Two Sides of the Moon. (Beastars AU)

Chapter 18: Voices

The rumored 'Black Market' was right before them. It was unlike anything the young carnivores had seen. Even from the entrance, they could smell the scent of blood that was leaking from the back of the ally.

Kai began to sweat. He turned to Aoba and Bill who were also frozen on the spot and touched their arms to get a response from them. They did nothing but stare vacantly at the entrance way as if they had passed out on their feet.

The mongoose then turned to Legosi who was in a complete daze and called out, "H-Hey! Legosi... are you alright?"

Legosi, who was still in shock from seeing the ram's hands, was also unresponsive to Kai. All he could do was look down at the horrifying scene in front of him. The scent of blood and meat coming from the animal bombarded his canine senses. As the spoor slowly began to overwhelm him, the wolf felt his heart accelerate as reality started to deteriorate before him.

Kai ran up to the large canine. "Hey man, say something." Legosi didn't say anything. The small carnivore was starting to worry. He tried patting the wolf's back to see if his friend would move but as he expected Legosi remained petrified before him.

As he continued to stare at the ram's hands, Legosi found himself taken back to a very familiar scene. The old herbivore disappeared before his eyes and in the stranger's place was Jack. The wolf was completely taken back by the sudden appearance of his best friend, and was even more surprised to see that the bloody hands were gone as well. Instead, they were replaced with Jack's hands whose fingers were intertwined with the wolf's.

"Jack... what are you doing here?" the confused wolf asked.

Jack said nothing. Instead he smiled and held up both his and Legosi's hands that were still interlocked.

"I don't understand," Legosi said as his ear flickered back and forth.

Jack looked at their hands. "These hands of yours are soft and warm and they make some of the most amazing designs I've ever seen. Even with these admittedly cool claws, I just don't see you hurting anyone with them." The labrador looked back up at Legosi. "You really are an amazing animal."

"Jack I-" before Legosi could say anything, Jack began to fade away.

"Hey kid."

"Jack wait!" the wolf called.

"HEY KID! SNAP OUT OF IT!" the ram yelled, trying to wake up the large canine from his dream.

Suddenly, Legosi let go of the adult herbivore's hands as he jumped back with a gasp.

"Legosi are you ok?" Aoba asked as he ran up to the wolf.

The wolf looked back down at his hands before looking around and felt something on his back. Legosi looked down behind him and saw Kai petting his back. He then felt something on his shoulder and turned to see Aoba giving him a concerned look.

"Aoba, Kai...where are we?" the wolf asked, still in a daze.

The two shorter carnivores took their hands off their friend and looked at each other. It was clear to them that Legosi was traumatized by the horrific sight of the old animal. They had to choose their words carefully.

Aoba scratched his head and calmly spoke, "Listen Legosi, this place... it's this entrance to the black market."

"What!" Legosi barked as he took a step back. He looked down at Kai who simply nodded back at him.

The wolf started to sweat. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air which proved Aoba's claim. This time Legosi could smell everything, all the meat, all the blood, and all the different carnivores currently at the market that he missed because of the scare from the old ram.