Chapter 17: End of the War

I slowly trudged upwards until the first drops of rain landed on me. The night sky was shrouded in black clouds as a cold wind blew against me. The only sound that broke the silence was the rainfall hitting the floor of the roof under me as I silently stared ahead, seeing the one person I never thought I'd ever see again. Like me, he was slowly getting drenched in the falling rain when he slowly turned to face me, a look of nothing but rage and hatred in his eyes as we both stared at each other without a word until he finally spoke.

"You could've just made this easy. You could've just given up and died eleven years ago when I had you! But NO, you just had to continue to keep living with such a happy life while I'm left to rot in some stone cold shithole of a cell!"

"YOU'RE the one who tried to murder me! If you found out I was still alive, why didn't you just leave me alone if I wasn't your problem anymore?! In fact, I have a better question for you!" I yelled back, exhaling before asking what I had wanted to ask him for a long time.

"Why do you think it's MY fault that my birth mum died?!" My dad- No, Kevin snarled at me as I mentioned her.

"You want to know why you're the reason Maria's dead?! FINE!" He growled before finally giving me the answer I longed for.

"She was always so tired and even sometimes stressed, all because she had to take care of you! She used all of her energy she had just so she could you happy! THAT'S WHY SHE ENDED UP DYING IN A CAR CRASH, BECAUSE SHE WAS TOO TIRED TO SEE WHERE SHE WAS GOING! AND YOU CAUSED THIS! YOU'RE A FUCKING MURDERER AND YOU ALWAYS WILL BE!"

I stepped back a little as he screamed all of this at me. Suddenly, all my rage started to become overwhelmed by remorse as I shivered. I was starting to think that… maybe mum's death really was all my fault. She was so responsible for me and that responsibility caused her death.

"Don't listen to him, Cody."

A voice suddenly called out to me, stopping me from suffering an emotional breakdown as I quickly darted around for the source of the voice but saw nobody but Kevin within my vicinity.

"Your father may blame you for Maria's death, son… But she doesn't."

Another voice rang out, this one sounding more masculine. I kept looking around but still couldn't see anyone else near me. Suddenly, everything around me darkened to nothing, leaving me in complete darkness as two transparent white forms slowly materialised before me, their shapes slowly forming into the likeness of…

"...Great Grandpa and Grandma, Pongo and Perdita."

The two adult Dalmatians smiled at me as they came closer to me, Perdita giving me a gentle hug. But just like when I met the spirit of Cadpig, I felt nothing but a cool chill around my body.

"Oh goodness, how you've grown, sweetie." Perdita cooed motherly. It really had been a long time since I last saw these two.

"Son, don't let what Kevin says get to you. Don't you remember when you said goodbye to Maria?" Pongo reminded me as I thought back to eleven years ago when I was being hospitalised, where I saw and talked with my birth mum one last time and how she said she would always be proud of me and to always keep living for the Dalmatians' sake. My eyes closed as I slowly nodded as Pongo said one last thing to me.

"Remember… Maria will always love you no matter what. She could never hate you even if she died."

I slowly opened my eyes to find myself back on the roof with Kevin still glaring at me, Pongo and Perdita had vanished as I took those words to heart and slowly glared back at the man before me.

"...You're wrong."

"What?!"

"You may think it's my fault that mum died but she thinks otherwise! If anything, maybe it's YOUR fault for giving up on me and treating me like a criminal! MUM IS PROBABLY SAD AND MISERABLE UP THERE BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU'VE BECOME! INSTEAD OF MAKING SURE I WAS RAISED LIKE AN ACTUAL CHILD, YOU CHOSE TO BE AN ABUSIVE COWARD AND TAKE ALL YOUR GRIEF OUT ON ME!" If looks could kill, then I'd be dead on the spot as Kevin's glare had turned into the most angriest of looks I had seen on him as I said all this. Not a second passed and he immediately pulled something out of his pocket.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

And just after he screamed those words, he held out what was in his hand towards me as a loud bang came from it and a bullet ricocheted off the platform just near me, making me flinch as I dove behind a protruding metal vent for cover. Within the sound of the rain, I heard his wet footsteps slowly approach my hiding spot. If I didn't act in the next few seconds, the last thing I would see is Kevin aiming a gun at my head. I looked to my left to see a single brick laying on the roof which I didn't hesitate to grab before tossing it away from where I was, hearing it tumble against the roof seconds later to which I peeked over the vent pipe to see Kevin quickly shift his direction to where the noise I made was.

With his back turned, I hastily ran towards him as he turned in response to my quick footsteps but was unable to react in time as I rammed straight into him, making him grunt whilst I heard his gun clatter, no doubt being knocked out of his hand. With him currently subdued, I rushed over and grabbed the pistol but Kevin had managed to catch up to me and delivered a hard punch to my face, causing me to lose my grip on the firearm and we both watched as it bounced and fell off the nearest edge of the roof. At least Kevin didn't have an advantage over me now.

