in the air, but he felt if he squinted, he could see the red rays of his sun peeking through, warming him.
"Fang promise," he said lowly, not even startled when Fletigo and Irinho came to his side, looking at him like they knew what he was thinking. "Fang will never abandon Fang. He will destroy this Calamitous Hollow creature, protect Earth, protect Fang. Home is happy now. Home not scary. Home is safe, and Fang will keep it safe!"
The weight of the promise must have spoken to something deep within his planet. Fang no longer had any fear, residual or otherwise, of returning to his home. His heart no longer raced when he thought of it. His home was safe. His words were true, through and through. His planet recognized it.
Flowers bloomed at his feet, ones he hadn't seen in so, so many years. He recognized them as his favorite. Fremesa. Promise flowers. If you gave them to someone, you were making a promise you intended to keep, usually used as some form of apology. Distantly, he remembered his mother giving them to his father for some reason or another, and they had gone out for the night together after that, leaving Fang with a babysitter of some kind.
Markings trailed down his arms, glowing softly, and he looked down in wonder and awe. More appeared on his stomach and he gasped in sheer delight, startling Fletigo off his shoulder. The bat landed on Irinho's back instead, the runty chrysocyon that had come from his little wisp friend not daring to move, but giving throaty yips of excitement to match Fang's own.
The soft blue markings looked like brambles on his arms, all clearly descending down onto his stomach and merging, or perhaps transforming, into the image of a ghostly chrysocyon, a gorgeous picture that made Fang feel... a lot. A lot of positive things he couldn't quite identify with words.
He knelt down and hugged Irinho, disturbing Fletigo once more as he cried happy tears. He'd... achieved something people of the past could only ever dream of. He'd... He was so, so lucky. His home loved him back.
His home loved him back.
