Chapter 3
Death?
Death!
Legoshi, Jack, and the other guys from 701 walked down to the main floor, seven flights of stairs and many pardons to get everyone there in one piece. By the time they got to the bottom the entire school was alive and filled with the chatter of young adults getting ready to start their day.
"School-Wide Announcement! All Students Report to the Cafeteria immediately, all students to the cafeteria!" Principal Gon, The African Lion's voice called over the school-wide intercom. All the students present looked at each other in confusion before they all migrated to the Cafeteria as ordered.
"I wonder what's going on?" Miguno The Hyena Dog said as an aside. Collot and Voss shared a look and shrugged at Miguno while Durham looked focused on something. Jack and Legoshi shared a look and walked ahead of everyone else on their way to the Cafe.
Minutes ticked by as the group of over a thousand students from Dorm Four stumbled into the cafeteria. The men of room 701 saw that most of the herbivores had split the entire in half by segregating themselves off to one side. The only ones not doing so were a part of the Drama Club and sitting with their friends among the Carnivores. Legoshi led the group over to the Drama Group and quietly greeted them with a slight wave of his paw.
"Morning, Legoshi, Jack!" Dacy the Flying Squirrel greeted the pair with glee. She lept off of Mina's neck and landed in front of Legoshi with a large grin on her face. She pushed a jar of walnuts up at him and grinned happily.
The other members of Room 701 looked on with intrigue at what they might see Legoshi do. They were not expecting the large wolf to happily take the jar and crack open the walnuts for her, that was certain. Jack started a conversation with Shiela the Cheetah and talked about their next assignment in Honors Math together. Aoba and Kai joined in, as they were in the same class as the two.
"So, anyone know what's going on?" Miguno asked while playing with a pencil between his fingers.
"No," Els the Angora Goat whispered. "Has anyone seen Louis, Tem, or Riz?" She asked the group.
"No, not since yesterday," Legoshi replied in his usual subdued tone.
"Oh?" Els and the others looked at Legoshi with interest.
"Yeah," he gulped at the sudden attention. "It was around four or five in the evening if I remember rightly… He wanted to talk to me about something, it was really weird!" Legoshi's face turned hard and became lined with confusion. The others kept silent, waiting for him to finish talking. "He left me this note," Legoshi pulled the once-forgotten note out of his back pocket and showed it to the group. It told him to meet Tem in the Drama room after school had ended for the day. It was even signed with Tem's name and everything.
"That's odd."
"He asked me some weird questions, something about the World… And some other stuff about Death, Life, and the World itself… After that, he told me a really… Dark story from his childhood." Legoshi gained a far-off look on his face and scrunched up his brows.
"What did he tell you?" Ellen the Zebra asked almost forcefully.
"How much does anyone know about Tem's past?" Legoshi asked them.
"I know he's the youngest of five!" Dolph the Grey Hippopotamus said.
"He has a patch of brown fur on his back that he likes to hide!" Kibi the Grey Anteater said shamelessly.
"I know he Likes Els!" Mina the Giraffe said from above, a small flush on her face when the other girls cooed at the news.
"Well, does anyone know what happened when he was five?" Legoshi asked. When everyone gave him blank, yet curious, looks he sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, he told me that when he was Five he and his Mother went out shopping near the center of town. During some part of their shopping trip, he was separated from her and somehow ended up in the Black Market Alley."
The whole group sucked a hard breath over shut teeth and gave each other grim looks. The herbivores knew what it was and were terrified that one of their own had somehow wandered in there while the Carnivores were shocked to hear of it at all.
"How in the hell did Tem get there?" Bill the Bengal Tiger asked. His face was showed his shock.
"He didn't say… he did say however that a White Mained Lion had tried to get him to safety after picking him up off the Black Market street itself. He said the Lion tried to get him back to the 'normal'" Legoshi used air quotes, "side of the city but was stopped by the Shishigumi… The White Lion apparently tried to fight his way through and get Tem out of there but..." Legoshi sighed and rubbed his hands together. His social anxiety was getting to him and being around so many people, even those he knew, was getting to him.
