I'm not exactly proud of this one... Oh well

"So, you think it's something she ate?" Blythe asked the vet hesitantly.
The vet sighed. They were standing in a cramped white room, where Zoe had been checked up.
"Yes. She shows all the symptoms of chocolate poisoning, a common thing that can happen to dogs."
Blythe looked shocked, "So... Doesn't that mean she's going to die?" Blythe's voice was shaking.
The vet looked down at the floor. Blythe swallowed, her eyes watering up. Zoe and Russell weren't with them, they were in the other room. Blythe really needed someone to comfort her. Preferably Russell, she couldn't bear to see Zoe.
"Do you know how much chocolate she's been eating?" The vet asked sadly.
"Well... For a few days she's been asking me for chocolate constantly. I didn't give it to her, and she went around pouting."
"Are you sure she was asking you for chocolate?"
"Positive."
The vet raised his eyebrow, before sitting up. Blythe shook her head, frustrated.
"Are you sure that you can't flush out her stomach?"
"Miss Baxter, little Zoe has already eaten to much. The thing that is poisonous for dogs is the 'Theobromine' that is in the cocoa beans that they put into the chocolate. I'm really sorry."
"How long has she got till she..."
"I don't know. It depends how much chocolate she's consumed."
"Is their anyway to make her live longer?"
"No."

"I can hear them!" Zoe cried into Russell shoulder. "I don't want to hear them!"
Russell didn't know what to do with his hands. He decided to give Zoe a hug.
"Zoe, it's probably not as bad as you think-"
"But it is! It's horrible! I'm going to die whether I like it or not!" Zoe sobbed and grasped Russell tighter. Russell started to hum a soothing tune under his breath, trying to keep himself calm. Russell didn't tell her, but he was crying as well.
Probably more than Zoe.

Blythe walked shakily out of the room, the vet closing the door behind her.
Blythe saw the pets and smiled sadly. She sat down next to them and put her arms around Zoe.
"Zoe. You have until Christmas." Blythe started crying, "We'll make it the best Christmas you've ever had."

The next two months went by all to quickly.
Fall slowly turned into Winter, and when Winter arrived, it meant Christmas. Christmas was the day Zoe was going to die. And Russell grew to dread it more and more.
He spent as much time as he could with Zoe. He would invite himself over to her house to visit her in the middle of the night, making sure she went to sleep. Restlessness and twitching were two symptoms of chocolate poisoning, and Russell made sure she was comfortable every night. He would hum to himself to keep himself occupied. She took a while to fall asleep, but Zoe managed.
One night, as Russell was running his paws through her hair, she asked him something.
"Russell?"
"Yes?"
"Can you sing me a song?"

So he did.
He sang about stars, he sang about the moon, and he sang about sleep.
And that's what they did.

Every night, Russell would do that. Zoe no longer came to the pet shop, because of her sickness. Russell would sit during the pet shop hours, writing new lyrics for the song and trying out new tunes. Then every night he would go and sing them to her.
Zoe would try to sing them with him, but her voice would crack, and she would have to stop. She couldn't sing anymore, and Russell felt terrible. But he still sang, and Zoe would listen.
Soon, it was Christmas Eve.
All the pets were going to stay the night on Christmas Eve at Zoe's place, and they all were excited. They wanted to make Zoe's last Christmas as memorable as possible, so they made sure they prepared the best show the could. Blythe made Zoe a new dress, which she had spent long, painful nights with Russell making.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Zoe smiled. She instantly put on the beautiful navy blue dress that Blythe had made her. The dress had sparkles sprinkled on the hem of the dress, and diamonds were studded around her collar. The dress was flowy, and swished when Zoe walked.
All the pets loved it.
Minka painted a painting, it was like Van Gogh's 'Starry Night', but with different colors and big splotches where the pets would be at the bottom.
"Thank you Minka!" Zoe had cried as she propped up the painting next to her.

The show soon began.
It began with Sunil, Minka, Pepper and Vinnie all doing a play about Christmas. It was a sort if spin-off of Romeo and Juliet.
"Save me Romeo!" Sunil cried dramatically in a high pitched voice, "I don't want to die!"
"That's not how it goes, you dofus!" Pepper shouted from 'off stage'.
"Yes it does!" Minka shouted back. Their was a hustle, before Minka was pushed onto the stage.
"Don't worry my Juliet, I will save you!" Minka shouted in a deep voice, "You won't even think-" Minka screamed. "He's dead!" Minka shouted.
"I'm a girl you idiot." Sunil whispered through gritted teeth.
"Why are you dead?" Minka whispered loudly.
"Because you took to long."

