"Nineteen."
"I'm sorry. WHAT?"
"He's tried… nineteen times to escape. That I've seen."
"…HOW!? He's been here a day and a half at most!"
"Well, we found him in the hall way with a carboard box, the cafeteria with a hydraulic jack, and the roof with a makeshift hang glider, just to name a few."
"Again. HOW!? The kid was burned half to death! How can he move?! Furthermore, where is he getting all this stuff!?"
The nurse sighed dramatically and rubbed her eyes. She didn't know, she didn't want to know, all she wanted was to make sure that one of the few patents on this floor was taken care of. The issue was, that patient was Mad Dawg. This boy had been brought to her room burned, mutilated, and his body deformed into some sort of animalistic form. Then, it proceeded to snap itself apart and re-form into a human, and the burns began fading as if they were temporary tattoos. Nothing about 'Kace Horatio Constantine' or 'Kace Loud', whichever was his real name, made sense. But what was really getting to her, was the fact that every few minutes, he seemed to be trying to throw himself out of a window or something, in some half-baked plan of escape. She understood his want to get out of here, as it wasn't fun being confined to a bed, but still…
"Doctor." Another doctor nodded, walking by.
"Doctor Krieger." The doctor nodded in reply, before looking to the nurse. "Val, I need to be honest with you for a second. Do you think this is some sort of prank? I mean… This kid doesn't seem… human."
"Yeah, well you saw what he looked like when he was dragged in here." Valentine sighed, shaking her head. "Furthermore, what kind of prank would this be? It seems highly unlikely that someone would set themselves on fire for laughs, or got to the extent in which he has in order to fake wounds like the ones he has. In all honesty, I don't think he's human. At least, not entirely."
"I hate the fact that I can't say you're wrong immediately. There's some degree in which you're most likely correct…"
"Doctor." Doctor Krieger nodded again, walking by with a length of fire hose.
"Doctor Krieger." The doctor nodded again, distracted by the conversation. "But if he isn't fully human, then what is he?"
"I don't like assuming anything about anyone, but if I had to guess, some sort of humanoid creature, possibly even a mutant." Valentine shrugged, her tone making it clear she didn't exactly like this idea much herself. "But… that's an assumption. And even then, I feel bad for the poor boy, he's clearly in pain…"
"Possibly, but then where did he come from?"
"Doctor."
"Hello again, Doctor Kreig-" The doctor began, but both froze when Doctor Krieger gave him a confused look.
"Again? I just arrived for my shift a minute ago."
The doctor and nurse looked to one another, confusion clear on their faces. They thought to what they had seen a few minutes ago, knowing Doctor Krieger had been here, he had walked by and…"But you were walking back and forth, and you had a fire hose and SONOFA-"
"FREEDOM!" Mad Dawg yelled as he jumped off of the roof of the hospital with a fire hose tired around his legs. If this plan worked, he'd be free! He'd be able to move on with his life and- "What did I tie this to?"
Thankfully, he had tied the hose to a vent, unfortunately, he tied it to a vent grate in his hastiness. When the line snapped to a rigid halt, Mad Dawg found himself slamming into a window and cracking it, looking in on a terrified woman. Only for the grate to give out about three seconds later and causing him to fall about twelve feet to the bushes below, face-first.
"Ow."
Then the grate fell off of the roof and smashed into his head.
"Ow!"
Then the world went black again.
"Ow…"
When he woke up again, Mad Dawg found himself back in the hospital room he had been in for the past day. He groaned in annoyance as he saw his right hand had been effectively handcuffed to the side of the bed. It was clear the doctors were sick of his crap, and Mad Dawg was sick of theirs, despite their honest efforts to keep him safe and healthy, how dare they keep someone from hurting themselves repetitively in a way that was humane and caring, giving their time and energy to help someone less fortunate recover from a terrible accident that they had nothing to do with and were doing their best to-
"Wow, I'm an asshole." Mad Dawg blinked going quiet for a few moments. "…huh."
He looked to his cuffed hand, thinking through his options. It was either 127 Hours, Saw, or Watchmen-ing his hand to escape.
"Or you could stay here for another day or two." His mind chided him.
"Have you seen the medical expenses these days!? If this was Canada, sure. But do you know expensive hospital bills are!? Do you have any idea how many families suffer due to the ineffective and unstable medical system put in place to essentially punish those who don't make enough to live a higher-class life in countries that don't have universal health care?!" Another voice in his mind shouted.
