Two Sides of the Moon: Book 2
The Blood that Binds
(A Beastars AU)
Written By Alexander E.
Edited By Richard S.
Chapter 1: Secrets and Trauma
"Hey Collot, have you seen Legosi?" Durham shouted as he searched through his belongings. "I think he might still have my flashlight."
Collot came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel and walked over to the coyote. "No I haven't. Miguno might though. I saw him talking to Legosi earlier."
Just as the white sheep dog said that, Jack came walking in, having finished his study session. "Hey guys, what up?"
The two canines turned their heads and greeted the labrador.
"Hey Jack, nothing much. I'm just trying to find my flashlight," Durham explained.
"And I just got out of the shower," Collot answered. "How are you though? Are you feeling alright?"
Jack was taken aback by the question. It had been about a week since he was released from the hospital so it made sense why they would ask him that. He looked to the side before taking a deep breath. He then looked at Collot and smiled.
"I'm doing ok if that's what you mean. I'm still a little sore, but nothing too bad," Jack said with a gentle smile.
Collot and Durham looked at each other before looking back at Jack. It was clear they were worried for their roommate, but weren't sure what to say. That is, until Collot decided to speak up.
"Um… listen Jack, if you're feeling sore, maybe you should lie down. I could also get you some pain killers if you want," the larger dog suggested.
Jack took another deep breath and smiled. "I'm ok Collot, I promise. I know that you guys are still worried and I appreciate that you want to help me, but I'm getting on just fine. I'm finally out of the hospital and things are getting back to normal. Besides, I can't just lie around all day, not when there's so much I have to do."
"We get that Jack, but you should still take it easy," Durham said as calmly as he could, his shaking tail showing how he really felt. "Once you're one hundred percent again, we'll back off, but until then, let us help you."
"Alright, I'll let you know if I need anything," Jack reassured. The labrador then walked past his friends and set his things down before leaving the room once more. "I'll see you two later. I'm gonna go meet up with Legosi so we can get dinner."
With that, Jack waved goodbye to his friends who were still visibly worried.
"Alright, well I'm gonna get dressed," Collot said before turning to the closet everyone shared.
Durham stared at him as the sheepdog pulled out some clothes before looking down with concern.
"Hey Collot," the coyote said in a somber tone. "D-Do you really think Jack's ok? I know he said he's been doing better, but he's been acting pretty weird lately. I know that it's normal considering he just got out of the hospital, but I can't help but feel like something's up."
Collot let out a sigh after putting a pair of pants on. "I know what you mean," he replied. "I mean, he just spent five weeks recovering in the hospital and now he's acting like nothing happened. I can't help but think that he's forcing himself to return to a normal life."
The white dog took a deep breath before putting a hand behind his head. "Then there's the fact that he'll have to talk to the police soon. I can only imagine how that will go."
Durham started to growl. "Don't even talk about those shit-heads!" he snarled. "I'm still pissed about how they treated us and how they basically accused Legosi!"
"Yea, I know what you mean," Collot said as he looked to the side. "I can still remember feeling so angry and frustrated by everything."
It had been a full week since everyone had visited Jack in the hospital and classes were still suspended due to the investigation. The school itself was empty since all the students went home with the exception of Legosi and his roommates.
That was because they were involved in the case so they had to stay put on the police's orders. The other reason they stayed was because the hospital was a lot closer to their school than their homes, so they were able to visit Jack more often.
Legosi and his packmates were all playing UNO when they heard a knock at their door. Legosi stood up to answer and as he did, Voss put down a yellow eight.
"Dang it Miguno! I told you Voss needed the eight!" Durham barked. "Why'd you put down the eight?!"
"Because the last card was Legosi's blue three and that eight was the only blue card I had left!" the hyena growled back.
"Alright children, calm down," Collot said with a sigh.
Legosi looked back at his roommates and smiled before shaking his head and rolling his eyes as he went to open the door.
"Hello?" the gray wolf said as he answered.
Standing in front of him were three animals in uniform. Two of them were male german shepherds and standing in the middle was a female antelope. The two men were wearing standard police uniform while the woman was in a rather fancy looking suit, implying that she was higher in ranking.
"Hello, are you Legosi?" she asked.
