PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXXVI Part VIII

A deep, powerful breath, then a twinkling light rising from the bowels of her chest, sinking up to her mouth.

She heaved.

"Uagh!" Luna bellowed, "Where am I? What-"

The pain in her midsection was the first reminder that the events prior were not a dream, and now, the facts perspired in a grey-white downpour smearing her glasses. She tried taking them off instinctively, only to realise she wasn't wearing them at all.

She fumbled around, finding them glistening in the orange dusk right next to her. A jacket under her head kept it from hurting when it rose, and with her glasses on, she could see she had been so weak, that she hadn't even sat up like she believed, and was sprawled on the floor, squinting into the sun.

"Luna!" Shie cheered, a form emerging from the dark and enveloping her vision. "Stay down, you're really hurt."

Sam, likewise, came forth with great news. "Oh my Dog, the ghosts are outside! There are other doors, guys; we shouldn't stick around.." Luna could see past Shie now, capable of recognizing the highlighter yellows outside. With their snarling faces, the world came into view. She was on the ground, in the main lobby, and outside was-

Was-

"LUNA!" the orange-black jock bellowed, marching past the cat demons patrolling Coco, smashing her shoulder against the door's bar, and scrambling to the first flank of lockers on the left. The toyger's crying was the first to reach Luna, dotting her face with her little rivulets. "Bro, are y-you okay?!"

A firmness caught Luna's paw- it was Tigger's own.

"Tigger," Luna whispered, begging the cat to lean into the delirious words. "I think I love you."

Inhaling, the cat leaned back in shock, then checked over her shoulder.

They communed in the background by panicked screams and yells as Coco wrangled her barbs around the ghosts' necks, forcefully preventing them from leaving arm's length.

"Awh, dude, you don't mean that. You're just suffering from *extreme* lack of juju." She patted the dictionary in her gym shorts. "I was gonna cry and tell you I was sorry a"
nd that I tried calling the volunteers but then I realized I was calling *you* and then freaked out and did the only thing I could do-"

"Tigger," she coughed, "I'm scared."

The toyger frowned. "Why?!"

Tears padded her glasses like rain on a windscreen. "Am I... going to die?"

She ran her paw down the black vest and the clotted blood sticking her shirt to her fur. "... That hurt at all?"

"O-Owww..."

"Yeah," Tigger sighed, "You'll be fine."

Coco blasted a hole in the lobby ceiling, letting dust and concrete rain down onto her wide-brimmed hat. "Alright, enough!" She screamed, redirecting the attention from her collared murderers to her friends. "I've got these guys under control- I'm going in, but first," she looked behind her, scanning for anyone there, " someone call the cops."

"None of us have phones," Sam rolled his eyes, clutching at his arms in lieu of the jacket hiding his heart-filled shirt. "Office is on your left, follow the wall down past the first corner, phones' in there."

"Okay, whatever," Coco hissed. "Luna?"

The dog piqued her ears, but couldn't speak loud enough to be heard.

"She's uh, lil' tippy," Tigger proclaimed, "But she's up. Prolly needs some R n' R."

Coco nodded. "Carry her out of here. Rest of you, get the hell out of here, get somewhere safe." Her wand lit up in the middle of her sentence, glowing like a night sky.

Shie inhaled, then burst out despite Canna's attempts to hush him. "Ma'am, we're going to help."

"No," Coco frowned. "Too dangerous."

Canna shook her head, leaning forward and placing both of her paws onto his arm affectionately. "We'd just slow her down- come on honey, we've done enough."

Shie groaned, displeasure rotting his cheeks. "No, no way."

"Fine!" Coco blabbered. "You want to help? Make sure that guy doesn't get that guy killed-" She said, pointing at Luna and Tigger.

The cat hefted her with immense ease, arms either cradling the poodle's upper body or hooked under her knees. As bashful as Luna was, Tigger just seemed proud to literally flex her muscle, regardless of any uninterpreted romantic context.

"And," Coco began to add, "Get a phone. Get someone to call people, get word out that Patches is near the south side of town."

Shie nodded, wrangling the urge to salute. "Got it. We'll send everyone we can- thank you."

Coco returned the nod. "I'm going to clear out the school. If Mitt arrives, tell them to meet me in the back, I'll be there when I'm done."

Shie saluted, complementing Canna's ecstatic relief. "Thank Dog- You know, I really didn't know if we were going to make it out of there."

Sam, picking up his jacket and unballing it, began to fan off the dirt and fur, then loosely wrapped it around his neck. "Man this is just the dumbest shit. You all know it's been way too long, there's no way he doesn't have a wand- this is suicide."

Coco's ears piqued in response. "Oh, no, uh- you misunderstand. We just had a run-in with him, and he left behind something important. We can track him- before he even knows it."

"What?" Shie cursed. "What are you talking about? Does that mean you-"

As they cut themselves off- Tigger, Luna, Shie, Canna, Sam, and the cat ghosts all turned their attention towards Coco, the latter mouthing threats in an ancient tongue.

"Yes," Coco smiled. "We know where Patches is going."

--- AUTHORS NOTE:

 And thus ends the "OC Chapter" arc of end of a tail. Thank you for reading, and thank you to those that allowed me to use their characters in the pursuit of this writing. It's been a long while coming and I'm proud to be done with it and moving on to the pieces of EOAT that have nagged at me for quite a bit.

There should be announcements regarding EOAT soon, as long as I don't die from being too lazy again :D