"Wow. That's a fair point… So, what's the plan?"
"Step one, get a gun. Step two, get a hostage. Step three… Step four, profit."
"Leni's right. I need therapy." Mad Dawg muttered. "And a gun."
Silence.
"Wait. Not that second thing."
"Yes. The second thing. Use that to get free, then get therapy."
There was a long silence. Mad Dawg blinked, taking in what was going through his head, and he sighed, leaning back against the pillows. His mind began wandering, thinking about the doctors he had met in his life, thinking about his past escapades and mistakes he had-
"Your actions led to this! What human would do what you've done?! You're a monster!" A female voice suddenly echoed through his head, refusing to go away despite his best efforts. Mad Dawg groaned, tossing and turning somewhat, as if that somehow would provide an escape. But there wasn't one, all he could do was lie there and think about what had happened. About what he had done.
"Is… Was Moira, right? Am I just a weapon? A monster?" He muttered, thinking things over. His mind went quiet, nothing being said by his inner monologue.
"…"
"…"
"Nah!"
"Nah."
"Nah…" Was collectively said, both aloud and in his mind.
Deciding rest was probably best, Mad Dawg pulled the blanket up over his chest, resting his hands behind his head. He thought about what to do… and finally decided to listen to some music. He strained but managed to reach the bag that Luna dropped off for him earlier, and dug about for a minute. Finding his old Walkman, he kept digging and found one of his homebrewed tapes, titled Synaesthesia Auditiva Vol. 1 smiling sadly, Mad Dawg thought about the Brazilian musician who made it. His friend who made it. Hitting play, he let the low-fi music begin to overtake his senses as he sighed, letting himself drift into a peaceful rest.
"In a few hours, I'll try another escape plan…"
Three hours later, Mad Dawg's newest escape plan had succeeded. He was free. He could get on with his life… He didn't know how he hadn't thought about it earlier honestly.
The plan was to simply walk to the front desk and sign himself out.
Sure, there were some protests, but Mad Dawg ignored them. Now, he cracked his back and headed down the road, heading towards the neighbourhood where he lived. It was a cool day, September had almost ended and it was steadily getting cooler. This didn't sit well with Dawg for two reasons; one, he liked the warmth of summer. B.) November was his birthday, and he never really enjoyed his 'birthday'. Still, he had about two months to figure out an excuse to avoid it, so he'd deal with it then.
A few hours passed, and Mad Dawg was bored again. He looked around his house, cleaning up some discarded cans and burger wrappers, before getting an idea… First, he needed to break into the Loud House…
"Or you could call them like a normal- you've already got the crowbar and you're out the door." His inner voice muttered.
Over with the Louds, Luna was listening to her music, thrashing her head somewhat as her headphones blared rock music. She was pretty excited all things considered, and aside from the 'flaming furry incident' as 'N' reffered to it, she was ready to see her band's video. Chunk apparently had been working all day and night on a rough edit of the video, mixing audio and levels to make it seem professional. Supposedly, he almost had it ready and would be bringing it over soon, so for now, all she could do was wait. She waved to Lincoln who walked by, seemingly in the middle of something and he absent-mindedly waved back.
"…we hit this street, taking at most two minutes per house, Clyde and I should be able… no…" The white-haired child muttered.
"Hey, Linc. Can you hold Lilly for a sec?" Luan asked, passing Lincoln the youngest Loud, who let out an unintelligent garble as he took her in one arm.
"Maybe… maybe we hit the homes for forty seconds each? How… how many houses would we be able to hit in an hour if we spent forty seconds at each?"
"Something like, one-fifty."
"Agh!" Lincoln exclaimed in shock, jumping somewhat as he looked up. "Mad Dawg!? Wh..where did… how did you get in here!?"
"That window was unlocked." Mad Dawg said, pointing to the window at the end of the hall on the third floor.
"…yeah. But… how… Never mind." He muttered, then saw one of his sisters passing by. "Hey, Lucy. Can you take Lilly for a sec?"
"Hm? Okay." Lucy said in her usual monotone, taking the baby and walking off, noticing Mad Dawg and then blinking in confusion as to both the fact that Mad Dawg was here, and how he got in.