"Y-Yes I am," the wolf replied in a sheepish tone, his tail tucked between his legs to show how nervous and intimidated he was.
The herbivore pulled out her badge and showed it to him. "I'm detective Agatha, I'm here to ask you some questions."
"Oh… o-of course. Should I follow you somewhere or?" Legosi asked in a nervous, almost submissive tone as his tail began to tremble and his ears folded back.
That won't be necessary," she responded.
"In fact, it would actually be much easier to have this discussion here in your room since your roommates are already inside. I know this seems irregular, however, given what we know it's more than likely that they are connected to this case as well."
"I-I see," Legosi responded in a somewhat relieved yet worried tone. "Please come in."
The three officers entered the room where they found Durham and Miguno still arguing while Voss taunted them with a victory dance and Collot tried to mediate the situation.
Agatha then turned to Legosi and raised an eyebrow at him as if asking him if these were seriously his roommates.
Legosi blushed in embarrassment before walking past her. "Uh, guys?" Legosi said as calmly as he could.
When they didn't respond to him, Legosi clenched his fists and grit his teeth as his tail started to fizzle up. He kept trying to get their attention until finally…
"STAY!"
At that moment, every canine, including the officers, completely froze before looking at the wolf.
Legosi, having closed his eyes from the shout, slowly opened his eyes and was met with awkward stares. He gulped a bit before he took a deep breath and spoke.
"I uh, I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to uh-"
"Hey Legosi, who's the suit behind you? Are you getting sued or something?" Miguno said with a laugh.
"Cute," the detective said in an unamused tone.
"Well… she's… uh-"
Seeing the young carnivore struggle with his words, Agatha decided to take the lead. "Hello, my name is Agatha and I'm the detective in charge of the investigation. I've come here so that I can ask you all a few questions."
Upon hearing that, the 701 pack's tails all shot up simultaneously. They quickly cleared the table and put the chairs back, making it a good spot to have their discussion.
The antelope sat down at the table before inviting Legosi to sit across from her. Legosi did as he was instructed and after taking a seat, he took a series of deep breaths as he mentally prepared himself for what's to come.
"Now Legosi, I would like you to understand that you must tell me nothing but the truth so that we can proceed forward. Do you understand?" Agatha asked.
Legosi nodded in response.
"Good, then we will proceed."
The herbivore woman took out a folder and opened it. "Legosi, you are now in your second year in high school and are a member of your school's Drama club, is this correct?"
"Yes mam," Legosi responded calmly.
Agatha made a check mark with her pen and proceeded to the next question. "Is it true that you have known Jack since you were both in elementary school and have been roommates since middle school?"
"Yes ma'am," Legosi replied.
"Alright. Now, were you aware of Jack being approached by Arthur's gang prior to the incident?" she asked.
"No mam, I didn't know about Arthur or his gang until one of its members came looking for me at the festival," Legosi explained.
"Ok, that answers a few of my questions," she said in a monotone voice as she wrote something down.
"Legosi, do you have a history of being violent?" she asked in a more serious tone.
Legosi's ears and tail jumped. He wasn't expecting her to ask something like that and started to wonder why she would. Even his packmates were taken aback by the sudden shift and looked at Legosi nervously.
"N-No ma'am," he answered, a slight tremble could be heard in his voice.
"Really?" she asked, sounding somewhat skeptical. "Yet is it not true that in the past few months you have gotten into a fight with another student, growled and exposed your fangs at two others, and even lunged at someone you considered your friend?"
Legosi went cold. How could she know about all that, especially about him lunging at someone. His mind then started to race at who she could be talking about. Could it have been Jack, or maybe Kai? No, there is no way anyone but them could know about that. So who could she be talking about?
"Hey lady!" Durham called out. "What exactly is this about? I thought you were here to ask Legosi about what happened when he saved Jack from that lunatic."
"Oh I am," Agatha replied, "I'm just asking this because I need to know if any other measures should be taken moving forward."
"And what kind of measures are we talking about exactly?!" the coyote asked, his tail fizzling up to show that he didn't like what the woman was insinuating.
"Um, miss Agatha, if I could say something," Collot said as he took a step forward while putting his arm in front of Durham. "It is true that Legosi did get into a fight and did expose his fangs once or twice, but I can promise you that they were all for very good reasons."
