PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXII Part IV

"I'd rather DIE," Dell cursed, rejecting his words but he could see by the welling of a tear in her eye that she was conflicted. "I'm done helping you, I know you want to hurt dogs and I just... I'll just do it myself."

Patches chuckled mockingly, tilting his head up and smiling widely at the rat terrier's vibrant yellow eyes. "Are you? And how are you going to do that? Dell, even I can't do something like that alone. You think if you waltz in there they'll be happy to see you? They'll think I let you out, and pop your guts out on the spot," he protested, suppressing a smile at the end.

Dell opened her mouth, face suddenly contorting as her body sharply drew in air, making a wheezing sound. The terrier could only bare her teeth and grimace at the embarrassing state her body kept her in. For a moment she stood there, drinking in the burning that began in her chest, and resisted it. Eventually, she unballed her paws and dove towards her fanny pack, brushing aside her filthy purple hoodie to get at the zipper, then darting for the contents as she had done a million times before. She stared at Patches as she brought up the inhaler to her mouth, depressed the canister, and drew in a sharp breath of the medicine contained inside.

"Hm! Seems your asthma is getting a tad better- not so much the wheezing mess you were before, are you?" he said with a smile and wag of his tail.

Dell exhaled, watching Patches confidently and patiently wait for her to be done with her asthma attack. For a moment, she exhaled and then let her breathing normalize. "I took some medicine before you came in. I've had it ever since I was born, it never gets less bad; I'm just pissed." She pointed her paw at Patches, still grasping the inhaler. "If I stayed away from you, everything would have been fine."

"Dell, you were the one who came up to me." He sighed, pleasant smile beginning to curdle as his tolerance began fade. "My dear, we don't have time for this. Just think about it; once I'm dead, do you think they'll stop caring about you? Do you think everything will go back to normal?" He flagrantly gestured with a paw. "Or do you think once I'm taken care of, they'll just ostracize you and hand you over to the pawlice so you can get thrown in the pound for torturing a dog and kidnapping a cat."

Dell was almost disgusted, "You think they'd throw me in the pound for kidnapping a cat? They'd probably thank me."

Patches chuckled in agreement, nodding his head. "You're missing the point; once this is over, things aren't going to miraculously get better for you, you'd be lucky if they went back to normal."

"But- I-" Dell stammered, frustrated as it seemed like the dalmatian was starting to make sense.

"No matter what you do for them, Dell, you'll just end up like me; a footnote in their success, a monster to be ridiculed. You'll be known as a murderer's accomplice throughout the rest of your life, plain and simple."

Dell strode forward, now within arm's reach of the dalmatian, and stuck her face in his while scowling. "You don't know him- Cujo wouldn't do that, or let that happen!"

"He's already done it, Dell," Patches wryly said, flinching at the sudden aggressive posturing but not daring to step back and show inconfidence. "He threw you aside the moment he knew what you were doing- no care for why you did it, or how you felt. You'll never get the chance to have him remember what happened because he'll never believe you."

Dell shook her fists, throwing them to the side as she took a step away from the dalmatian. "Well what the hell am I supposed to do then? Just leave me alone!"

"Don't be so pessimistic," he demanded, bemused. "You know me, I always have a plan; you either kickstart his memory like yours was, or we get our hands on the crystal ball-"

"No, no we are not doing this!"

"Dell, your precious little golden is inside of that house. The crystal ball is the only surefire way to get his memory back, and both of us are going to need it if we're going to get everyone to remember what happened."

"Aren't you just going to kill everyone with it."

Patches rolled his eyes, sighing, "I healed everyone-" he drew in air sharply through his snout, pinching the bridge of his muzzle in frustration. "I'm done with this. I get that I'm a shitty person, and that you probably don't trust me, but I would've killed you the moment I saw you if I didn't care about you, Dell." He realized he was staring right at her with his brows furrowed, and corrected his mistake by forcing them towards the floor, hanging his head and frowning. "I'm just sorry you never thought of me as a friend..." He let a single bead form at the corner of his eye, then turned around, clutching Mitt's wand in front of himself and out of Dell's sight, intensely frowning as it began to well with lethal magic.

Dell shut her eyes, scrunched her features, and drew in air slowly. "... Wait..." she sighed out, taking a step towards the dalmatian with shame worn into her face. "I'll come with you."