"This is all stupid Faraces' fault." Collette thought as she ran, the sound of heavy footsteps and barking, coming from right behind her. "All he had to do was let her go- let her live her life free, but no, he goes out of his way to keep her trapped under his paw and he has the audacity to call that 'love'! Poor Stormé, no wonder she was so scared of leaving the doghouse, no wonder she always looked over her shoulder when we went to our special place. She was scared of her freakish brother, coming to drag her someplace she didn't want to go." In that moment her paws were muddy, her coat dusty and her breath panting, but all of it went ignored when the presence of her friend's sadness was so much greater. "How could Farace act so innocent about it, when he knew that she was hurting? He's her brother for goodness sake! He of all people should have been able to see that she missed her mother, that she was sad about it. How could he not be there when she needed him most? Why couldn't he understand?" She glanced furtively at Farace, his stubby legs were struggling to keep up, but the bloodthirsty hunting howls of the twins' behind them kept him going at a steady enough pace. "Why Farace?"

Collette came to a stop the same moment that Stormé skidded to a halt and Farace almost crashed into the brick wall ahead of them. They were trapped. She fearfully turned around, all three dogs were approaching them slowly now. Their leader wore a sick grin on his face, as he got closer.

"Well 'boss'." His eyes looked to Farace. "It was a real pleasure doin' business with you, but unfortunately you didn't quite fulfill your end of the deal." He chuckled heartily. "Normally the three of us ain't the killer type- heck that whole 'punishment' thing is normally just a harmless slap on the wrist, but you wanna' know something about living on the streets? Food is pretty hard to come by and if you promise anyone out here free food, especially a hungry trio, like me and my boys here, you better be pretty ready to deliver."

When all three rushed at the group, Collette sat there frozen in fear. Much to her surprise, none of the dogs came for her, or Stormé. All three were wildly attacking Farace, while the bulldog tried his best fight back. She wanted to grab Stormé then and there and make a run for it, but to her dismay and partial shock, Stormé jumped into the fray, trying to defend her brother from the assault he was receiving.

"No Stormé! What are you doing!?"

"Leo! Cleo!" His shouting could be heard over the sound of the growling, snarling and biting that filled air. "Take the girl, I'll handle our business partner over here!"

"Why is she protecting him? How could she protect him, after all that he's done? What...oh." A sudden thought made Collette want to shrink right there. "It's because she's not looking out for herself, she actually cares about everyone around her. Unlike you Collette, you're just a prissy, stuck-up, selfish dog. Think about it, Meelus, Danielle, soon enough Annette is gonna' join the horse wagon. You have no friends, nobody wants to be your friend." The thoughts caused her heart to beat faster than it had all morning. "Just accept it. It's who you are. The sooner you embrace it, the better." She found herself ready to spin around and run home, run where it was safe, to leave Farace and Stormé in this predicament, while she got to sleep in a warm place, each and everyday. "I am nothing more than a prissy, stuck-up, selfish..." She stopped when different thoughts came to mind. "He loves you...we all do...you have really nice ears...roses...there's a beauty in all of us...caring...sweet-natured..." And then it struck her. "I'm more than that. Better than that."

She turned her attention back to the situation at hand, Farace was pinned under their leader, Stormé held the twins off her, growling, snapping at them whenever they tried getting in close. It seemed an easy decision at first, help Stormé, but when she saw the helplessness in Faraces' eye and remembered how much Stormé seemed to care, she leapt in, unsure of how to help.

"...yes, I'm afraid this is the end my dear Farace, but you know, the two of us never had much of a proper meeting. My name is Avedano, it was nice knowi- youch!"

He screamed in pain, after Collette, barely thinking chomped down as hard as she could on his tail. He let Farace go and turned angrier than before to Collette. "I was hoping that we could just keep this between us and Farace over here, but if you and the other girl want to be collateral damage, who am I to say no?"

"Collette run!" Without hesitation she obeyed Stormés' exclamation and took off, Avedano right behind her.

"You made a mistake, trying to interfere girl!" He shouted. "When I catch you, me and the boys are gonna' tear you limb from limb!" He picked up the pace then, easily closing the gap between the two of them even further. "Ya' know if you make it easy here and just take what's coming, I might just make sure you don't suffer too bad!"

His taunts barely registered in Collette's ears, her paws were too focused on not accidentally tripping over themselves. Her nose stung from breathing in so much air, in an attempt to catch her breath on the move. She could feel herself slowing, feel herself ready to give up, but her own predetermined thoughts and the adrenaline of the situation kept her going. "I just gotta' go a little further, just a little further-"

And then it happened, she tripped over the edge of the tracks. She lied there and groaned, before she could get up, Avedano leaped on top of her, he laughed madly. "Would you look at that!" His head was turned to the left. "Looks like a trains coming, you see it? Over there in the distance."