"Legoshi?" Jack put a hand on his shoulder which helped set him straight. The others took note of this and shared a quick look among themselves, this was a side of Legoshi they hadn't seen before, The social outcast sure, but not the nervous stressed Wolf that now stood before them. It showed just how much the Wolf put up with every day that he wasn't always like this.
"Well… The White Lion killed," The Herbivores gasped quietly," Four of the Ten Lions attacking them and knocked out the rest. He lost his arm in the process, from what Tem told me at least. On their way back to the rest of town the Lion collapsed from blood-loss and came to rest in a nearby alley." Legoshi took a moment to collect himself. After the events of that morning, he was barely holding on to his sanity as it was. Retelling Tem's story was taking its toll on the usually reserved Wolf.
"The Lion gave Tem-"
"ATTENTION EVERYONE!" Principal Gon stood before the assembled students of Cherryton Academy atop the Stage built into the Cafeteria. "WE HAVE A … DEPRESSING ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE..." The student body muttered among itself at that.
"EARLIER THIS MORNING, AT APPROXIMATELY SIX AM, TEM THE ALPACA WAS SEEN FLEEING INTO THE MUSIC AUDITORIUM BY THE SECURITY CAMERAS ... AT EIGHT AM TEM WAS FOUND DEAD AT THE BASE OF THE AUDITORIUM, DEVOURED…," The Principal lowered his head and a Swallow wearing a Police uniform stepped forward.
"It is my solemn duty to inform you all that the School will be closed for the next few days while an investigation is performed. All we ask is that no one leaves the premises until such time as the investigation has been completed. Your Cooperation is much appreciated, good morning, and stay safe everyone!" The room exploded into a storm of yelling and screaming. The Drama Group looked at Legoshi and, while at first getting ready to throw him to the proverbial wolves, decided not to at the look of utter loss and horror that was etched into his face.
"Tem?" He asked in a small voice, just over a whisper. His eyes became watery and his hand flew to his throat when it became hard to breathe. He fell to his knees which prompted Jack and Bill to lung forward and steady him.
"Legoshi!?" Jack cried, shocked. The others watched in fascinated horror as the Wolf broke down and cried.
"I-I!" Legoshi moaned. "Should h-ave!" He bayed into Jacks's shoulder. Bill held him steady and rooted to the spot while looking at the others for help.
"Let's get him out of here," Sheila urged. She could tell that there was something more going on here and the fact that Legoshi was actually telling them something about Tem, and was most likely the last Animorph to see him before his death… They needed to know whatever it was the Wolf knew.
"There's a spot by the track that nobody really goes by!" Tao the Panther speaks up from behind them. "It's just off the north side, under the bleachers! We can talk there and not be overheard!" The group nods and ushers the broken down wolf out with Bill and Dolph holding him up as they went.
The group sat down in the shade of the Bleachers and waited for Legoshi to calm down. The wolf looked horrid, bloodshot eyes from crying and a sallow face. Jack sat to his left while Bill kept a steadying hand on his back from his right.
"Just tell us what else he said 'Goshi," Jack urged him gently. The others, having separated and sat far apart based on some ancient instinctual need, silently munched on snacks and sipped at drinks, each and everyone patiently waiting for the wolf to talk.
"He told me why he had told me the story," Legoshi breathed finally. His chest ached and his stomach felt like a roller coaster had taken up permanent residence. "Do you want to know what he said?" The others nodded slowly, a little unsure now.
"He said I reminded him of the White Lion… The one that protected him." Legoshi rubbed a palm at his eyes and sighed. "That Lion Died protecting him. He bled out after losing his arm and gave Tem something he had Prized the most…," Legoshi extended his arm and showed them his watch. The others were mesmerized by the intricacy of it and looked at it appreciatively.
"He gave this to me and said it was because I had been his friend since we first met, which was back in seventh grade I think…," Legoshi looked hard at the ground before nodding.
