Two Sides of the Moon. (Beastars AU)

Chapter 26: Meteor Festival part 2: Final Preparations

The start of the festival was an hour away and the students had started heading to the fairgrounds. While some of them just wanted to get to the games and activities, most of them had their eyes set on the opening ceremony. It was the first of the three shows where the Drama club dancers would perform. They were especially excited because this year's performance would have all the new club members perform alongside their seniors.

This of course included Collot, who had no knowledge of what transpired with his roommates just three hours prior. Collot arrived at room 701, his tail wagging with excitement as he opened the door and barked. "Hey guys, you gotta hear the good news I have. Guys?"

Collot looked around the room, but could not find a trace of his friends. "I guess they're still out. Either that or they already headed out to the festival," he thought. "Though if they wanted to meet there, I'd think they would've left a note or something..."

As the large dog continued looking around the room for anything that could tell him where the others went, a strange scent caught his attention. He sniffed the air and caught the scent of blood.

His face went pale and he felt his heart sink. He started sniffing around frantically until he finally found traces of dried blood at the foot of Miguno's bed.

"What the hell?!?" the canine said in horror as he felt his heart race. "Guys, GUYS?!" he shouted.

Collot, now in a panic, raced out of the room and the canine dorm knocking over two other dogs as he barged out the door. He looked around for anything that could tell him where his roommates went. It was here where he spotted Jack coming home from his meeting.

"JACK!" he shouted.

"Oh, hey Collot. What's mpf-"

Before Jack could finish Collot lifted him off the ground and brought him into a tight hug. "Jack, I'm so glad you're alright!"

"I'm... huff... glad, I'm ok too... gasp... but I won't be... huh... much longer if... gasp... I don't get any air!"

Collot's ears and tail jumped and he let Jack go. "Oh, sorry Jack, I guess I went overboard," he said apologetically.

"It's... cough... it's fine, I'm just glad you didn't crush me," Jack said with a grin as he caught his breath.

The labrador shook his head. "Anyway, want to tell me why I was almost a victim of the hug of death?"

Collot took a deep breath and spoke. "Ok, so I don't know what's going on exactly, but I went back to our room and no one was there. At first I thought that everyone was still out or had already left for the festival, but then I found fresh blood in our room," the sheepdog explained. "I'm worried something might have happened."

"WHAT!" Jack shouted. "Are you sure it was blood, like real blood and not one of Miguno's tricks?"

Collot nodded. "Yes, I'm sure it was the real thing! There's no way I would mistake it for something else."

Jack felt his heart race as the thought of one of or all his friends being hurt flooded his mind. He could feel another panic attack coming on as he started imagining what could have happened.

Before it could, however, Jack realized something important. "How much blood was there?" the yellow dog asked. "Was there a lot of it or like a drop?"

Collot scratched his head. "Well... there wasn't a lot of it, but there was definitely more than a drop. There were blood spots on the floor and at the foot of Miguno's bed."