"Were they now?" she asked in a skeptical tone once more, this time raising a brow. She then turned back to Legosi. "Well then Legosi, perhaps you could explain yourself then?"
Legosi folded his hands and looked down, his tail drooping and his ears folded back. "Well… the thing is… the fight I got into was with a member of my club. He was blackmailing our club leader and I tried to stop him."
"As for the growling and exposing my fangs. I did that because those students were threatening me and my friends, I did it so they would go away. I honestly had no intention of starting an actual fight with them."
"Alright then," the adult herbivore said in a passive aggressive tone before moving on.
Miguno then raised his hand and spoke. "Excuse me miss detective, you still didn't answer our question. Why are you asking Legosi these things and who was this friend he lunged at?"
Miguno scratched the back of his head, "We've all known him for a long time and we know that he would never do that."
"Are you so sure about that?" Agatha asked with a bit of a smirk. "Now don't misunderstand me, I'm sure you truly believe that, however you must understand that even if what you say is true, we can't accept your words so easily."
"And why not?!" Durham asked, his body showing clear signs of agitation.
"Put simply, you are all minors and are more likely to allow emotions to cloud your judgment. What's more, you are all canines, so it stands to reason that you would say anything in order to protect a member of your pack. It's in your nature after all," she explained.
"WE WOULD NEVER LIE!" Durham snarled as he slammed his fist on the table
"Now, now, no need to get violent," she said as she shrugged her shoulders. "It seems that this pack has more than one violent member in it."
Durham could feel his anger growing, but before he could say anything Voss jumped onto the table to intervene. He then began to signal the detective who couldn't understand him.
"I'm sorry, but what is that and what is it doing?" she asked pointed at Voss.
"Does… Does she not know what a fennec fox is?" Collot thought to himself.
"That's Voss, he's one of our roommates and friends. He's a mute so he can only talk in sign language," the white sheep-dog explained.
"Oh, I wasn't aware there was a mute in this group. Had I known I would have brought a translator," Agatha responded.
"It's alright, I can translate," Legosi barked. "He says that Durham isn't violent, he just gets frustrated easily and that he has a habit of putting on a tough guy front."
"Yea, he's all bark and no bite," Miguno teased, interrupting the conversation.
"What was that?" Durham growled.
"Aww, don't worry little puppy, we'll send the bad lady away soon," the hyena mocked before sticking out his tongue.
"MIGUNO YOU ARE SO DEAD!" Durham snarled.
Miguno just laughed as the coyote got more and more upset.
Legosi, Collot, and Voss all let out a sigh before turning back to the officers.
"Anyway, Miss Agatha, Legosi wouldn't hurt anyone, especially not one of his friends," Collot explained.
"Are you sure about that?" she asked, getting their attention. She then turned to Legosi once more. "Well then Legosi, let's see if your friends still feel that way after you answer the next question. Remember, you must tell the truth."
Legosi started to get scared as his tail started trembling even more. He looked at his friends who were visibly concerned for him and at the other two officers who were also feeling uncomfortable by the situation. The large carnivore then nodded at his interrogator, praying that this would be over soon.
"Good," she said with a confident look on her face. "Now, is it true that you violently and mercilessly bit Arthur and ripped a piece out of his shoulder, a piece that can never grow back and inflicted a wound that will take a very long time to heal?"
Legosi's blood went cold as he felt his heart stop. He desperately wanted to run away, fully knowing that if he tried to run, it would only make him even more suspicious.
As all the other canines watched Legosi, who was clearly on the brink of tears, one of the german shepherds walked forward. He put a hand on the antelope's shoulder and spoke.
"Excuse me mam, but don't you think this is going too far?" the police officer asked. "He is just a minor after all and the evidence and testimony we have clearly state that his attack was out of self defense."
"Answer the question Legosi," Agatha ordered, clearly ignoring her subordinate. "Did you attack Arthur in such a vicious way?"
"Yes," Legosi responded, tears falling down his face. "I did attack Arthur that way."
"Legosi," Collot and the others said sadly as they stared at their frightened friend.
"It was… it was when we were trying to escape. Jack and I were carrying Oscar as we made our way out of the building and that's when… that's when," Legosi began to cry even more before wiping his face. "That's when Arthur shot Jack. He was trying to shoot me, but hit Jack instead. After I saw him fall to the floor, something in me snapped and I attacked Arthur out of desperation."