"He told me some things, personal things," He blushed and sent an awkward glance at Els. The rest of the group, but the Angora Goat, knew what he meant and giggle coughed to keep from laughing inappropriately at their late friend and also so they didn't interrupt Legoshi too much.
"He… he then said 'I think this will be the last time I will ever have the pleasure of being with you Legoshi,' He looked very sad and I could see there were unshed tears in his eyes… He told me he had things to do, that he had to take care of a few things. He said if… if he didn't make it, he um," Legoshi blushed a bit and looked at Els one more time.
"What?" she asked, scared and frightened by the story so far.
"He um, asked me to give you a letter from his locker… A love letter. I-He-Um… he had been working on it for months… last school Year… And he was finally ready to, you know, tell you how he felt." Legoshi looked to the ground and made a sad noise in the back of his throat, like a whine that sounded so broken and anguished it should never have come from a wolf in the first place.
"oh," She gasped softly. Tears welled in her eyes and she looked at the ground too. The rest of the group felt bad and awkward, especially after the comments some of them made a few minutes ago.
"He-he told me...to, as he said, a Big Favor… To find someone and love them. He then told me Goodbye and left at a run."
The group fell silent and mulled over everything Legoshi had said. All of it was in character for the sociable and friendly Alpaca they had all known, even the more spirited parts about his childhood sounded like something that could have happened to the teen.
"What happened after that?" Bill asked quietly. The rest of the teens were stricken and sorrowful in their thoughts, having thought Legoshi could ever harm Tem now weighed on them harshly. The way the Wolf talked about the Alpaca made it obvious that the two had been close friends outside of the Drama Club. It also made it obvious how much they had missed, and how they had excluded the taller teen from almost everything they did.
"I… I don't know, it was … Weird, and I kind of thought one of you guys might be able to tell me," Legoshi looked to his friends from 701. The rest of the Drama Club looked at them and Jack was the first to answer, a stricken look on his face.
"You came back to the Room around six or so, might have been sooner because Miguno hadn't come back from Fencing practice just yet and they stop at five-thirty. You were in a haze Goshi," Jack said earnestly. "You looked horrid, like that one time back when we were at Shigoshi Middle school… You remember right?"
"Oh…," Legoshi squeaked. It was one of the worst episodes of depression he had ever experienced, the day his mother had Hung herself in their living room. He had come to school and looked like death had warmed him over in the night. "That… That was bad," he whispered. "I really looked like that?"
"Yeah, it's why I was so surprised when you got ready so fast today… I think you knew something horrible was going to happen," Jack whined. The other students looked at the pair and tried to piece together what they were talking about. Whatever it was, they knew Legoshi had suffered massively if this wasn't the first time he had blacked out.
"If you don't mind me asking, Legoshi, wh-what happened?" Kai asked, the others shot him a scornful look, but stopped themselves from saying anything when Legoshi started speaking.
"When I was Twelve… I walked in on my Mother after she had hung herself in our living room…," Legoshi whispered.
Nothing was said after that. No accusations were flung, no words of comfort, nothing. The group just sat there in silence and felt horrified. Kai was given a seething glare from Ellen that could have ignited Steel. Bill wrapped an arm around Legoshi and pulled the quiet Wolf into his side while the Tiger stared into the sky.
Jack leaned over and gripped one of Legoshi's large paws between his own and silently seethed. It had been so long since then that he had hoped his friend had been able to forgive himself, but it seemed that his guilt was now taking a new form. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to help him fight it anymore.
Sheila cleared her throat and got most everyone else's attention. "I know this won't feel too much like a good thing... But I know what the signs are of someone who has just recently eaten meat..." She motioned to the Carnivores around them and watched as they all gave her considering looks. "None of us, myself included, are not showing the documented signs of a Devouring Predator. No one is drooling, or starring at anyone else… The smell of blood would be almost overpowering and it would be on our Breath… The smell of blood is notoriously hard to get rid of. And with all the talking we've all done?" She looked at them all with a melancholy smile, "I'm pretty sure even you Herbivores would have been able to smell it."