Pepper quickly started the next show after that.
"Now, we have Sunil doing a Magic show!"
Blythe, Zoe and all the other pets clapped.
Sunil ran onto the stage still changing from his Juliet costume. A bar of chocolate was in paws. Zoe twitched.
"Now, for this, I will need a volunteer."
Zoe's paw shot up.
"Alright... You." Sunil pointed at Zoe. Zoe steadily walked onto the stage, being careful not to fall over.
"Are you sure this is a good idea..?" Blythe whispered.
"Now, I'm going to make this chocolate disappear." Sunil threw it up into the air and caught it. Then suddenly there was nothing in his paws. Zoe watched, in a trance.
Sunil threw his paw up, as if he threw something into the air. The pets looked up, trying to see something. Their wasn't anything there, but Sunil caught something. He held it up for every one to see. It was a square of chocolate. It was shaped into a heart. He threw this up into the air, caught nothing, then threw nothing up, and caught the heart again, this time having a partner shaped into a letter. He kept on doing this, until he had handfuls of different shapes of chocolate. For the finale, he threw them all in the air, then caught them in a special order, so that the letters spelt something.
WE 3 ZOE
Zoe burst into tears.
Sunil let her eat the chocolate, and Zoe calmed down.
"Don't worry." Russell said to Blythe, who had a shocked look on her face, "It's specially made 'Dog Chocolate', it doesn't have any real chocolate in it."

Next was Vinnie.
Vinnie slid through the stage on his knees and fell off the other end.
His turn didn't last very long.

Russell then stood up, and went to the front of the stage. Penny Ling followed close behind him, wearing a long lilac dress. She held a deep violet ribbon, and behind her ear was a cherry blossom.
"Now, the finale of the night, Russell singing, 'Even Stars Fade Away', and Penny Ling ribbon dancing!"
Zoe smiled, tears brimming in her eyes.
Russell swallowed, and slowly started singing, with Penny Ling dancing behind him.

My eyes close for a moment,
And there you go,
You disappear.
And when that happens, I know you'll come back.
But you know when snow melts,
And the birds stop singing,
And the leaves fall and die,
That I won't notice.
But if you suddenly left,
For even a moment,
I notice.
Because even stars fade away~

Russell carried on singing, his voice slowly gaining more confidence. Penny Ling seemed to be floating, dancing as gracefully and as enchanting as she could.
As Russell reached the climax of the song, Zoe started to join in.

You know,
That I will remember you,
When the sun starts to set,
And the light fades away,
And the voices around me grow still,
You know that I will remember,
You~
And the shadows that you cast,
And the smiles you would bring,
And the voice that you made sure was heard.
Even though they faded away,
I will remember them.
Please remember me.

Russell breathed in shakily, and looked down at Zoe.
She was laying down, almost asleep.
And as all the pets lay down in their beds, they made sure she was comfortable.
But you know what?
She couldn't tell.
Her heart had already stopped beating.

Russell jumped up. Today was Christmas - Zoe's finale day. He looked down at Zoe, who was lying few spots away from him.
Would she want to be woken up on her finale day? Or would she want to sleep in-
Wait a minute.
Why wasn't she breathing?
Russell's heart beats speed up as he walked across Vinnie and Minka's bed to sit next to Zoe.
"Hey - What gives?" Vinnie asked sleepily.
"Blythe."
"I don't think she's awake, dofus."
"BLYTHE." Russell shouted urgently.
Blythe sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes.
"What's wrong Russell?"
"Zoe... She - She's..."
Blythe hurried to Zoe's side. She felt Zoe's pulse.
Blythe swallowed.
"She's dead."
Russell starting crying.
Silently, of course.

Russell was standing at the end of Zoe's grave.
It was two days after her death, and they just had her funeral.
But Russell didn't want to say good bye.
Not just yet.
Russell swallowed.
"Hi Zoe."
Silence.
"I - I wanted to give you something."
More silence.
Russell reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a locket.
The locket was quite plain - on the outside.
On the inside there were studded jewels that twinkled like stars when you held them up to the light. There were two photos in the locket.
One of them was a picture of the pets first Christmas. They all looked quite young, and all of them were happy. Zoe was twirling around, a microphone in her paw. She was obviously singing. Minka was jumping up and down, looking excited. She had Christmas bows tied into her hair. Sunil was underneath a gigantic hat that looked exactly like the hat that he wore when he did magic tricks. He was smiling, holding the hat upright on his head. Vinnie was dancing around, wearing a shiny new leather jacket. Pepper was holding up funny looking glasses, a gigantic nose on them and funny looking eyes. Penny Ling was holding a dancing ribbon up in the air, smiling happily.
And Russell was sitting with Mrs Twombly at the very back of the photo. He was smiling happily. He wasn't holding anything.
"Do you remember this?" Russell smiled at the photo.
"I didn't want anything." Russell fingered the locket's chain.
"But you gave me something later. You heard that song on the radio, and you taught me how to sing."
Silence.
"So... I wanted you to have this."
Russell dropped the chain on the grave.
"I'm sorry."
He turned, and started to walk away.