"I see," the female herbivore said with a look of content on her face. "You know, I always heard that wolves were unpredictable, but you really take the cake. I realize that you are just a student, but perhaps we should consider getting you fitted for a muzzle until you can control such violent tendencies," she said with a smirk.
At that point, all of 701 and even the officers were seething with anger as Legosi began to cry even more. Then, just as Legosi was about to bow his head and accept his punishment, Agatha was suddenly hit with an eraser.
"Get out!"
The antelope looked up and saw Legosi's packmates glaring at her. This caused her to slowly stand up and take a step back where she was suddenly grabbed by her arms.
"Mam, I believe that's enough," the german shepherd from earlier said as he glared at her as well.
"Hey! You can't just-"
"I think you've harassed these children long enough," the second german shepherd barked. "Also, we will be reporting what happened here today."
The lady detective froze from the shock. She was then escorted out of the room by the two dog officers who bowed their heads and apologized to Legosi and the others.
Legosi, who was left in tears, suddenly felt the arms of his 701 family wrap around him from behind. Even Voss, who had a talent for being the world's best teddy bear, jumped up and hugged Legosi's chest, allowing the wolf to hold him close as he let everything out.
Back in the present, Legosi and Miguno were taking a walk around the shops that were located at the school entrance. Like their other roommates, they couldn't get the memory of that horrible detective out of their heads and were hoping to find something to distract themselves with before they went back home for the day.
"See anything you like Miguno?" the gray wolf asked.
"The posters that guy's selling look cool. Maybe we could get one to decorate the room," the hyena answered.
Legosi brought his hand to his chin. "I guess we could get one, but where would we hang it? On the door, over the table, or do you want to put it in the closet so when we open it to get our clothes we see it?"
"Actually, I was thinking we could put it by your bed, Legosi," the smaller canine answered. "You know, make your part of the room a little more… you."
Legosi's eyes widened as he stared at his friend. "W-Why do we need to do that? You know I don't need much and my space already has enough in it."
"Come on Legosi! Get yourself something nice," Miguno said with a grin. "With everything that's happened, it's safe to say that you've grown. You ain't the little puppy too scared to talk to anyone anymore and I think it's time you showed off just how much you've changed."
"Before all this, you just kind of melted into the background and your space reflected that. But now, you're in front of everyone and showing yourself more. I mean, I know you still like to stay out of the way, but you have a presence now and so you should let yourself have something for it."
Legosi looked to the side and blushed a bit as he smiled, his tail moving side to side. "Heh, I guess you have a point there."
"You know I do!" the smaller canine cheered. He reached up and put his hand on the wolf's shoulder. "Besides, it's not like I'm asking you to be a rockstar or anything, it's just getting you a poster to decorate a bit."
Legosi laughed. "Alright, I guess we can take a look."
The two looked at a few of the posters. Some of them were bright and colorful, some of them had anime characters on them in cool poses, and others looked very artistic.
After a few minutes of looking, Legosi finally decided on an insect poster. The poster had a nice scene of overgrown grass on the bottom half and an open sky on the top half. The rest of the poster was dotted with different kinds of bugs such as butterflies, ladybugs, and dragonflies.
After making his purchase, Legosi and Miguno left the school shops and started heading back with the wolf carrying his new poster in it's seal. As they did however, they heard someone calling their names. They turned around and they saw Jack waving at them as he ran.
"HEY GUYS, WAIT UP!" the labrador shouted, his tail wagging with joy.
"JACK!" Legosi shouted loudly in excitement, scaring Miguno. His tail then started wagging at the sight of his best friend before the wolf ran up to him. "What are you doing here? Didn't you have homework that you needed to catch up on?"
"Well I actually managed to get most of it done during my tutoring session, so I figured I'd take a break," the labrador explained. So, since we're here, wanna go grab a bite?"
Legosi nodded. "Sure, let me just bring this back to the room and I'll meet you at the cafeteria."
Jack's tail began to wag. "What did you get?"
"I managed to convince him to get a poster," Mguno said as he walked over to the duo. "Bout time too, maybe now his space will look less empty."
