PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXI Part III

Brownie quickly exited the room, emerging from the house and into the frigid late-autumn air. She half expected bits of snow to start falling, and curled herself up in her Hachiko outfit as best as she could, regretting not taking her coat out with her.

Once outside, Brownie immediately noticed Coco had moved from her position at the gate, and she didn't need to look around to know where she had gone. Although the sudden disappearance gave her a start, she trusted the cat, and knew she wouldn't run off to leave everyone defenceless.

"Coco?" Brownie said, walking past the open wrought iron gate with it's adorable cat head post cap ever vigilantly staring down the stone pathway. It was evident the wind had picked up her words, making them inaudible to the cat from this distance. Brownie looked towards Sparky, finally seeing the cat.

Coco was turned towards Sparky's body, largely covering the mess from the corgi's sight, but the fact Coco was unflinchingly staring at the macabre mess worried her.

Brownie sighed, nervously looking about the yard as she pondered on what to say to the cat. Her eyes drifted about the dirt as she tucked her paws into her pants pocket for warmth. She had heard about particularly short-haired breeds using thick woollen jackets during the cold, and wondered if she'd end up wanting one anytime soon. As she pondered, her lilac eyes jotted about to Angel's grave- now vacant of course- and re-read the inscription atop it.

"Furever Loved

ANGEL

12/13/18 - 10/23/19"

"Man, why the heck did she even need a grave if she was just gonna instantly bring him back..?" She shrugged, then noticed a bit of chalk scribbled on the stone pathway just in front of the headstone. Looking at it more closely revealed it was circular, and although largely worn out, the markings were clearly once a rune of some sort. She briefly wondered why it was there, then realized it was almost certainly the fault of Mitt, but a small part of her worried it was some horrific trap laid by Patches.

"Ugh, stop living rent-free in my head," Brownie grumbled, clutching at the side of her muzzle and sighing in exasperation.

She shook her head violently back and forth, clearing her head of the unwanted thoughts. Once she was done ruffling the fur on her head, she reached up and began to comb through her tangerine-coloured hair with her paw. Once she was presentable enough, she turned away from the grave and rune, then exited the yard and began walking her way towards the bombay.

The cat was still clothed head to toe in her witching outfit, the hat barely able to stay atop her head as winds kicked the baggy dress around. "Coco?" Brownie prodded, trying to warn the bombay of her approach.

Worryingly, Coco didn't much turn to Brownie, opting instead to flinch at the sound of her name and then continue to stare at Sparky's corpse, a corpse which Brownie dared not look at.

"Coco, I don't know what you're doing, but, you probably shouldn't stare at that thing..." Brownie said, grimacing as she shut her eyes and trying to ignore the light scent of blood in the air.

"That thing is Sparky," she replied, unable to hide her contempt. "He's dead, Brownie."

"I know but like... you're worrying me." Brownie couldn't stand the scent any longer, and turned around in an attempt to hide her discomfort from Coco, facing away from her as she opened her eyes again. "I know we need to do something about him, but please, just come inside, please? Olive's all sad, Rover's about to pass out, and I'm about to lock myself in the bathroom again from all the stress, please."

Coco said nothing at first, narrowing her yellow eyes at the body and grimacing. "... I was just getting a bit of fur." Coco revealed her bestarred wand from underneath her baggy outfit and letting it glow as her magic clipped a small bit of bloodied fur from the corpse, then hovered it over towards herself. She grasped it in her paw, bunching it up like a bundle of arrows as she felt the wet blood tickle her pads.

Brownie casually shrugged. "Oh... you need that to bring him back?"

"It helps."

There was a moment of silence as Coco continued to stare at the corpse, eyes addled in anger. Brownie patiently waited for her to turn around and leave, but quickly became impatient as the scent reminded her of too many awful things.

"Brownie."

"Yeah?" she responded with a chill-induced sniffle.

"Turn around for me."

Brownie tittered, "Eh, Coco, I'd really rather not..."

Coco's body clenched in frustration, and through some sixth sense Brownie could understand not listening to the cat might be bad for their relationship.

"Okay, alright." Brownie shut her eyes, then spun around, putting her hands on her hips and waiting with a frown.

"Look at him."

"Heh, wh- Coco, what's gotten into you?"

Coco sneered. "Brownie, do you know how hard it was for me to lose Angel?"

Brownie took a step back, wincing as she felt Coco's paw wrap around her wrist and tug her forward. "Coco!"

"Do you have any idea? I gave myself the excuse that I was too busy to have stopped his death, and that going after Hachiko was the least I could do to give us both closure."

Brownie's eyes began to wince open, her face pleading with Coco as she avoided looking at the corpse as best she could. "Coco-"

"The real reason I couldn't stop Patches? I didn't care enough about Angel, and I didn't care about the lives of the dogs I had killed either- I just wanted to tell myself that I had done everything I could to avenge my brother, just to prove that I did care about him."

"Coco, m-my wrist-"

"After he died I realized my mistake in not caring for him, and after the massacre I realized my mistake in wanting to use dogs as a scapegoat. I am done with being an uncaring bitch, but I can't pretend like Patches isn't out there, looking for my brother day and night."

"Coco let go, please!"

"Please, Brownie, I'm terrified of what he's going to do to hurt everyone, and I can't pretend like everything is sunshine and rainbows until he's gone. I'm so angry at him, I can barely stand it, and now Sparky's dead; there's no going back! He needs to die or he will kill us!"

"Coco you're scaring me!"

From the barest vision Brownie admitted to herself, she saw Coco's face flush with horror, losing it's enraged veneer in an instant. Her scowl turned into a petrified look of worry. "B-B- I'm sorry I-" she stammered, letting go of the dog's wrist and taking a step back.