PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XIX Part III

Cujo walked over to the large oaken chair, noting how well worn it seemed as he slipped his inflexible, thick tail between the gaps in the back and let it swish around freely, skimming along the floor with its length. The dog didn't seem to know how to react to the situation- it was clear he was embarrassed, but aside from the sweat running down his brow and the lip curled with uncertainty, his eyes reflected relief as they grew soft.

Coco threw herself onto the chair with a creaking sound. She instinctively stretched her back and arms as she usually did when she prepared to start studying- then, she addressed Cujo properly. "Okay, first, I just really want to apologize for Brownie's behaviour; she's just really dumb and embarrassing and-"

Cujo waved a paw in the air, interrupting the cat, "Hey hey, it's fine! You guys were doing your thing and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess." Cujo reached a black, blunt claw up to the tip of his muzzle, scratching at it, "I just didn't expect to be seeing something like that today."

"O-Okay, but I'm still super sorry for how sassy she's being towards you. She just acts like this towards absolutely everyone, so please don't take it personally."

"Yeah yeah! It's fine- it's fine, emm..." Cujo trailed off, appearing contemplative.

Coco let her eyes sink towards the floor as a sadness began to drip into her heart, forecasting the whirlpool which she felt growing in her core. "... And I still didn't apologize for how I acted earlier. I shouldn't have tried using you as a guinea pig, no matter how certain I was that the whole cat demon thing was going to work."

Cujo tittered, "I mean, it didn't." His half-assed chuckles turned into a low bellow as he squeezed his eyes shut and smiled wide. "Oh dude, I nearly died because you tried summoning that thing!"

"Well why are you..." Coco paused, immediately battling with the sucking wound in her chest and desperately trying to beat back the tears, which involuntarily began to well.

"Laughing?" Cujo prompted, "Well, it's in the past I guess; no use thinking about it... But I think I know what Mitt wanted me to talk to you about before..."

Coco couldn't speak. Her throat stitched itself closed as the anxiety rose up from her chest like bile.

"... Or, well, I think I knew this whole time. I guess I just really didn't want to hear the answer, honestly." Cujo paused to play with the tip of his huge left ear, trying to curl the thing around a digit like it was his hair. "But after seeing you and Brownie, I'm pretty confident."

Cujo looked Coco in the eyes. She squeezed her paws shut around her wand's handle, the thing was impossibly tough, but she could swear she could feel the thing bending under her paws, like it was slowly melting.

"I just- look, it's stupid, but my friend is the one that helped Patches, right? She told me just- the dumbest stuff, and keeps insisting on it being real."

The wand's magic fed back into Coco. The weight of every bolt cast, every demon summoned, and every barrier constructed weighed her body down.

Cujo nervously laughed again, shaking his head at the thought. "Like, you know this is dumb and I don't want to even bother you with it- but Mitt said to do it and I don't want to upset them so..."

She was reminded of the collar she had dispelled. She couldn't believe Patches had apologized to her, and at the moment, she had such high hopes for him at the time.

"... Like, Dell really doesn't like cats, and she really doesn't like you, and I don't even know how or why but..."

Maybe she was reading too much into it. Maybe Patches was just manipulating her as he was want to do, but something in Coco told her that the words were genuine; she wouldn't have dispelled his collar otherwise.

"And, again, this is purely hypothetical; the ravings of a mad dog, if you will."

She genuinely thought he could change, despite how much she hated everything he was. Olive's kindness was infectious and gave Coco the clarity to understand that she wasn't unlike Patches- they were ultimately both the same person; it was only the fact that one had changed before the other that allowed Coco to have the friends she now had. She was different now; she had renounced her deeds and been given a second chance; she had changed.

But still, here it was.

"But, uh..."

Here came the truth.

"Did you cause the massacre?"

"..."

"..?"

"... Yes, I did."

Cujo violently and firmly shuddered. The words were muttered, but they may as well have been a concussive boom for how much they surprised the dog. He clutched the seat of his chair, then stood up reflexively, studying the cat's face.

"I'm sorry," Coco said.

Cujo let his mouth hang ajar. He wanted to say something, but was stunned by the revelation. Coco could barely look at him in the face, and let her head hang in shame. She could just barely see tears welling in Cujo's eyes before they receded. He seemed devastated, but was eventually able to close his mouth and give a small, half-hearted smile to Coco, then turn about, stride twice, and grasp the door's handle.

"W-Wait!" Coco stammered out with what little will she had. "I know I don't deserve f-forgiveness, but I'm really trying to get better; I've changed! I was so violent and stupid, I'm so sorry, please..." her eyes shifted lower towards the floor alongside her head, "I just want to move past it, I'm so sorry." Coco lifted her paws up to her face and let her head rest on them, hiding her shame.

"E-eh..." Cujo began, looking at Coco with pity. "You... you really like that corgi, right?"

Coco nodded, still pressing her face into her paws as hard as she could- letting her claws dig into her forehead.

Cujo spoke in a sombre tone that almost seemed like he was sighing his words out, "Then... Then I believe you. I don't know why you did it, or what made you change your mind, but... I just need to talk to Dell, and I need to think about things."

"So... you- you don't hate me?"

"Heh..." Cujo sighed, "Honestly, I think I hate myself more than you right now."

The golden retriever turned back towards the door, and turned the handle.

--- Author's Note:

Forgot to put this earlier, but the reason for the earlier was haitus was due to rewrites being made. If you wanna, you can check those out and see the changes made (particularly to chapters with mitt, cujo, or olive in em).

Otherwise I'm currently getting my Java certification over the next week cuz its nearly free to take the exam, so that's awesome. This does mean I'm not gonna have as much time to edit but expect another chapter inside of the next couple of days. Once my cert is done I'll write up a bunch more stuff since I'll be able to focus on it entirely.

Thanks for reading <3