"Uh, Dawg? Shouldn't you be in the hos-" Lincoln began awkwardly, but stopped when Mad Dawg lifted his shirt up and showed Lincoln his back, which was scarred, had burn marks, but seemed relatively fine. "Right. Your… powers…"
"Dude, you can call me a mutant. I won't take offence." Mad Dawg smirked, understanding the awkward tone.
"Hey, how's the mutant burn victim doing?" Lynn Jr. asked, seeing Mad Dawg as she passed by with some gear.
"Mutant!? How dare you!" Mad Dawg exclaimed in mock anger. Lynn Jr. blinked in confusion, then laughed, shaking her head and walking off. "You're weirder than Luan…" She muttered.
"I don't know if I should be complimented or offended." He mused, eyes narrowing somewhat, then looked over the long roll of paper that traveled across the hallway and to the top of the stairs. "Hey, uh. You planning a heist or something? What's with the cold-war era planning?"
"Oh, this." Lincoln blinked. "This is… this is part of the Halloween plan Clyde and I come up with every year. We're trying to maximize the amount of candy we get."
"You could just buy some." Mad Dawg shrugged. "Like, hit a Mac's, buy a bunch of stuff, call it a night…"
"We don't have jobs."
"Oh. Fair." Mad Dawg nodded. "Well, don't let me stop you. Halloween wasn't much of a big deal to me… I just watched gory horror movies and ate pizza…"
Sure, that wasn't entirely true, but he only spent one Halloween with Overwatch, then the second one was spent in a drugged-out Cult's sacrifice room in the middle of a fire fight.
"Listen, you know where Luna is? I needed to talk to her."
"Yeah, fourth room on the left." Lincoln said, looking back to his plan, and writing something down.
Casually strolling down, Mad Dawg stopped when he heard mechanical whirring and bubbling of some sort and looked into a room. He found himself looking into a small laboratory and felt a mixture of amusement, amazement and paranoia. Looking around, it was clear this was Lisa's room, and Mad Dawg chuckled softly at the sights surrounding him. There was so much that seemed like in this time was the edge of cutting tech-
"…what?"
You know what I mean… but compared to where he was from, seemed like ancient tech. But at the same time, it was clear she was making more than the best with what she had. Winston probably would've been her best friend if she was back in his home… Wait. Home… Lisa…
"Can you build me a device that can open a portal to another dimension so I can go home?"
"No, but Lisa might be able too."
"Huh… I'll keep that in mind…"
"Maybe she can help… Maybe this is the way I get home! Maybe, with her brains and my insanity, we can build some sort of… Gate Star to get me home! Heck, if it works, they can ALL come check out my place! That'd be awesome! The breakthroughs they could make with the tech and gear back home could change their world, it could-"
"Excuse you?"
Mad Dawg was ripped from his thoughts as he turned around, seeing Lisa looking up with an annoyed look on her face. It was clear she wasn't used to visitors, and it was clearer, she didn't know Mad Dawg too well.
"Oh. Sorry." Mad Dawg said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I uh… I was looking… looking for you."
"Me?" Lisa asked skeptically, raising a brow at him. "I heard you tell Lincoln you were looking for Luna."
"Yeah. I was, but I was also looking for you." Mad Dawg said, a thought coming to his mind. "Look, this is gonna sound really weird… do you know how to build some sort of teleporter?"
"If you're asking me to help you build a dimensional door way to get you to your home world, there are a number of issues with that." The scientist began. "First of all, I lack the components needed to build such a device, and it isn't easy to acquire them. Secondly, you ask a lot of someone you barely know, and I don't see what I would get out of this. Third, while I completely believe you are from some sort of other world, how do I know you won't return here at a later date with some sort of army? Fourth, even if I had the components required to build a device, that would leave us with the issue of lacking substantial power. Finally, I would like to re-state my previous point about our lack of trust. You showed up one night, proceeded to self-mutilate, then disappeared and wandered around the town for a month, then set yourself on fire, somehow changed into… SOMETHING, and now are standing here as if nothing had happened."
Mad Dawg took in what she said, and nodded in understanding. She had raised several good points, most of which could be solved through breaking and entering, or author intervention.
"Okay, what do you want from me?" He finally asked, shrugging slightly. He guessed either Lisa would say 'Nothing, now get out', or say 'There is one thing…'
"There is one thing…" She began, admittedly, it seemed like she didn't want to admit to it, perhaps out of pride, or out of awkwardness.
