PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXXIV Part IV

The air had grown hot, clammy, and despite the situation, it still bugged him; he wanted to relax, be anywhere else but this.

"So, to recap..." Felix said as professionally as he could, "You tried saving a dog named Joshua from a cat demon, and that's how you look like..."

He examined the manul, ignoring her teary eyes and panicked half-sobs, leaning back uncomfortably as he looked over the splatters and dabs of blood all over the front of her uniform.

"Right..." he sighed, brushing a paw through his hair. "I'm sorry, thank you for explaining."

Lyro drew the manul's head up with his excited speech. "Well, I'm glad you're okay, at least it didn't get you."

Her greyed eye lifelessly stared on, trickles of water welling in their corners, then her shoulders straightened and her chest inflated with fresh air. "They ignored me, they chose not to attack me. I let them die, my friends-" she cringed, fresh tears sprouting from her face.

Felix curled his paws up. "Demons don't attack cats, Lyro," he whispered to his boyfriend on his way to the manul. "It's in the past, we need to focus on keeping you alive, they wouldn't want you to die as well."

As the forest cat clasped Olivia's shoulder and lightly pet her back, the grey feline began to relax. Her body curled away from its inward position, wiping at their tears with the flat of their paws. "I could have saved them, I'm a monster. I killed them."

Lyro swallowed watching Felix calm down the cat, wondering if he had said something wrong. "H-Hey, what's your name?" he said in an attempt to switch topics. "Mine's Lyro."

She meandered in her thoughts, exhaling loudly, and trying her best to not resume sobbing. "O... Olivia."

"Well," Felix began, "Olivia, you're going to be okay."

Her head sagged, conflict raging across her features, then those gleaming yellow slits swivelled almost mechanically, touching the cat with a strange gaze that quickly became fond after a tiny smile grew. "Thank you."

"Ehem," Lyro coughed, "I don't mean to be rude, but shouldn't we be going?"

"Of course," Felix agreed, petting her one more time and then shifting over towards Lyro, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey, I..." Olivia tittered out, almost shaking from how anxious she was, "My- My friends, not all of them died, some of them separated, b-but I-I don't know if they're okay, one of them was really scared, and the other..."

Amidst her strange trailing off, the group glanced at one another, and Kav took it upon himself to lean forward and smile as genuine as he could. "Hey, don't worry about it, we'll find them okay?"

"Ah?" Felix cocked his brow, "Well, we have an idea to get out, shouldn't we just-"

Olivia caught Felix's eye, her worries shifting over into deep thought, then returning Felix's gaze. "My friend has a w-wand."

"What, really?!" Lyro said, exploding outwards. "Felix, we could- we could stop Patches HERE."

Felix subtly leaned backwards, his stoic expressions portraying so little, even to Lyro, and leaving his emotions in this void of unclarity. His adam's apple bobbed a slight bit as he swallowed.

"You could," Lyro added, beaming with secondhand pride.

The cat kept on staring blankly at Olivia, blinking and looking down at Lyro. "I'm not sure," he said.

"What?" Lyro scoffed, then turning his head abruptly towards Olivia. "You, you know where your friends are, right? Do they know how to use the wand?"

Olivia's mouth subtly parted, left ajar as she took in breath, the gears turning. "No," she nearly whispered, "No they don't."

Lyro smiled gleefully, waiting for Felix to admit agreement.

"It's dangerous." He glared at Lyro with purpose that evaded the rest of the room. "Besides..."

"He's killed a lot of good dogs and cats!" Lyro protested, "We have an opportunity to really change things, save people!"

Felix crossed his arms, "I can't believe this is coming from you of all people."

"It's about fighting fire with fire," Lyro's shoulders sagged, "I wish there was another way, but there isn't. We need to do something now or never."

"I'm with you on this one!" Kav exclaimed, raising up the heft of his DIY gauntlet. "We can fight him, and those cat demons can't do anything to us. If you want to run like Sam did, go ahead, but we have a way to stop all this!"

Olivia's attention landed on Felix, tepid little tremors in her paws giving her a meek appearance as she held them up to her chest, waiting for the cat's response.

"No, we are not doing this. We're finding the wand, using it to make a way out, and then leaving."

Lyro grimaced, then sighed. "Fine, whatever."

"Lyro don't-"

The dog bared his teeth at the cat. "I thought you liked dogs?" he bit at the air, "I said fine, let's leave."

"Okay," Felix huffed, lithe body straightening, "Thank you. Lead the way, Olivia."