"Then," Els gasped. The other herbivores shared a look and glanced at Legoshi, who had regained some of the luster in his face. They felt a wave of caustic relief. They felt bad for their earlier accusations but also relief at the fact it could not have been any of their friends. "Legoshi, I'm sorry for how I treated you earlier," Els looked at the Wolf, on the verge of crying, and reached out a hand for his.
The Grey Wolf blinked slowly and eyed her hand blankly for a moment before moving the hand Jack had been holing. The Golden Lab let go easily and put a hand on his arm instead. With a genteelness that belied his strength, Legoshi took her hand in his.
"Apology accepted, Els," He seemed to get some of the life back in him and looked her in the eye. "Maybe after all this, we can get that letter from Tem's locker… I'm sure he would have loved for you to have it."
"I would be happy to," She smiled shakily. The whole group broke down into whispers and speculations after that. They tried to think of who it could be that killed Tem. Everyone threw out ideas; ideas ranging from, the Principal(Kai), A student(Moro), the seemingly absent Security Guards(Mina), a dark spirit from the afterlife(Fudge the Red Panda), to a killer somehow getting on campus(Ellen).
While Bill and the 701 guys kept everyone talking and trying to keep things logical, Legoshi took a moment to get his shit back together. He felt horrid that he had lost his composure as he did, but he was happy that the few friends he had no longer suspected him for Tem's murder.
The Grey wolf got up and walked a few paces away from the group. They shot him a look, but when he didn't make to run off they were content to talk among themselves again. The Wolf crossed his arms over his chest and passed his gaze over the open track field. His nails dug into the palm of his hand painfully, almost to the point of drawing blood.
Legoshi sighed and looked at the watch on his wrist. It was then that a blinking light coming from the watch caught him off guard. He looked at his friends over his shoulder and then back at the watch.
'menu' he mentally commands and braces himself for the shift. The world turned Grey around him and the Menu screen opened before him. He instantly noticed that the Quest menu was highlighted. With a tap of his fingers, he opened the menu and was given a brief introduction.
This is the Quest screen. Here you will be able to see what your current Quests are, both available, currently tracked, and finished quests. Story Line quests are those created by the System in relation to actions you have taken and the responses from those around you. Quest Lines are a Series of Quests that have their own Story that is only peripherally related to what is going on around you, though completing them may have anywhere from significant impact to none at all on what you are currently doing. DQ or Daily Quests are Quests that are repeated each day until a hidden objective is completed and can take an indeterminate amount of time to complete – in certain situations they will be automatically disabled Each Quest, and leg of a Quest Line provides rewards comparable to how difficult the Quest is to complete.
QUEST MENU
Available
{SQ – The Smoking Gun…
Find Tem's killer before the end of the School year and bring them to justice!
Complete One Of The Following:
* Turn Tem's Killer over to the police!
* Execute Tem's Killer!
*Redeem Tem's Killer!
Failure If:
*Legoshi Dies
*Tem's Killer is not found out!}
{QL – DRAMA~!
The Drama Club is missing its Secondary Lead! Petition Louis for a part in the play to free up actors for the secondary role!
Complete One Of The Following:
*Become a Character in Adler!
*Become the Secondary Protagonist! - Bonus if completed
Failure If:
*Kicked from Drama Club
*Not cast as a Character in Adler
*Legoshi Dies}
{DQ – Pumpin' Iron!
Legoshi is a large Grey Wolf, however, his muscles are not as large as they should be for his size!
Complete Everything Listed Below:
*50x Squats
*25x Push-ups
*100x Jabs *Each Arm
*2Mil Run
*50x Lunges
*Bench 100lbp 20x
*25lbp Curls 50x
Failure If:
*Not completed by 11:59 PM of the same day.
Failure Results in lowered strength the next day – depends on the level of failure.