"Knew it."
"Yeah?"
"Look, I don't know how to day this, so I'll just say it." Lisa continued. "You intrigue and confound me. Your survival, your healing, your… mind. This might sound macabre or twisted, but I kind of want to see how you work."
"We talking like, dissection? Or something else?" Mad Dawg flatly asked, not liking where this was going.
"No, no. Nothing so morbid. I… I would like a sample of your blood." The scientist finally admitted.
"…I'm gonna have to say 'no' to that." Mad Dawg bit his lip and shook his head. He didn't want to say anything else about this, but when he saw the shocked look on Lisa's face, he knew he had to elaborate. "This is gonna sound crazy, but I can prove it. The last time someone took my blood, they tried to make weapons out of it. They made these things… these…" Mad Dawg trailed off, memories clawing their way to the forefront, and refusing to leave. "These Husks. They were essentially failed clones of me, and they weren't made to be human, they were made to be monsters. Genetic killing machines that did whatever they were ordered to do, to the point where they didn't think for themselves, they simply acted."
He rubbed his arm, looking at the marks from where the needles had been driven into his body, where he had come closer to death than even during Virus' game…
"My blood is also extremely toxic, apparently." Mad Dawg added, deciding to take a massive leap of faith. He slid his bag off and slowly dug through it. "It's why the whole 'cure' idea for me never came to be. My blood, mixed with the genetic healing properties, and the other thing I turn into, that cocktail of mad science turned out to be super successful, only because I spent sixteen years being exposed to it."
"You adapted to the toxicity, built up a natural immunity." Lisa stated, understanding where Mad Dawg was going with this.
"Pretty much." Mad Dawg nodded, taking out a folder. He looked at it, and for the first time, Lisa saw past Mad Dawg's act, she saw his real self the pain, the fear… it was all right in front of her. He slipped out a number of pages, and quickly flipped through it, as if inspecting it. "I've been holding onto this for too long, I kept meaning to destroy it… I guess that part of my past still has control over me… This won't tell you everything, but this should show you the kinda stuff I saw everyday back home. If you agree to help me, and we somehow pull it off, then when I get home, anything you want, I'll get it for you."
Lisa was shocked by the offer, and even more shocked by the diagram, formulas and equations she was looking at. There were ideas no one had even considered! Elements that didn't exist! How was this possible?! It shouldn't be possible!
But everything backed up Mad Dawg's claims, and the bits he left about his creation didn't lie. They lined up with extreme theories she had once considered, but discarded due to their unnatural foundations. All of this… if she somehow got Dawg back…
"I know you won't be able to claim this as your own discovery, but you would be the one who brought two worlds together." Mad Dawg said, taking the binder back and slipping it into his bag. "Just… something to think about."
Wordlessly, he left the room. He felt awkward about how he left their conversation, but like it or not, he kinda needed Lisa. She was the best shot he had at getting home in any capacity as he hadn't met anyone else in this town that might be able to point him in the direction of someone who could help…
"Mad Dawg? Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" A new voice ripped him out of his thoughts. He looked over and saw Leni blinking in shock at him being here, she also held Lily.
"Uh, maybe? I dunno." Mad Dawg shook his head. "I healed enough that I decided to bounce. Besides, there's a party at my place tonight, and how can I not be at a party at my place?" He grinned as he finished his statement, and Leni smirked in response.
"Any reason? Is it an 'I-escaped-the-police' kind of party?"
"Nah, that one was last week." Mad Dawg said with a dismissive wave. "It's a wrap party and barbecue for the band. And because I'm bored, and school is starting for you nerds. Although Skorch may have had this story begin in September but then retconned that to move it to July… I really don't know…"
"Huh. Okay." The blonde Loud blinked. "If you're looking for Luna, she's in her room."
"Cool, thanks for-"
"Hey, can you hold Lily for a minute?" Leni asked, suddenly passing the baby to Mad Dawg. Both of whom seemed equally confounded by what had just happened. Lily let out some unintelligible gibberish as Mad Dawg held the baby at arm's length, seeming almost frightened. "Thanks."
"Leni!" Mad Dawg called, annoyed. "Seriously?! What am I supposed to do with this?! What the he-"
"Agpth."
Mad Dawg stopped mid-curse and looked back to Lily, who looked to him with wonder and amusement. She let out another string of unintelligible attempts at words, and Mad dawg looked into her wide, hopeful eyes.
