PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXV Part III

Sparky stopped, smiled, and looked over his shoulder at the pup. He felt a sense of hope and pride well up in his chest, one he had felt turn sour so many times before. He tittered as another knock hit the door, and turned to it with sweat beading down his face.

When Olive finally opened the door with a look of mild concern, Rover lunged forward, attempting to grasp the dog but only battering his body into theirs and tumbling both of them towards the floor.

Olive let loose a shriek in surprise before their back plopped to the floor, and they curled their arms up in front of their face defensively. They winced, shutting their eyes and preparing for whatever awful thing was coming their way.

"Rover?!" Sparky barked out, staring on in shock.

"Whuh!?" Rover exclaimed, looking at Olive in surprise and an embarrassed blush formed on his cheek, "But- I thought Patches was-"

"P-Patches?!" Olive muttered, alarmed by the name, but not necessarily terrified.

Rover adjusted himself, slowly trying to get up onto his injured leg one motion at a time. "Nevermind," he said, defeated and embarrassed, "sorry, I was just being dumb."

"Rover!" Coco shouted, rushing up the staircase alongside Brownie and Cujo. Being the one leading the trio, she waved her wand around like an angry peasant might hold a torch. "What the heck do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Just let me talk to him!" Rover protested.

Brownie and Cujo flanked the wand-wielding cat as she continued to berate the terrier. "I'm fine with you talking to him, I just don't want you guys running off like that! What if danger shows up, knocking at the door?"

Brownie piped up, bemused. "Don't you think you're being a bit paranoid, Coco?"

Coco's tone became genuine and almost pleading. "Brownie. I'm stressed, just please help me out with this one, okay?" Coco said, face flushing with exhaustion.

The corgi paused. "... Alright you guys, back to your rooms- or, er, I mean, the living room."

Sparky and Rover let loose an instinctive, disappointed "Awwh..." before the jack russell snapped out of it. "Wait, no! Please, just let me speak to Sparky!"

Noticing something, Brownie frowned and strutted past Rover, then leaned down and looked at Olive with her paw outstretched. "You okay Olly?" she asked.

"E-Eh?" Olive said, leaving some small trance they had been left in while on the floor, cowering from an attack that never came. "O-Oh! Yeah, I'm fine!" They took the corgi's paw, standing upright and brushing their Hachiko shorts clean of any dirt they might've accumulated.

"Gosh, we really are high strung, aren't we?" Cujo said, scratching at the side of one of his plush ears.

"Sparky?" Coco asked, cutting through the chaotic mess of conversation hanging around in the hall and bathroom doorway with her dulled pitch.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You want to talk with Rover, right?"

"Oh!" Sparky said, surprised, "Oh yeah! Of course." He looked towards the terrier. "About..?"

Rover frowned and looked towards the floor. "It's private."

Coco hardly looked amused as Sparky laughed and tried to pat him on the back. "Sure, we can do that!" He opened his ghostly eyes at the bombay. "Coco, do you mind if we use your room for a second?"

"Ugh," Coco complained, "can't you just use the bathroom instead?"

Sparky wagged his tail, smiling. "It's... not exactly the best place for a conversation."

"Fine," she said, dismissively gesturing, "But you had better not touch any of my stuff! Everything's enchanted so that if someone other than me touches it, your head will blow off!"

Rover's tail shot up, intimidated by the idea of his head exploding messily.

"Heh, you have our word, we won't touch a thing," Sparky chuckled out.

Coco grinned almost sadistically. "Good."

Sparky smiled alongside his friend and tried to guide Rover along with a paw. "Alright, cmon Rover."

Rover rubbed at his right arm with his left paw. "Yes sir," he said before following Sparky off into Coco's room.

Sparky insisted on waiting for Rover to open the door, and tried to keep his feet planted on the ground as best as he could before he floated into the room.

"But, eh, please be quick," Coco mentioned, "I'm going to work on sealing all of the doors and windows if you need me. You should be fine, but just to be safe, get downstairs as soon as you can."

"I will," Rover spat, correcting his rudeness a second later, "Or, sorry, we will. Promise!"

Coco didn't respond, merely staring amused at the dog as he joined Sparky in entering her room, then shut the door.

Brownie smirked. "You're such an awful liar, Coco."

"Oh shush." Coco responded, turning to Olive. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," they said, shutting the bathroom door as they joined the group in the hall, "B-But, I kind of have a question..."

Brownie perked up at Olive speaking in more than single-word responses. "Yeah? What is it Olly? You need anything?" she excitedly said, letting her tail wag.

Olive hummed in thought, their face beginning soft before contorting in worry. They folded their paws up in front of themselves as they welled up the courage to speak.

"It's okay Olly, you can say what you wanna say," Brownie commented, trying to help the dog out with a nudge.

"D-Do you guys think... that Patches..."

Brownie frowned at the mutters, understanding what was coming next. Her eyes drifted to Coco in recognition of how she would react, and mentally prepared for the ensuing chaos.

"... That if he wanted to be a good d-dog..."

Although Cujo remained neutral, Coco's mouth was already shaping itself to deny what was about to be said, and her rather neutral demeanour contorted into spiteful frustration.

"... We could let him?"