Legosi let out an awkward laugh as he scratched the back of his head. He then turned to Jack and smiled. "Miguno just thought that it would be good to show a little bit of what I like, it's honestly nothing big."
"For you it is," the hyena teased.
Jack giggled, his tail wagging a bit faster now. "Well I'm happy to see you at least trying to show off your interests without feeling self-conscious about it."
"Yea, me too," Lego said with a bit of a blush.
The two canines laughed at the blushing wolf before Miguno took the poster from him.
"Hey!" the large canine said in surprise.
"Don't worry dude, I'm just gonna put it by your bed so you can hang it up later. After all, Jack said he was hungry and I can tell he wants to dine with his hero," Miguno said with a wink.
"W-Wait, that's not-"
Before Legosi could defend himself, Jack grabbed his arm. "That's right, Legosi is the big hero who saved me and I want to treat him to dinner," the labrador joked.
Legosi covered his now red face with his other hand while his tail tucked between his legs. He was just relieved that there wasn't anyone around to hear that, otherwise his heart may have stopped from the embarrassment.
Jack then started to pull Legosi, who wouldn't so much as budge. "Come Lego-face, it was just a joke."
"Mmmm," was all the wolf let out before turning away from his pack mates and heading towards the cafeteria, trying his best to hide his face.
Jack and Miguno laughed to themselves before they parted ways. The labrador then raced to catch up with his love for their rendezvous.
After getting their food, the two canines made their way up to the empty pool, their sanctuary away from prying eyes.
The two sat down at their usual spot and settled into a comfortable silence.
It allowed them to clear their heads and feel each other's presence. It also didn't hurt that they leaned against each other and intertwined their tails as they ate either.
"Hey, Jack," Legosi said with a smile as he put down his finished dinner.
"What's up Legosi?" the labrador asked and turned towards the gray and cream colored wolf who was leaning towards his muzzle. "L-Legosi!"
Legosi, who didn't even try to answer, continued until his lips pressed against Jack's. He then moved his head back slightly and started licking the labrador's lips before pushing forward once more.
Jack closed his eyes. He then opened his muzzle slightly, allowing his love to have his way with him.
The wolf responded by going into a slightly deeper kiss and the yellow dog's tail wagged with joy. After about a minute of kissing, Legosi pulled away and stared at his smiling and blushing boyfriend before stroking his face.
"Jack, I love you," the larger carnivore said in a soft voice.
"I love you too Legosi," Jack responded. "And I really like kissing you."
"Me too," Legosi said with a giggle.
He then folded his ears back as a somber look covered his face, his tail completely stopped in its tracks. "How are you feeling? Are you still sore? Does anything hurt?"
Jack gave his doting love a gentle smile. "Don't worry, I'm alright. I've been taking the painkillers the doctors gave me and I've been eating regularly."
"That's good," Legosi said with a sigh of relief. "I'm really glad that we'll be able to put all this behind us soon."
"Yep, once I talk to the police and tell them everything, we'll finally be able to move on," Jack said cheerfully.
Legosi's tail drooped as he looked to the side. "Y-Yea… when do you have to talk to them again?"
"The day after tomorrow," Jack responded. "I'm pretty sure things will go smoothly. I'm just telling them what happened and considering I was the victim, I don't think they'll have any reason to doubt me."
The gray wolf turned his head to face Jack. He knew that the labrador had no knowledge about what happened between him, their roommates, and the detective.
Hewondered if he should tell Jack. At the same time however, something like that could upset Jack to the point of aggravating his condition and that was the last thing Legosi wanted.
After taking a moment to mull it over, Legosi decided not to say anything. Jack had made a lot of good points after all and as long as they questioned them in their dorm room like before, everyone in 701 could intervene if anything like last time started to happen. This time, they would be on guard!
"I uh… I guess you're right. But still, I think you should be careful. You never know how these things will go and it would be smart to be ready for anything."
Jack let out a small laugh. "Alright, I'll be careful. What about you though? Are you ok?"
Legosi tilted his head as his ear flickered. "Yea, I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?"
Jack shook his head. "No, I mean are you OK? Like, with all this? With… us?"
Legosi's ear flickered once more. "Jack, I don't understand what you're trying to say. I mean, I know that we're both male and that animals will look at us differently. That's if they don't outright despise us, but I'm ok with that and I thought you were too."