Collette glanced to her left, sure enough she could see the faint outline of a train approaching.

"What can I say? The world keeps giving me better ways to kill you." He cackled once more to the sky, head thrown up. "Now I don't even gotta' get my paws dirty! I'll just let the train handle things."

The loud whistle of the train made both of their muscles grow tense and alert. It was getting closer, the rail squeal getting louder.

"You don't have to do this." She muttered quietly, still trapped under his body.

"And why is that, huh? Cause' let me tell you something- I've lived on the streets my whole life. Leo and Cleo have lived on the streets their entire life! We've all starved on the streets our entire lives! And Farace? Well, like he said, he saw three desperate fools, but instead of helping, he exploited us, yeah..." Avedano slowly nodded his head. "That's exactly what he did..." He glanced to his left and then looked back to her, pushing his head in closer to her face. "Then you chose to get in the way instead of just leaving."

She mumbled.

"What was that?"

She mumbled again.

"I can't hear you." He put his ear next to her mouth.

"I'm sorry." Were the last things he heard, before Collette bit down hard on his ear. She could taste his blood mixed in with her own saliva. She scrambled to get off of the tracks, jumping off to safety, while Avedano stood there cursing.

"You stupid dog! It wouldn't have been that bad for you, but now I have to-"

He was cut off by a sickening sound. The sound of steel grinding flesh.

Collette looked away, sick to her stomach and almost wanting to cry. To her surprise, he was still somehow alive his body stuck to the track. He laid there breathing his last breaths, somehow finding the strength to call her over. She came and bent down to his mouth, trying to ignore the goriness around him. She listened carefully to his last words. Then he died. "Poor guy, all this because of what Farace told him." Anger grew in her voice once more. "This...all of this is because of Farace!"


Stormé stood there trying to catch her breath.

"Are you okay Stormé?" Faraces' voice came from her right. "You're bleeding all over the place."

"I...I'm...f...fin...fine." She hung her head and took a deep breath. "I'm fine. Where's Collette?" The concern in her voice was strong.

Farace shrugged. "I don't know, Aveda...the one idiot ran after her."

Stormé shook her head. "No...no...no..."

"What?"

"We gotta' go help her." She stared at him wide-eyed. "We can't just-"

"Do you hear that?" He cut her off suddenly. "The workers. They're loading the train, getting ready to leave. Look I know you said no, but now would be a really good time to reconsider, we could get back home right now!"

She looked at him in disgust. "You really think I'm just gonna' get on that train with you?"

"Yes!" There was a glimmer of hope and expectation in his voice.

"No...I have to help Collette."

"I'm right here!"

Stormé spun around when she heard Collette's voice. "Oh Collette!" She immediately rushed forward, upon seeing the Cocker Spaniel. "Thank goodness you're okay." She nuzzled into her fur, not caring about all the blood present on her coat. But whereas, she expected Collette to be equally as glad, she only had a cold look in her eyes. "Collette, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You're an even worse liar than I am." She smirked, trying to lighten the situation. It didn't work.

"Right before he died." Collette spoke around a tight throat. "He told me everything."

"What do you-"

"He told me how hard life on the streets was." She spoke quickly, around the lump in her throat. "He told me how he, Leo and Cleo starved on the streets." A fat tear rolled down her cheek. "He told me that all he ever wanted was to provide for them- to look after them and when Farace..." She said his name like it was a piece of rancid meat."...came along and saw them for the desperate fools they were, he exploited them, cheated them...now he's dead, he's dead because of you Farace."

"Collette-"

She shook her head hard, more tears rolled down her cheek. "The last thing he asked of me was to make sure that Leo and Cleo would be fine. Farace." She looked at him sharply. "It's your job to make sure they make it out here."

"You've gotta' be kidding me!"

"It's your fault, Farace."

"Okay fair enough, but even if I did find out where they ran off to, they would shred me to pieces on sight."

"You'll be fine." Collette retorted. "You're sister tells me that you...have a way with words."

Farace turned to his sister. "Stormé you can't honestly expect me to do such a thing, like I said, that train is leaving and we-"

"You should do what she says Farace."

His eye widened. "So that's how it is huh?" He stood up and turned around. "Alright fine, I'll find the two of them and bring 'em back home with me."

"Thank you Farace."

He cleared his throat. "And where exactly are the two of you gonna' go hmm?"

"We'll make a plan."

"Little vague." He started to walk off. "But I won't stop you from doing what mother said you should."

Stormé watched as he walked off. "I love you brother!"

"Same here." She barely heard his voice.

Collette sat next to her and nuzzled her, as Farace walked off. The cold look was gone from her eyes.

"So do you have any idea what to do next?"

Stormé chuckled. "Not a clue."