PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XV Part II

They were off the roads now and treading a path through the forest towards Coco's in the time it took Sparky to look at Olive. "Olive, not to put you on the spot, but you taught me that I don't need to prove I'm the strongest, that sometimes, it's better to admit you need help."

Olive didn't respond at first, and every dog behind Mitt was likewise silent. They shut their eyes and listened to Sparky's words as his deep, soothing voice carried them. They didn't know what was happening but appreciated the pause of silence.

"... Olly, are you okay?" Brownie asked. Mitt could hear some small sniffling from the mutt as the group approached Coco's house.

Mitt turned around, realizing the footfalls of the dogs behind them had stopped. They were a few meters from the group now and watched as Brownie was patting Olive's back; they were on the verge of crying, really, truly, crying. Tears were welling up in the dog's eyes, and the mutt was covering their face as best they could with their right arm, letting the other sag at their side while they dipped their head down and tried to stop themselves.

"Olive, w-what's wrong?" Rover piqued up. His usual voice contrasted the otherwise awful sniffling and choking sounds coming from the reddish dog.

"Olive?" Sparky added, trying to calm them down.

Olive's tearing up subsided, and they managed to poke a few words through their current state. "C-can I talk to M-Mitt?"

"Uh, sure." Brownie looked uncertain and worried. "We'll give you two some space." She immediately quieted Sparky, grabbing both boys by their jacket sleeves and yanking them towards the house.

Rover protested, "H-Hey!"

Brownie quickly responded with a hushed curse, "Follow me or I'll twist your head off," which seemed to shut Rover up alongside Sparky's reluctant insistence.

Once the dogs had gone a few dozen meters up the road and had stopped casting glances back at them, Mitt turned around fully to speak to Olive. They didn't ask the red dog anything and simply stared, worried, at the mutt.

"I-It's all my f-fault..." the dog said, quivering with emotion.

"What's your fault," Mitt prompted.

"D-Did something happen to your b-brother?"

"... No..." They paused, looking to the floor. "Ginger is-" Mitt looked for the right words as they dug their claws through their hair. "She can't walk anymore."

Olive didn't even look shocked. They just teared up and let the droplets fall where they may. The mutt curled up a paw into a fist and raised it to their head, lightly punching themselves in the forehead.

Mitt was incredulous; what the hell was happening? Their eyes widened in surprise as the dog meticulously beat themselves up.

"Olive, what are you doing?" they asked as the pup continued to hit themselves, doing much of nothing but shaking more tears from their eyes like dead leaves from a tree. Each impact was punctuated with a light 'plap' and a slight whine from Olive as they squeezed their eyes shut tighter and tighter. "Stop." Olive reeled their fist back once more, shaking. "Stop," Mitt sternly said, raising their wand to hold the fist in place with an ethereal ribbon. "What in Bapawmet's name are you doing?" they demanded.

The ribbon dissipated as the mutt took a moment to calm down and stop crying. Mitt returned their paws in front of themselves, holding both of them meekly.

"S-Sparky always tells me I'm r-right about stuff, b-but-" They squeezed their eyes shut once more. "Stupid, stupid."

Mitt looked at the dog with a bewildered expression. "Just- tell me what you wanted to tell me, then let's go inside."

"I was the d-dog that brought Patches out of p-purrgatory, and I wanted him to come to the communal day;" they sniffled, their voice low and whining, "I wanted him and Angel to get along, j-just to read together so they wouldn't hate eachother..." The dog frowned, opening their eyes and revealing their self-disappointment. "B-But I was stupid. P-Patchie told me he'd do this, b-but I thought he could change; my f-furiends knew he couldn't." They squeezed their eyes shut again, gripping their own paws so hard Mitt thought they might start bleeding. "B-But I didn't listen to them. I just want every puppy to be happy, but I can't do t-that. I hurt Angel by t-trusting P-Patchie, and now G-Ginger; I just want this to stop."

Mitt was floored. This was the most they had heard the dog talk since they had met, and although the dog had always seemed shy, Olive was pleasant enough; despite that, Mitt was now faced with one of the cuter dogs they had seen on the verge of a breakdown. Mitt had no idea why the dog had chosen them to tell all this to, and they certainly didn't know what to make of it, so they just did what came naturally.

Mitt inhaled, speaking. "... It's okay. I'll fix Ginger, I'll heal Brownie, and I'll make sure this never happens again." Mitt didn't smile. Aside from their wide eyes and rapid heartbeat, they kept themself under the usual stoic veneer she proficiently wore. "Let's just get inside, and we can cheer everyone up, okay?"

Olive nodded but brought their paws up to their mouth, symbolically shushing themselves.

"... I'm not mad at you, if that's what you're worried about?" Why would they care about that? It was a stupid thing to say, but Mitt was at a loss of what to do in order to calm the dog down aside from talking about food. "... Do you want some treats when we get inside?"

"No. I'm o-okay." They said with a sniffle.

Mitt didn't say anything further and merely turned on their heel and continued the walk towards Coco's, keeping their mind occupied by processing what had just happened.

When they arrived just outside of the door, they heard a scream; Brownie's, and it was coming from right inside the living room of the estate. Olive's eyes widened in fear as Mitt wordlessly charged into the room, bearing Whisk's wand. 

--- Author's Note:

Huge shoutout to you guys for reading this. I'm so lucky to have people who're genuinely happy with the stuff I write. Also, big shoutout to Lucy who went through the madman task of going through each part and voting on it, thank you so much for helping me reach new viewership. <3

Again, if there's any way you guys think I could improve the story, please hit me up here or on discord. More than anything this novel is a chance for me to improve heavily on my writing skills, and I take every bit of criticism to heart and write it down in a big booklet I have to make sure I remember it.

Also, sad Olive gives me life. I always feel polarized when writing emotional scenes with the main cast, seeing as they're very fully written already, and a lot of people enjoy the series purely because of how nonchalant and optimistic everyone is in it. If you thought them crying and stuff was too much, too little, or anything in between, please see the previous paragraph and hit me up to tell me how you think I should handle this in the future. 

Thanks again for reading!