Suddenly, the locket started to bounce up and down.
Russell turned.
The locket's edges were leaking light. Light glowed through the edges like the sun, seeping through the metal rims like light through clouds.
Russell stood still, staring at the locket. He felt a voice in his mind whispering to him. He couldn't understand what it was saying, but Russell felt like it was slowly unraveling the confusion and doubt in his mind, and replaced it with hope.
And with singing.
"Zoe..." Russell whispered under his breath, his voice catching in his throat.
The whispers and voices in his head start to get louder, and he could hardly understand them.
But one voice stood out from the others.
"Why must you be silent?"
Russell's heart thudded as he recognized the sweet but serious voice of Zoe. He held his breath.
"Russell, you've been so quiet about it."
Zoe's voice wrapped around his mind, dissolving into his memory. He had heard her voice only a mere few days ago, but it felt like he hadn't heard it in a hundred years.
Her voice sounded unfamiliar, like a stranger. She didn't sound the same, yet she sounded exactly how Zoe should sound. How she did sound.
Russell realized why it was different.
She was speaking her singing voice.

"You've stayed by my bed, making sure I rested in peace. You sang me songs that I had heard before. You had first sung them when all the pets were first altogether as a group. You hummed them, and wouldn't stop until Christmas had ended. You still sang the song, but only when things were stressful. You didn't do it around other pets though, you only did it around me. It was only a few months before my death that you put words to the lyrics. They aren't perfect, but they still spoke to me. I found myself humming the tune to myself whenever I felt stressed. I myself tried to put words to it, but only you seemed to be able to do it."

Russell couldn't take it any more.
He grabbed the locket in his paws, and shaded his eyes from the light. He stared down at the locket. It was plain. It looked plain. It was shaped into a heart, and was made of rose gold.
It looked plain, yes. But Russell knew what was on the inside. He yanked it open, the locket burning hot and cold in his paws.
He stared inside the locket.
The picture of the pets was still there.
He stared at the pets closer.
He looked at his younger self in the photograph.
He was holding a locket.

"You never talked. You didn't think you needed to. You were silent. You felt like you wasted space, I remember you telling me. But you hid something. I know you did. You kept a locket with you. I remember you telling me about it. You said your old owner had made it. She used to be a crafts woman, and she would make jewelry for a living. She had told you while she was making it that she needed to put all her care into it. She would say she needed to do so because, memories are fragile. This locket will hold them. And it would play a tune. You could never get the locket to play the tune, but I have. I fixed it while you were visiting me. Every time you came to look after me, you would fall asleep. But I was still awake. Your song kept me up, playing over and over in my head. I couldn't sleep. But then I saw your locket. It was sitting on your lap, and I picked it up. I opened it, and I remembered the song. I fixed it Russell. I fixed it."

Russell was staring down at the locket, his eyes wide.

"And you know what tune it played?"

Russell looked down at a button on the locket. It had never worked.
Russell pressed it.
And it played the tune.
The tune that he had hummed under his breath whenever Zoe was near. The tune that his old owner would sing whenever she worked. The tune that he sang the day Zoe died.
And then he understood what it meant.
He felt two paws grab his. He looked up.
It was Zoe.

"What did it mean?" Zoe said quietly, leaning close to his face,"What did the tune mean?"
Russell looked down at the locket. His eyes brimmed with tears at the realization. He breathed in shakily, looking up at Zoe with the same hurt in his eyes that he had the day he found out she had died. He looked into her eyes. Her aquamarine eyes looked alive. They looked like they were filled with hope, and filled with purpose.
And filled with love.
"It means love." Russell said quietly. A serious look on his face.
Zoe smiled, laughing slightly under her breath.
"What - what's so fun- MPH!"
Russell was muffled by Zoe's mouth against his.
And he didn't mind.
Not a single bit.