Legoshi looked at the quests and felt a sense of dread when he looked at the first two. He would have to complete the first one, just on principle alone. Someone had murdered one of his Best Friends, he would see them pay for their transgressions. The second one just filled him with societal anxiety. He didn't like crowds, he liked performing in front of crowds even less than being in them. Something was going to go horribly wrong with the Quest Line, he could feel it in his bones.
"Tem…," Legoshi muttered while clenching his fists tightly at his sides. "I promise, I will find who killed you and make them pay."
Unbeknownst to the Grey Wolf himself, his eyes flashed with pale blue light, like that of the Moon herself. His corded muscles bent and roiled beneath his skin with such tense and furious anguish that they looked more akin to rolling seas than the willowy arms of a Wolf.
"Status!" he growls.
Status Menu Attributes Menu Skills Menu
[-|+]
Str: 10 [←|→]
Vit: 5 [←|→]
Dex: 4 [←|→]
End: 12 [←|→]
Per: 15 [←|→]
Cha: 2 [←|→]
Int: 12 [←|→]
Wis: 6 [←|→]
Luk: 3 [←|→]
Points: 40
He glared at his Attributes and felt his gut turn with nausea from the remembered experience. He looked and decided to increase a couple of things. He hovered over Dex and read the description.
The measure of your Readiness and Grace when performing Physical activities; also affects your mental faculties with how easy it is to bring your mental skills to bear. Increasing this increases all these factors and more.
He then hovered his finger over Charisma.
Your compelling Attractiveness or Charm which can then be used to inspire others to follow you, or others. This affects your ability to lead and talk with people among other things.
He trailed his finger then across Wisdom.
The ability to pull on your experiences and use them to find solutions to problems old and new. Wisdom is increased by adding points to it and increased naturally for every ten years you have been alive – though increased exponentially for each subsequent decade lived. E.G at ten years you get five wisdom, then at twenty years you get ten, and at thirty you get twenty and so on and so forth.
Finally, he traced his finger over Luck.
Success or Failure brought about more by Chance than by the user's own actions. Divine providence falls under this category and cannot be quantified even by the game. Simple logic dictates that the higher your Luck Attribute is, the better off your life will be when interacting with any deities.
The last description made the Wolf pause for a moment, but waved the niggling thought away and went back to his brooding.
He had finally come to his decision.
He sucked in a breath and went to town. He tapped the increase button for Strength ten times, the button for Vitality five times, dexterity six times, wisdom four times, luck seven, charisma 4, and Intelligence four.
Status Menu Attributes Menu Skills Menu
[-|+]
Str: 20 [←|→]
Vit: 10 [←|→]
Dex: 10 [←|→]
End: 12 [←|→]
Per: 15 [←|→]
Cha: 6 [←|→]
Int: 16 [←|→]
Wis: 10 [←|→]
Luk: 10 [←|→]
Points: 0
Legoshi fell to his knees and vomited bile all across the black-grey ground. His body shook and his sight became filled with spots. He felt his muscles tense up and it almost reminded him of watching maggots dig through dead meat as they writhed and squirmed under his skin. His heartbeat took on a life of its own and he could almost swear that it was going to beat out of his chest. He felt worse than horrible. Death would have been more preferable than this torture. The only thing keeping him grounded in the now was the thought of Tem.
Tem the Alpaca, the sweet innocent Tem who shied away from gross things like moldy bread, mud, and slimy things, who had done this for almost his whole life. That was the thought that spurred the Wolf on, that gave him something firm to stand on.
The world tilted and he laid on his side. The urge to vomit had subsided and all that was left was the ache in his limbs and the throbbing in his chest. Once his vision cleared he looked at his arms and saw that they hadn't swollen with muscle, but he could tell just by looking at them with his enhanced vision that they were different somehow.
He moved his arm and it was almost like feeling metal coils tense up and release. It was surreal while also making him feel … good. He got to his feet and sighed explosively.
"Let's see what my health and everything looks like…," Legoshi tapped the Status menu and he could feel how his strength had increased. It was then that he was glad that he had increased his Dexterity as well or else he might accidentally destroy things when he went to use them!