"…"
"Daupth?"
"…I will fight and die to protect you." Mad Dawg said with more honesty than he had ever shown. He rested Lily against his chest and smiled down at her. Passing by Luna's room, Mad Dawg leaned in to see the rocker sketching something.
"Yo. Luna." Mad Dawg called, making Luna jump in surprise and look up, taking her headphones off.
"Mad Dawg?! What are you doing here?!" She asked, surprised.
"Party. My place. Five. Chunk, 'N' and a few others'll be there. Can you tell Sam? She won't answer my messages."
"Yeah, about that…" Luna said, rubbing the back of her head. "I'll try to get her to come, but she's really torn up about what happened."
"Torn up? Don't ya mean burnt up?" Mad Dawg asked, only for a drum roll and cymbal to play out of nowhere. "Nice!"
"You're welcome!" Luan called.
"Dawg, I'm being serious." Luna stated flatly. To his credit, Dawg seemed to snap to attention. "She's terrified of talking to you. She's afraid you're gonna try and kill her or something. She thinks this is all her fault, she dropped outta the band!"
"Whoa. WHOA. She what!?" Mad Dawg asked, now fully entering the room. "That ain't right! It ain't her fault!"
"Exactly! I've been trying to tell her that, but she won't listen…" Luna sighed, rubbing her face. "She means the world to me, and so does the band. I don't want to be forced to choose one or the other."
"Huh. So that's a real problem." Mad Dawg muttered. Lily seemed to garble something in agreement. "You got any ideas?"
More unintelligible garbling.
"…okay, I'll keep that in mind."
Luna laughed slightly at the interaction, but shook her head.
"I can try and get her to come with me, but I think you need to talk to her, you need to re-assure her. And me."
"Reassure you of what?"
"That you're not gonna hurt her." Luna stated seriously. The reaction she got was not the one she wanted; Mad Dawg pasued, then started laughing.
"Okay! Wow!" He wheezed. "You think I'm gonna hold some lifelong grudge against Sam because of an honest mistake no one could've predicted?! That's a new one…"
"Not you. The… other you."
Mad Dawg stopped laughing almost immediately, realizing what she was getting at. Ooh… yeah… did that thing hold grudges? Would it seek vengeance? No! It was part of him, and he'd never hurt Sam.
…right?
"Can I be totally honest with you for a sec?" Luna added.
"Yeah, go right ahead."
"If there's one thing I've learned from hanging out with you, it's that the best experiences in life are often rewards from the biggest risks." The rocker calmly stated, and Mad Dawg seemed to think over what she was saying, then nodded.
"Wow, I needed to hear that." Mad Dawg said quietly, then smiled. "Thank you. If you can get me and Sam in a room, I'll try and talk to her."
With that, Mad Dawg left. At first, it looked like he was heading downstairs to leave. But then he diverted into the bathroom setting a confused Lilly down on the toilet, who gave him a 'I-both-am-not-trained-for-this-and-don't-need-to-go' look. Exhaling thought his nose, Mad Dawg looked around, before putting some toilet paper over Lily's eyes.
"You don't wanna see what's about to happen." He muttered.
When Lisa returned from getting a snack, she saw Mad Dawg with Lily waiting in her doorway.
"Uh, can I help you… again?" She asked. Slowly, Mad Dawg pulled out a small contained with a dark red liquid inside. It seemed darker than would be normal for a human, and Lisa gasped slightly when she realized what it was.
"First; this is all I'm giving you." Mad Dawg stated. "It's nothing personal, it's for your own safety. Second, if you can help me get home, there's so much more I have to show you. Third, this stuff is super toxic if ingested. Breathing or contact to skin isn't an issue, so don't worry about that. And D, if I found out you tried to make some sort of weapon out of this stuff, it will not end well." His eyes were narrowed as he finished his statement, and Lisa quietly nodded, taking the container. "Again, nothing personal. Just paranoid. But other than that, go nuts."
"Mad Dawg… I-"
"Also, I'm keeping Lily. She is my best friend and I will die to protect her."
Lisa sputtered in surprise, then laughed, surprising herself as she wasn't exactly known for her sense of humor.
"I believe my parents would have an issue with that." She finally stated.
"Hm… Cloning it is!" Mad Dawg declared before giving Lily a hug and handing her to Lincoln who was still busy with his planning. "Bye!"