"I am Legosi, really. I'm happy that I have you and that we are together. It's just that I'm scared of what the others will think. It's for that reason why we need to keep our relationship a secret in the first place. It's one thing for random strangers to hate us, but it's different when it's the people closest to you," Jack explained.
The wolf's ears folded back as Jack's words sank in. He was prepared to deal with being hated by people on the street and the other students. After all, it's how he lived most of his life already. However, he only made it this far because of everyone around him and didn't consider that they wouldn't approve, even if he did agree to keep this a secret from them.
"Well then… what should we do?" Legos asked.
"I don't know," the labrador responded. "I just know that I'm happy being with you and that it sucks that we have to hide it."
"If that's how you feel, then maybe we should come clean," Legosi suggested.
Jack's eyes widened as his ears and tail jumped. "W-What?! L-Legosi, we can't! We don't know how our pack will react. I mean, you know how Durham gets, there's no way he won't be upset. Collot might want to keep a distance from us and Miguno won't understand at all. Voss might be supportive, but still."
Legosi shook his head disapprovingly. "Jack, do you hear yourself? Do you really have so little faith in the people who have always had our backs no matter what? You're talking about the same guys who stuck up for you when you were being bullied, who cared for you when you were having a panic attack, and who stayed by my side when I was interrogated by the police."
The wolf started to growl as his tail began to fizzle up. "Does any of what you're saying or are worried about sound like the Collot, Durham, or Miguno we know?"
Jack hesitated. "Well… they might-"
"Of course not!" the larger and more muscular canine interrupted.
"Sure, they may be surprised and may even need time to accept us, but there is no way they would ever abandon us like that! I thought that you would've learned that by now…"
"I HAVE LEARNED THAT!" Jack shouted. "I'm just scared alright… I'm scared. I'm scared of losing you. I'm scared that no one, not even the people we love will accept us. Is that so wrong?"
Legosi hugged the frighted labrador. "Of course it isn't. I'm sorry, I'm scared too and can understand why you are. I'm also scared that you don't trust that we will be alright. We will get through this together!"
"Yes, we will have to deal with a lot more trouble if we come clean, but at least we'll be able to do things like walk through the halls together and hold hands when we go out. Isn't that something you want?"
Jack looked to the side before looking up at the gray furred carnivore. "Yes, it is. I want that more than anything. I just… don't know how to go about it or even if we should go through with it yet."
While all this was going on, a certain rabbit girl was tending her plants on the rooftop next door.
"I'm glad that the flowers didn't wilt while I was away," Haru said in relief. "This whole mess has turned the whole school upside down. To make things worse, no one's seen Louis in days."
As the white rabbit continued watering her flower beds, she heard something from the other rooftop.
"I HAVE LEARNED THAT!"
"What the?!" She jumped in surprise. "What was that?!"
She put down the watering can and ran towards where the noise came from. There she saw a wolf and a labrador arguing with each other.
"What's going on? Are they fighting?" she asked herself. She then made an annoyed face. "Haven't those mutts learned anything from all this? Ugh, carnivores. All they do is fight, argue, and try to assert dominance."
Just as she was about to turn away however, she saw something unexpected. She watched as the wolf crept closer to the labrador and hugged him.
"What the?" the dwarf rabbit said in disbelief.
As she walked closer to the fence, she saw something that caused her whole body to jump. She saw the wolf KISS the yellow dog.
"What on earth?!" Haru said as she fell back. They're both… males. But… they kissed?!"
She got up from the ground and ran towards the door leading downstairs, hoping that she wasn't spotted by the two carnivores.
Legosi finished his kiss and smiled at Jack. "Listen, if you really think we should keep this to ourselves for a while, then we will. But I do think we should at least tell Voss. He can keep a secret after all and he might even be able to help us think of a way to break the news when the time comes."
Jack let out a sigh. "Alright, but ONLY Voss and only if he agrees to keep it a secret."
Legosi nodded. "I promise."
The two hugged once more, comforting each other as they steeled themselves for the new trials that lay before them.
Here's this chapter's secret.
Did you know that after they got together, Jack and Legosi would send each other secret messages every night? It was their way of staying in touch while Jack was in the hospital. Of course, they still do this even after Jack came home.
