Dreams of Stars (A Once Upon a Time/Jiminy Cricket fanfic)

Dreams of Stars Part 33

Pongo stood up and went over to his dog bed in the corner. The leash was sitting next to it, neatly wrapped up. He nudged the leash with his nose and whimpered.

"I'm not gonna take you on a walk," she groaned, "Your master is dead now. Can't you understand that?" She stumbled over to the leather couch and sat down to be out of Pongo's reach. Then, as if it had burned her, she jumped up again. When she sat in that spot, such a memory had seared across her consciousness that she couldn't bear it. The memory was of the time when they were arguing over Kaelin's deal with Mr. Gold. Jiminy—Archie at the time—was shouting at her, but then he sat down beside her on that couch to comfort her. He had been able to see through his anger enough to care about her emotions. That was the sort of kindness he had—a sort of kindness that could never be replaced.

Kaelin began to cry again, looking over at the body on the floor. She felt she ought to move it somehow, maybe put it on the couch, but the idea of touching it and dragging it around was too much for her to bear. Really, she should go tell someone. What if he had been murdered? It certainly looked like he had. Yet the thought of saying that aloud to someone was even worse than the thought of moving his body. Unable to look at it anymore, she turned to Pongo. Maybe a walk would be good right now. She wanted to get out of that room for a while.

"Fine, Pongo," she mumbled, and walked toward the leash. Pongo ran around and around in agitated circles. As soon as Kaelin got the leash hooked onto his collar, he darted to the door, dragging her along behind him. Kaelin opened the door, and he sprinted out into the hall, nose to the ground. After a terrifying trip down the stairs, Kaelin stopped completely, trying to make the dog behave. "Stop—pulling!" she grunted, jerking back on the leash.

Pongo only dragged her to the front door and pawed at it, his claws making a sound on the glass like nails on a chalkboard. Kaelin was starting to have second thoughts about taking Pongo on a walk, but she found she couldn't bear the idea of returning to that room. She opened the door and let Pongo drag her out.

It was still too dark for anyone to be out on the streets. Kaelin was glad to be alone and shrouded in the comforting night. She had always loved the night. Finding a tolerable rhythm to endure Pongo's pulling, she allowed him to go wherever he wanted while she tortured herself with thoughts of Jiminy. She found she was thinking all the way back to the day she met him—not in Storybrooke, but in the Enchanted Forest—when he had hopped down out of the back of that cart. Kaelin wept freely as she stumbled along behind his dog.

It wasn't until Pongo tugged her out onto a wooden dock that Kaelin noticed he was taking a strange path. Hadn't he had his nose to the ground the whole time too? She stopped suddenly, a chill of fear running through her. "What scent are you following?" she whispered, "You saw what happened there, didn't you? Was he murdered? Are you trying to find the person who killed him?"

Pongo whimpered and strained toward the left side of the dock. Taking a deep breath, Kaelin followed him. She didn't really care what happened to her now. If it meant finding who killed Jiminy, she could put herself in danger. Anger began to burn in her chest. It was that horrible King George, wasn't it? He wasn't satisfied just killing Gus; he had to go after Jiminy too. At this point, Kaelin was too reckless to think about exposing his crime to the authorities. She just wanted to hurt him with her own two hands, even if it meant biting and hitting him while he set about murdering her too.

But then, it didn't make sense that George would do it. He had murdered Gus randomly, hadn't he? He didn't even know Kaelin, so he couldn't be targeting her. Who, then? Pongo stretched up from the dock and sniffed in midair. He lifted his paw and set it on nothing, bending his nose down to smell whatever he was standing on. Amazed, Kaelin reached out to where Pongo was sniffing and found her hand blocked by something. It felt like wood. Running her fingers along it, she found where it dropped off shortly but began again a little farther down. "Stairs!" she gasped, "Pongo, you found stairs! Is this where he went? The person who killed Jiminy?"