PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXVI Part VI

"I'm proud of you," Brownie whispered to the cat. "Besides, I don't know what you're worried about, now that I have Patches' wand!" She raised the rod up to the air like a sword, and waved it around in a cheery way that scared the fur off of the bombay just next to her.

"Brownie," Coco began, staring at her with dull eyes, "Please don't get us killed doing that." She almost seemed relieved that the Corgi couldn't use the wand- or at least the random throwing about of it didn't lead to anything substantial.

Cujo opened the door, allowing Dell into the kitchen much like a gentleman might. It allowed Olive to see his forceful smile fade the moment Dell's eyes were no longer on it, giving the mutt pause. Once the door closed, they muttered "I hope they're okay..."

Coco playfully patted Brownie's paw out of the air, a gesture begging her to take the moment more seriously. The bombay then turned her gaze at Olive, a mixture of uncertainty and directionless disappointment. "Olly- I mean, erm," Brownie smirked at the stutter, "Olive, I don't know if I need to say this, but we can't worry about Patches- when we go up there, we need to disarm him as soon as we can." Her tired eyes became poised, honed at Olive's cheery demeanour.

The red dog brought a paw to their muzzle and began to sweat. "I know! I just- you can probably capture him and not hurt him because you're really smart and good at magic!"

"I-" Coco blushed, then leaned her head towards the dog, giving her a more menacing stature. "Well of course I can, but all I'm saying is that he has Rover, and I don't know what he's done to Sparky." Before Olive could respond, Coco gritted her teeth and spoke through them. "And remember we can't use Bapawmet, which means Sparky can't be healed until Patches dies."

Olive recoiled at the harshness with which the words were said, letting Brownie scoff and insert herself into the conversation. "We don't know that," she said optimistically, grabbing the cat's arm harder, sliding it into a hug to hopefully distract the cat with the corgi's soft fuzzy fur. "And I know with us on your side, you could fix anything with your magic."

Coco's cheeks grew redder, looking to the corgi attached to her left arm and almost scoffing at the gall she must have to do this in front of Olive. "H-Hey! But..." she blew air out her nose, leaning into the dog as she shut her eyes and let her head rest on the corgi's bandages. "I'm sorry, I'm just..." she opened her eyes and looked up at Olive, "I wanted to believe in Patches at one point too, but... he betrayed that trust. I let him off of his collar because I thought he could change, if I wouldn't have done that, none of this would be happening." She gripped her wand with both paws, grimacing. "I'm not going to let anyone make that same mistake, especially not after he hurt my brother again. He doesn't deserve forgiveness, and I'm not going to let anyone else get hurt if I can stop it."

Olive hung their head, melancholy taking over them in their moment of weakness. Despite having gained back some pep, they were still prone to becoming sad. "I just don't understand... w-why would Patchie want to hurt us if he healed everyone..." they sighed, "maybe we just didn't try hard enough..."

While Brownie was busy affectionately nuzzling herself into Coco's arm, the cat herself narrowed her eyes and groaned. "Let's just figure out how we're going to get Rover back, and more importantly..." her eyes swayed to the side, "how we're going to capture Patches."

Olive's smile was short lived. There were sounds of a struggle just out of earshot- eminating from the upstairs. The dog winced at the sound of fabric against fabric, and the occasional bumping against drywall.

Coco's ears piqued at the sound, recognizing it for what it was. "Brownie," she demanded, putting her left paw out to recieve something.

Still hugging the cat, Brownie sighed and then raised the wand in her right paw up to Coco's left, depositing it into her grip.

Coco then let both of the wands fall to her side, and cast a sideways glance to the corgi. "You maybe want to let go of me now?"

Brownie smiled and shut her eyes, still holding the cat affectionately. "Not really."

Coco exhaled though her nose, shutting her eyes and then opening the yellow things, narrowing them at the staircase. "So you finally decide to stop hiding behind other people?" she said, voice full of spite.

Olive quaked in fear, moving behind Coco, anxiety filling their lungs and making their head hazy with the suddenness of the situation.

"Heh," a masculine voice came from just out of view, "not quite..."

First the muffled yelps grew louder, then the trio saw the flailing, bound legs of Rover come into frame, followed by the rest of the dog. His ankles and wrists had been tied, with the latter behind his back and being held by the dalmatian. His mouth had been gagged with some of Angel's clothing, much in the same way his arms and legs had been bound.

The dog's eyes pleaded with Coco the moment they came into frame, but she wasn't watching for that, and while Brownie let go of the cat at seeing the situation unfold before her, Coco didn't falter, and stared down the dalmatian as he began to descend the stairs.

The bombay's wand began to glow the moment she saw his tired, grey eyes staring down hers from behind Rover. The dalmatian turned to face his crowd as best as he could, finding it awkward with how Rover was positioned. He put on his best grin, and rolled the knife around in his paw, letting the glimmer of the blade reflect off the light overhead the center of the room.

"Hello..." his eyes wandered from the bombay to behind her, directly at Olive, "... Coco."