[LVL: 5] [HP: 405/405] [SP: 275/275] [MP: 10/10]
Head: [100/100]
Torso: [110/110]
Left Arm: [110/110]
Right Arm: [110/110]
Left Leg: [110/110]
Right Leg: [110/110]
[Buffs & Debuffs]
Hybrid: +50% HP RG
Hybrid: +50% HP
Hybrid: +25% SP
Hybrid: +15% MP RG
Dense Muscles: Limb Durability +10%
Hybrid: -10 Relationship Gain (Everyone)
Carnivore: -30% Relationship Gain (Herbivores)
Legoshi sucked in a breath and looked at how high his health had jumped.
"Wow," he stood there for a moment, mesmerized by the changes. He felt stronger, but the drastic increase made it all the more apparent to him how strong he had become, or more to point how hard he was to kill.
Warning, even though Hit points do in fact display how much damage a person can take before they die, anything that would normally count as an instant kill, Decapitation, head-shots, or otherwise, will instantly render the player dead. For the most part, as long as the head is left intact, the Player may come back from the brink of death.
"Huh…," Legoshi blinked at the sudden warning and felt a sense of mortality wash over him again, though it was tainted with the last lines of knowledge.
The Grey Wolf sucked in a gulp of air, let it out explosively, and ran a hand across his head. He mussed his ears and let his arm fall to his side.
"I need to get back to everyone else. The next couple of days are going to be hard on everyone. I just hope the Police don't come down too hard on us all," He mused. With a huff and a firm nod of his head, Legoshi let go of his reservations concerning the Game. If it was going to give him a hand in bringing his friend's murderer to justice then he was going to accept whatever help it could give him.
The world came back into focus and the Grey Wolf teen dropped his arms at his side and turned back to his friends. They were animatedly talking about Tem and who it possibly could have been. He walked over and leaned up against the Bleacher and let his head hang down some to where his chin rested on his chest. He kept running over the conversation he had with Tem over and over in his head, looking for anything that could lead him towards a lead into the Alpacas murder.
He kept an ear on his Friends' conversation, both to listen for any good suggestions for who could have killed Tem, and to make sure they didn't get out of hand. They had one murder on their hands, they didn't need the police putting any of them away because they started a fight among themselves. What struck Legoshi was how good it felt to watch over his Friends, it was different.
His ears twitched when he heard Ellen mention something about Tem.
"He used to sit and talk with me about my Dancing. I'm not on the Team, but it's something that I practice in my off time. Tem would sit with me and give me pointers. He used to be a really good dancer when he was much younger, I think he said seven or eight, and he went to the championships. He's the one that got me over my stage fright and got me acting on stage starting back in middle school."
"We'd go on walks around the school in the morning and talk about the latest Manga that had come out for Shonen Jump that week. It was nice," Kibi interjected.
"Tem and I used to visit the Gardening Club and volunteer with Haru, an upper-year who runs the gardening Club. We spent every Saturday up there enjoying ourselves and just having a good time," Els sniffed as tears gathered in her eyes.
"Tem used to sit in on my baseball games on Sundays," Bill sighed. "We'd go out and get veggie-burgers from a place near the stadium after the games."
"Tem and I usually spent after school talking about his day," Legoshi joined in. The others looked up at him with wide eyes. "He'd tell me what had happened that day and I'd usually help him with his English and Math work. He was a brilliant speaker, but getting things down on paper was a horrendous endeavor for him." Legoshi smiled sadly and looked up at the bright mid-morning sky. "We'd also spend our time playing games together. First-person Shooters and Racing games were Tem's favorites. Was never any good at the shooters," Legoshi chuckled wetly, "But I could never beat him at the racing games. It was like he was born to race!" He laughed with a sad tear rolling down his cheek.
The others laughed along and commiserated a while longer.