To Lisa's shock, horror and acceptance, Mad Dawg jumped out of a nearby window.
"What's his problem?" She muttered. "Did doors kill someone he cared for?"
Later that night…
"Yoooo, Chunky Mate! How they hangin'?!" Mad Dawg laughed as he and Chunk high-fived and then gripped each other's hand in a greeting. It was the first time Dawg had seen Chunk since he visited him in the hospital, which may have been two days, but whatever. He and 'N' had arrived before anyone else, and Mad Dawg was chilling on his couch when they arrived.
"Dawg, I just wanna say…" Chunk began somberly, making Mad Dawg groan in annoyance. He knew there were gonna be a lot of apologies, but he didn't ca- "That this is one of the most badass music videos I have ever seen!"
"YEAH!" Mad Dawg roared victoriously, making all three laugh. "That's what I like to hear! Can I see it?!"
"Later." Chunk smirked, earning an annoyed look from Mad Dawg.
About thirty minutes later, Mad Dawg was out back, lighting the barbeque while Chunk and 'N' were blaring rock music. At this time, a few of the Louds had arrived, with some of the others not being able to make it. Ronnie Ann and Bobby had arrived as well, as well as Clyde and his parents.
"Also… Sam's here. Good."
"Yo! What's happenin'!?" Mad Dawg called, flipping a burger.
"Dawg. Why aren't you in a hospital!?" Was immediately asked.
"Because I'm fine!" Mad Dawg retorted.
"You were on FIRE!"
"And now I'm not!"
"Hold on. What happened?" Clyde blinked looking to Lincoln in utter disbelief.
"You didn't hear? Dawg got set on fire." Lincoln replied, somewhat awkwardly.
"And I'm fine!" Mad Dawg groaned, noticing Sam seemed to recoil and look away from him in shame. "I healed the worst of it within an hour. There's gonna be scars, but that's no big deal."
"Can we talk about the fact that you were on fire?"
"No." Mad Dawg said with a thumbs-up. "Who's hungry!?
As the night went on, things were pretty good. Jokes and insults were traded, and the food was surprisingly good. Mad Dawg finally met Clyde's parents and to the McBain boy's shock, Mad Dawg seemed rather calm and collected.
"Yeah, I'm from outta town." Mad Dawg nodded, flipping a few burgers onto a plate and sliding it over the table to the others. "It's… difficult to explain." He shrugged, taking a Phoenix Energy and cracking it open. Without warning, Clyde walked by and took it from him.
"Hey…"
"Dude, if you don't burn to death. These will stop your heart." Clyde stated. Mad dawg narrowed his eyes, then pulled a second can out and began chugging it. "Seriously! This can't be healthy!"
"I've been shot, stabbed, set on fire, and hit by a damn truck. And that's in the past few months!" Mad dawg retorted, then paused when he realized what he said and added: "Again, long story. Short form, I stopped a robber, played the knife game and failed, see last chapter, and when I woke up after a hangover and got hit by a truck."
He noticed Leni have a nervous look, but then sighed in relief as he mentioned 'Truck'.
"Anyhow…" He muttered, rubbing his face before grabbing a burger.
After the meal, 'N' and Luna set to tossing paper plates into a pit marked 'Burn' next to a metallic dragon head.
"Yo… Dawg? What's this?" 'N' called. Mad Dawg grinned and motioned for them to step back. Hitting a button, the eyes on the head lit up, and a lighter scratched, then a stream of fire shot out, setting fire to the paper plates.
"That's awesome! And also, probably illegal! So… Awesome!" 'N' exclaimed in excitement. "Since when can you do that!?"
"It was my job." Mad Dawg shrugged, turning off the propane tank to try and avoid another explosion. "I worked with a junk sculptor, and then just kept going. I taught myself mechanics and kept trying things, and eventually started going to desert heavy metal festivals, y'know? Doin' contests there and stuff. It's just… fun to make something with your hands."
About ten minutes later, everyone had either gotten ice cream and brownies, or some cold drink, and were settling down to watch the early draft of the music video. As they were though, Mad Dawg noticed Sam seemed to be getting ready to leave, and quietly slipped off to follow her. Going back into his house, it was clear something was wrong with her, and Mad Dawg knew what was wrong.
