No Matter What (An Unleashed Fanfic)

Coming So Far

Me and Victoria finally graduated school. She was granted a scholarship for excellence in piano. I was happy with my diploma. I still wanted to go to college. When we moved to New York, I applied for university as a psychology major. While waiting, I published a short story in the NY Times, about Danny, with his permission of course, if he said no, I would never force him to say yes. It was a paragraph summarized account of what he went through with Uncle Bart.

To my surprise, I got called for an interview with Katie Couric on the Today show for the interesting story. I was in the chair right across from her.

"Welcome back to the show, this morning, we have an interesting story we mentioned right before the break, it's a short story about a man raised as an attack dog for a crime syndicate. It's by a young lady from Glasgow, Scotland. We are pleased to have 18 year old Emma, the writer of the story with us today. Welcome for the very first time on television, Emma."

"Thank you for having me Miss. Couric."

"Just call me Katie honey. Now, your story on the New York Times, 'Danny The Dog' was more talked about than sports or politics."

I let out a chuckle.

"Didn't expect that Katie, not in the slightest."

"So, who is this Danny, was he based off a real person or a made up character? Because the story, despite being told in a family friendly fashion, is awful, it's sickening stuff like this happened. Please tell me it's fiction."

"This story really happened. Danny is a real person who was raised as an attack dog since he was a child. I got his permission to write and publish his story. I known him since I was born. My uncle was the 'crime syndicate' and Danny was trained to attack people who crossed him when his collar was taken off."

"A collar!?"

"Yes Katie, a dog collar made for a man. I felt sorry for him."

"You both escaped, and a lovely family of two, you described Sam and Victoria, let you both live under their wing."

"Sam is blind, he became blind in an accident, Victoria is his stepdaughter, her mother died in that same accident."

"Oh how terrible. Fate brought the four of you together as a family, that is very nice. Does Danny still wear the collar?"

"No, it's off. He's living his best life working with Sam tuning pianos."

"You brought a picture of all four of you right?"

I handed the picture to Katie. The Polaroid taken after Victoria got her braces off.

"Danny who's in between me and Sam, and the real star of the show today, had his collar on but  the next morning, it was off."

"That's Danny?" She pointed at Danny's face.

"Yes it is."

"How sweet!"

"I was so proud of him, I cried."

"Aww."

She gave the picture back to me and went on with the interview.

"What was the reason you wanted to publish it?"

"Two reasons, the first is that Danny needs his story to be told to prevent similar situations from happening to others. The second reason is that I'm going to study psychology in college, and what happened with him is the perfect example of a technique called classical conditioning; the most famous example being Pavlov's Dog."

"Oh ok. Good luck in your future career in psychology."

"Thank you."

"Also, you could turn this story into a full biography. What do you think?"

"I might, if it's ok with Danny."

We laughed.

"If you do, are you gonna title it the same as it is now?"

"For the full story...the name should be more attention grabbing like...Unleashed."

"Wow, that does sound more attention grabbing. One last question, who is Danny to you?"

"He's my best friend for life...he's more like a protective big brother."

Katie touched her heart and smiled.

"Emma thank you for sitting down and talking with me today and good luck in your future."

Very soon after the interview, I got ready for Victoria's piano recital at Carnegie Hall. I wore a long blue dress. Danny sat between me and Sam, they looked great in their suits.

"You alright with that thing around your neck?" Sam asked.

"Is it ok?"

"Well, I guess we can call it a slight improvement."

We smiled as Victoria was being introduced.

"Presenting the recipient for the scholarship for excellence in piano, Miss. Victoria Neil."

(A/N: her last name is somewhat muffled in the movie but this was what I heard.)

Victoria stood in front of the microphone in her long black dress.

"My selection tonight is dedicated to someone wonderful."

"That's you," Danny whispered.

"No that's not me she's talking about," Sam replied.

"Someone who's life was quite literally...saved by music," Victoria finished.

"That's you my boy."

She sat down and started playing. The music was Mozart Sonata No. 11, I knew Danny was gonna get emotional listening. I held his hand as he started smiling. I got emotional myself because of how far he's come. Both my hands were gently squeezing his hand.

"I'm proud of you Danny," I whispered before kissing him on the cheek.

Seconds later, a tear fell from his left eye, meaning he was happy, according to psychological study. Damn I'll be a great psychologist!