Daughter of Mal

Part 21 Claudia

August 1, 2024 8:00 A.M. Outside HYDRA Base, 600 miles from Auradon

Emmy's POV

Dad heard about the uh... well the uh... the incident and he was taking me to my other home. I thought that Werner let him know. He never liked me. He probably always thought I was trying to steal Ruby from him. Ruby was the only one whoever cared about him. And the only one he cared about. But Ruby never showed it because she was scared she was going to hurt. And Dad probably thought Ruby was trying to take me away from him. I hugged her with all of my might. I sniffled.

"Goodbye, Ruby. Please promise me you won't forget me. Please." I said tearfully.

"Oh," She said taking me in for one more hug. "how could I ever forget about you?" She asked rhetorically. She kissed my head.

"But, I promise. I will never forget you." I was about get in the car when I heard a soft wimpier. Sounded like a dog. I naturally ran towards it.

"Emmy!" Dad called after me. He tried to run after me. Ruby held him back.

"I'll get her." I heard Ruby say.

August 1, 2024 8:05 A.M. Outside HYDRA Base, 600 miles from Auradon

Emmy's POV

I found the dog and what I saw horrified me. The dog was all caught up in barbed wire. I quickly knelt down and started to untangle the wiring.

"Hey there. I'm Emmy." I said. She tried to get away. She was whimpering like crazy. "I'm here to help you." I said as I gently got her down. "Shh. Shh." I stroked her fur as I shushed.

"I am going to need you to hold still while I get you lose and apply some numbing cream to your wounds so I can stitch you up." I continued to gently stroke the fur of the dog. I continued my work. "I wonder, are you a stray, because you seem to well mannered and obedient to be a stray." I was about half way done by the time I said that.

"I'm a run away is what I would say if you could understand me." She said.

"I can understand you." I said. She screamed.

"What? How?" She asked.

"I genetically inherited magic from my mother. It allows me to speak to any kind of animal, sometimes change my form into a specific animal, and a lot of other stuff that I know and don't." I said. "Do you have a name, run away." I applied her stitches as I asked.

"Tammy. I know, pathetic right?" She said.

"Just a little. How about a new name, like Claudia?" I said.

"I like that." The dog now named Claudia replied. 

"Want to come home with me? We run aways gotta stick together." I said when I finished her stitches. She panted happily and hoped into my arms. She started licking me all over my face.

August 1, 2023 10:00 A.M. Outside HYDRA base, 600 miles from Auradon

Emmy's POV

I was playing with Claudia when I heard someone call my name.

"Emmy! Emmy! Emmy were you?" I heard a familiar voice say.

"Ruby." I said.

"Emmy!" She said out of relief. She hugged me. Then she lashed out. "What the hell has gotten into you?" She calmed down when she saw Claudia.

"Who's you're friend? And is this why you ran away, to help this dog?"

"One, her name is Claudia. Two, yes." I said. "Could I keep her?"

"Sure. When I was at school at HYDRA Prepatory Academy we were given dogs to train to teach us about weaknesses and how to eliminate them. Training a dog of course with a few tweaks to the barbaric ritual of killing the dog. That actually could be a really good in teaching you to stand by your weaknesses. Use them as fuel. Protect them at any cost. But not let them be used against you if you can help it." Ruby said. Dad let me keep her. He thought it'd be good for me to have a friend at home that can actually stay in the house.