"Sam." He called, and sighed when Sam looked over her shoulder, then looked back down. "Sam!"
She did stop this time, shivering somewhat as she slowly turned around and looked at Mad Dawg.
"Y..yeah?" She stammered.
"Are you okay?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"Dawg. I… I set you on fire!" Sam finally got out, seeming to be a few moments away from crying. "I..I saw you writing around in agony! You were burning to death!"
"But I didn't." Mad Dawg said with a shrug, knowing this was the wrong way to word that. "I know you feel guilty, I know you blame yourself, but please don't. I'm alive. I'm fine. It's cool."
Luna watched from the doorway, seeing her girlfriend and Mad Dawg talking. It was clear things were being repaired, and that was the best thing she could hope for. Eventually, they came back out and Mad Dawg jumped over the couch he had dragged outside and cracked another drink.
"Let's go!"
The video began with a shot of a, empty graveyard, and then the sound of a guitar riff began playing as a robed figure walked towards a grave. Looking down, the figure pulled a guitar out from somewhere and began playing. A twisted paw-hand burst from the ground as the Beast seemed to drag itself out of its tomb, growling as it did so as fog surrounded them. Admittedly, it was pretty fake fog clearly added afterwards, and Mad Dawg would have to mention to Chunk to remove it, or blend it better.
"Good levels." Mad Dawg nodded.
"Thanks."
As the video went on, the Beast continued stalking the set while Luna and Sam took the center stage.
"When the night grows cold, and the tombstones weep. Together we band to fight for our keep!" They began singing. "The mystical beast awakens from its sleep, the blood flows free. Now together the dragon shall empower me!"
The video kept going, Mad Dawg popping in and out, and Chunk seemed ot be getting nervous.
"You good?" Mad Dawg asked.
"It's the ending…" He muttered.
"Don't worry, it's a rough-"
"No, not that… I'm… You'll see." He admitted.
"Together the beast awakens! The ground shakes and our minds break! When we all come together, our fate cannot be mistaken." The song continued, reaching its ending. "The blood of the Dragon Runs deep and in the eternal fires our souls will be left to sleep!"
The camera cut to a shaky shot fire consuming the screen, and then without warning, the Beast's head tore through the flames, roaring in what seemed like animalistic fury, but was truly a cry for help. The spit, blood and ashes hit the lens as everyone jumped at the inhuman sound of the Beast's roar.
"…not bad." Mad Dawg nodded, smirking a little despite feeling awkward about seeing that shot. He felt like he should ask Chunk to remove it… But… honestly, who wold ever believe that the shot at the end was real?
Right!?
He briefly forgot who was sitting next to him.
"Like, really, REALLY awesome dude."
"Can't lie, that was pretty epic." Lincoln agreed.
"The darkness was appealing, I enjoyed it." Lucy said in her flat tone.
"You guys got some real talent." Bobby nodded.
"Nice music!"
"That ending was a bit much…"
"How did you guys do the animal costume?!"
"Hey, Dawg. Thanks. You helped a ton with it." Chunk grinned.
"Yo, dude. They're the ones that made the song!" Mad Dawg scoffed, pointing to Luna, Sam, and 'N'. "Stop giving me all the credit! I'm some idiot who accidentally got set on fire! And heck, you're the one who brought his altogether!"
A few seats over, Lori's eyes widened in horror as she saw what Mad Dawg truly was. And she promised then and there that he'd never hurt any of her family. No matter what that took.
"I don't know what you are Dawg, but I know you aren't human. And I won't let you endanger my family. Even if I have to see to that myself…" She thought grimly.
A.N. And so another arc comes to a close! Up next, there'll be a chapter or two… then we'll be entering the final 'Arc'. There's one more multi-chapter story, and then the ending. Part of why I'm updating this now and not any of my others, is the final 'arc' takes place during Halloween, and if possible, I'd like to have that chapter up ON Halloween.
No promises tho.
I know this story seems short, and there's a lot of ideas I could go with, but I don't want to drag this out for three years a la my first story. I think I got a good ending that'll make sure everyone gets some story focus, and will end on a great note. However, not all issues may be resolved. Who knows…
Also, I haven't forgotten about the Seven Sins story Dawg's telling.
My next update should (hopefully) be the Dragon Ball Death Battle Fic, it's a double-feature so it's taking a bit more time than usual, but I'm working away on it. Thanks for stopping by!