It was then that Legoshi understood what was happening. They were holding their own impromptu funeral for their friend. With nobody left because of the Devouring, this was all they would even be able to do. There never were bodies. But here they sat, Friends of an Alpaca, Carnivore and Herbivore alike, and they were telling stories about their dead friend in his memory.
"Hey, Guys… Hold on a minute would you?" Bill asked before jumping to his feet and running off towards the Feline Dorms in building 3. They all shared a look and kept the conversation going. A few minutes later Bill came back with a duffle bag in hand and a flushed look on his face.
"did you run all the way there and back?" Kai asked incredulously.
"Yes!" Bill huffed and sat down roughly on the ground. He placed the duffle bag in the middle of the circle of friends and unzipped it. Inside it was a collection of plastic tumblers and a largish bottle of dark brandy. "I was saving this…," Bill quietly said. He pulled out the glasses and handed them to everyone.
"What's all this for Bill?" Sheila questioned, "You know we aren't supposed to have alcohol on campus," She chastised softly, not wanting to come off as harsh after the morning they all had had so far.
"It was supposed to be for Graduation, I got this from my Father when I was ten, and he told me to never leave it far from me. Well, I've been living on Cherryton's grounds for close to six years now since I moved in back in middle school. This bottle is over a hundred years old and is from before the last War. I figured, with them not here to share it with us anymore, we should have a glass in his honor… To remember him by."
The group sat there in shock. None of them had a dry eye after that and they all nodded along with the Tigers idea. Legoshi himself thought it would be appropriate, after all, as Tem had enjoyed a shot of Brandy every once in a while with him when they talked about certain subjects.
Once everyone had a glass and Bill had given them all a single shot, they waited.
"Should someone say something?" Zoe the Goat asked hesitantly.
"To Tem!" Aoba the bald Eagle declares. "To a good Friend!"(Tao) "A better man than I!"(Kai) "The Best coach!"(Ellen) "To a Great Animal!"(Legoshi) "To Tem!" They all shouted together and tossed their shots back. Legoshi hummed deeply in his throat as the brandy burned smoothly on its way down. The others were a mixture of stoic and coughing harshly with inexperience.
"To Tem, a Good Man, a good friend, and the Best Animal I have ever met," Legoshi reiterated before sitting down. The rest of them nodded and sat around quietly. They didn't talk, they didn't whisper, they just sat and thought about the life of their friend.
Minutes and soon hours passed and the sun began to get low in the evening sky. The group snapped out of their day-long revere and scowled at the sun. It was getting late. They were probably going to get in trouble with the House Mothers if they stayed out any longer.
"We need to get back to our Dorms…," Kibi muttered sadly.
"Well, I think this might be the last we see of each other for the next few days," Dolph said with a sigh. "The police said the school will be closed for the next three days while they investigate. Most likely we won't be able to leave our Dorms."
"Best get back then before we get in more trouble!" Bill got up and stretched. A series of pops echoed from his shoulders, back, and legs as his joints fell back into place.
"We should escort everyone back to their Dorms," The Grey Wolf chimed in. the others looked at him. "With there being a Devouring on Campus, I Don't want to hear of another classmate's death, especially one of my friends, so soon after… This. The Canine Dorms are the closest to the School, so they are the most visible to the Police and the Guards they should have there… We can escort everyone to the farthest Dorm first and then work our way back. Everyone from room 701 and I will be fine heading back on our own since we all are going to the same place, besides, Bill, Kai, Sheila, and Tao all live in the Same Dorm."
"Hey!" Bill clapped him on the shoulder and grinned. "That's not a bad idea Legoshi! We should do that!" The others shared nervous glances and slowly worked up the courage to go along with it. Even though they had shared a drink and nearly a hundred different stories about Tem, it was solely the fact they were going to be escorted back to their homes, their Layers, that made them so uneasy. It went against their very instincts to do so. Thousands of years of instinctual urges made it hard for them to accept, but accept they did. The group of thirty-five animals walked en-mass back to the Dorms. They walked the small herbivores to the farthest Dorm, it overlooked the Mega Highway, Cherryton Bridge, and Hope's Bay.
