"Now what?" Meirin asked, frantically, adjusting her glasses.
"T-That's fine, Finny. Now we just gotta…we just gotta get him calmed down and stuff." Bardroy said.
He started loading his gun again with the tranquilizer bullets Snake had brought. The five servants were all scrambling around to calm Pluto down. They had managed to catch up with him in the town, but it was already burning and beginning to fall apart. With their guns or brute strength, they had somehow got the dog up on the tower. Unfortunately, the jet of flame he emitted could reach long distances and now they were running out of options. Bardroy took aim and fired another set of tranquilizers.
"How was that?"
Meirin, with her sharp eyes, sighed and lowered them.
"No good! They definitely hit, I saw them! But…"
Pluto's large howl echoed and he snarled at them. There was only a second to jump out of the way before he set fire to the spot they were standing in. The servants were running along the street to get at Pluto's side, where it would be easier to hit. It seemed that he was trying to burn down absolutely everything, and not even his owners would be spared.
"Hey, Snake, could we…use some venom or something? Maybe not a lot but there must be something we could use?" Bardroy suggested.
Snake thought about it for a while. He only knew the amount which could kill a human. To tranquilize a demon dog was a different matter. Still, he took the amount to paralyze a human and multiplied it by two. At least that should have a small effect.
"Maybe…but how will you shoot it? …asks…Bronte"
Meirin dug around the satchel with her and produced a carton of bullets.
"These. They're empty cartridges. They're pretty frail but if it works…" she explained. "You fill it in through this hole at the bottom, and wrap this here in paper, and then this small sheet of metal has a sticky side that you put over that. Then it's ready to go!
Bardroy nodded and put a hand on Snake's shoulder.
"Good. Now I want you to fill them up with venom and while you do that I'll…"
He stopped mid-speech and looked beyond Snake's shoulder.
"Is that…? No…That's…Snowy?!"
Climbing out of a broken and run down store was a thin figure draped in a black robe. She stumbled around, yelping and jumping back when she saw the dead bodies lying around.
"Merianna?!" Finny called out, letting his voice echo through the empty buildings.
The figure turned her head towards them, and seemed to be shouting something back, but nothing was heard. Unfortunately, his voice also attracted the attention of the demon dog, who reared and snarled upon noticing them. Quickly, they scrambled away. Slowly, the girl was running over towards them and came into focus, calling their names. Meirin pointed at a nearby bakery, where they could regroup and take cover. While the men went inside, Meirin stayed outside to wait for Merianna.
"Meri-! I thought…I thought-!" She said, full of relief.
"I missed you, Meirin! I'm…I'm back now. I'm glad you're safe…!" she sniffled, not wanting to start crying again.
Quietly shushing her, she led her into the bakery, where the men were sitting and reloading their guns. They were all surprised when she came in. Only when they were inside and safe did Meirin spin back on her heels and gave Merianna a hug. Merianna took a step back from the sudden action, but quickly returned her friend's hug. It didn't take long until Snake, Finnian and Bardroy joined in too.
"Sn-Snowy! Where did you go?!"
"We missed you…says everyone…"
"Meri! Meri! Meri! We thought you were gone forever!" Finny sobbed.
Merianna too, felt like crying, but had to quickly soak it back up.
"Uuuhh…Meirin, Finny…Snake, Bardroy…I missed you all too… I'm sorry..."
They broke apart, letting her some space to wipe her tears.
"But I think that…we have to focus…" she said, "I can…cry later."
"What…happened to…?" Finny started.
He didn't want to finish, although his eyes pointed to where it was obvious.
"They look like…burn wounds…" Snake murmured.
Meirin took her friend's hands in hers, worry etched on her face as she inspected them. Merianna took her hands away and tried to cover her face a bit, not quite knowing how to answer.
"S-Sorry, Snowy… We didn't mean to point it out. We're just all glad you're back." Bardroy said, flashing a quick smile.
"W-What happened? Was that…Pluto?" she asked, "And where is…Young Master?"
"Plu's…we don't know, really." Finny answered, "He's gone crazy! I…I think it's because of that collar, but we have no way to get it off. We're kind of just… stuck now…"
"Ciel is with Sebastian, and they went with Paris." Said Snake, "So they should be safe…although today was the day that they were supposed to come back…"
"B-But what are we going to do now…? Plu…is going to destroy the town! And it'll be all our fault!" Meirin cried.
Bardroy loaded the gun with a clink.
"Here's the plan." He said, "I'll try to keep shooting these tranquilizer bullets. After all, we have a whole box of them. Snake, you'll be injecting your venom or poison into these empty cartridges as backup to the tranquilizers and Finny'll be backup for me and Snake. Meirin, I'm gonna have to ask to you patrol the area around, see if there's any stragglers behind and get them to safety. In the event that…for whatever reason…I don't make it, I'll send Merianna to fetch you and you'll have to keep shooting."
Everyone listened intently and nodded in unison. They knew their assigned positions and were ready.
"Once we get this all over with," Bard added, "Let's all go out drinking at that pub again!"