After getting their smaller friends home the group walked to the Large Herbivore Dorm and said their farewells to Dolph, Moro, Mina, Ellen, and the others. With everyone taken care of, the Carnivores began their own walk back. They took Aoba, Dom, and Winny the Owl to the Avian Dorm. Aoba and Bill shared a final laugh about something they had talked about on the way there and waved them off.
"Legoshi."
The wolf almost tripped he was so focused on getting everyone back. He sent a lost look at whoever it was that called him and saw Bill looking at him with a pained expression.
"Yeah?" The others stopped and looked at the two.
"Thank you… I didn't know Tem as well as I should have, but I… I'm glad he got to talk to a true friend before he died," Bill's gaze lost its intensity and fell to the floor. The Tiger jerked when he felt a hand on his shoulder, however.
"Bill, don't beat yourself up about it," Legoshi smiled painfully. The way Tem's death affected them was going to be a constant for a while, they would all have to move on in their own way and in their own time. "Tem wouldn't want us to feel bad about something like this… We were all friends to him in our own ways, the least we can do is remember him as he was."
"You're right!" Bill nodded his head emphatically and clasped the Wolf's shoulder in turn. "I... I want to find Tem's killer," Something flashed in Bill's eyes that caught his attention, the Wolf leaned back and furrowed a brow. "I know you were the closest of us to him, I can see it in your eyes."
Bill pulled him close and put his mouth next to Legoshi's ear.
"I want to help you find the monster that did this and bring them to justice!" Bill hissed. "I can't let something like this just go by…," Bill stepped back and let his arms fall to his side.
"Bill," Everyone eyed the Wolf interested in what he might say.
"I want to find the monster that killed and Ate Tem. I won't deny it," Legoshi gripped his free hand so tightly that he drew blood, such was the rage inside him that he didn't even flinch from the self-inflicted wound. "However, we have to let the Police investigate first." Legoshi stared into Bill's eyes with bloodshot orbs. The Tiger sucked in a breath and felt his heart skip a beat at the anger hidden behind the Wolf's normally calm eyes.
"We both know how pathetic the Police are… But if we try to investigate on our own before they're done they will bring us in on charges. Fabricated or not I don't care, but I will not be subject to such," Legoshi growled lowly. The group felt the hair on the nape of their necks rise up at the sudden change in their friend. None of them felt frightened though; for some reason, they only felt more alert and ready to fight than afraid of their friend.
"Legoshi?" A soft voice called out from behind the group. Being the only one actually able to look Legoshi in the eye, Bill was the only one to notice how he went from near wrathful to calm in a split second. The tall and, if Bill's eyes weren't betraying him, the trimmed wolf turned around and looked at the speaker.
Juno looked at the large group and smiled awkwardly at them. "What's gotten into all of you?" she stepped down from the landing and walked up to Jack. "Is everything okay?" She asked.
"We just got back from a little Memorial for Tem the Alpaca. Most of us knew him really well and wanted to get away from everyone else." Jack explained. The group slowly went inside and called it a night. It was more than time for them to get to their rooms and be done with the day.
However, Bill watched as the muscles in Legoshi's shoulders slowly lost their tenseness and loosened up. It was like watching a spring slowly lose tension. It was awe-inspiring for the Tiger. In his many years around fellow Carnivores here at Cherryton and other schools, he hadn't seen someone control their reactions so staunchly as Leogshi did. The teen went from ready to rip someone in half to calmly talking someone down from a spitting rage in the time it took to blink some times. It was truly fascinating and terrifying.
A wolf that is slow to anger and quick to calm is a dangerous animal indeed. They made for excellent friends and your worst enemies. Legoshi was something else, quick to anger yet quicker to calm and very much in control at all times.
He reminded the Tiger of the old stories of the ancient reptiles that roamed the Earth before the New Races came to bear. Hulking behemoths of Strength and Will the likes no modern animal had ever seen and here was a Wolf that reminded a Tiger of what these Monstrous Lizards were like.