I quickly looked back to Kevin who dove straight for me, his hands clasping around my neck as he had me pinned to the roof. I gagged and spluttered as I struggled to clench a fist before swinging it into his nose, eliciting a slight sound of cracking bones followed by a pained grunt as he let go, holding both hands over his face. I did not hesitate to tackle Kevin, delivering a punch to his forehead in hopes of knocking him out but it only seemed to piss him off even more as he kicked me in the stomach, pushing me backwards before getting on top of me once more and throwing several punches himself, hot pain searing through my face with every landed hit until I instinctively out of panic jabbed my fingers into both of his eyes, making him yell out and end up rolling off the edge of the roof, but as he still had a grip on me, I ended up falling off with him.

The pain my back endured from landing on the ground below was almost unbearable that not even the rain softening it up would ease the impact. Luckily, I felt no intense pain in any of my limbs as I moved them, revealing I had made it without any broken bones. Kevin on the other hand however, wasn't as lucky as I slowly forced myself up and found him still laying on the ground, yelling out in agony as I saw one of his legs forcefully bent in a direction it shouldn't be. I slowly panted and was about to walk over to him until I heard my foot scuff against something on the ground. I looked down to see that it was the gun from earlier as I slowly bent down to pick it up before looking at what I once thought was my father.

The very man who had made my life miserable to the near point where I felt like it wasn't ever going to get better. The very man who once decided he was done with me and tried to murder me. The very man who helped the devil woman capture and nearly kill my family. After everything he's done… he was beyond any redemption or any chance of me ever forgiving him as I slowly aimed the gun at him and screamed out in rage.

I wanted to make sure… that he would never hurt me or my family ever again.

"C-CODY, NO!" A sudden voice of protest stopped me before I could pull the trigger following by two hands gripping my arm and pull me back. I looked behind to see DJ giving me a very worried look as he shook his head at me.

"He's had enough, dude! Calm down!" DJ's pleading slowly began to bring me to my sense as I looked ahead to see the rest of my family, all unharmed as they too all gave me scared looks as Dylan came closer to me.

"D… Don't become like him." He begged as I looked down at the gun in my hand in thought.

No… They're right.

I refuse to become a monster like Kevin had.

I turned and threw the pistol away, panting as DJ and Dylan helped me back to my family.

"Ungh…! GET BACK HERE AND FINISH THIS, CODY!" I stopped as I looked back at my former so-called father, Kevin. I could not even remember the last time he ever referred to me by my own name. But I merely snarled at him, the words I said to him would hopefully be the last I'd ever have to say to him.

"I'd rather die than turn into what you've become, Kevin."

And with that, I continued towards my family who did not hesitate to pull me into a tight hug, joined by Dixie, Trevor… and even Fergus. As we embraced, faint police sirens entered our hearing range and we all turned to see a few police cruisers screech to a halt nearby as several officers ran to us whilst others ran into the building we had all been locked into, during which a few more approached Kevin who was still laying on the ground.

While Kevin was being carried away on a stretcher, we all watched to see some officers roll out another stretcher that carried Brian's body as Dorothy gasped in horror as I looked down at her to see her eyes well up with tears. I recalled back to what Brian had told me just before he passed out from his wound.

...What was I right all along about?

Quickly I walked up to Brian as he slowly blinked awake and looked up at me.

"Cody… I'm so sorry..." Wait, what? He was apologising to me? Brian seemed to notice my confused look as his expression looked to of genuine regret.

"…I had no idea your dad really had been abusing you. All those wounds… I thought you were just… I guess it doesn't matter now… I understand if you won't forgive me… I deserved to be thrown in juvey after everything I did… I just can't believe I was so blind to what I was actually doing..." He confessed. I just couldn't believe it. He actually regretted everything he did to me? I just didn't know how to respond as he continued.

"I was wrong… The only reason I treated you like crap was… Because I was treated the same way..."

Now it all made sense. The reason why Brian had treated me the way he did all those years ago was because he was bullied himself. He couldn't find any other outlet to let out all his stress and sadness from the torment he was enduring. I then noticed out of my peripheral vision that Dorothy had joined me at Brian's side as he looked at her.

"...I'm sorry too, kid. I was stuck thinking that all anthros were just bad people after how I was treated by them… But then you came and tended to one of my injuries… So I know now… That… There really are good anthros in this world…" He slowly reached a hand out to pet her before saying one last thing.

"Thank you..."

And just like that, his eyes closed and his arm fell limp. One of the officers rushed over upon noticing this and checked his pulse for a few seconds before looking up at us.

"...He's gone."

Dorothy quivered in place as tears finally rolled down her eyes before she finally started to sob. I reached out to the girl pup as she clung onto me, burying her face into my shirt, her crying muffled by the fabric.

Dorothy had ended up crying herself to sleep as one of the officers provided a blanket to keep her warm as Dolly offered to hold her sleeping form whilst mum and dad were being interviewed by one of the officers. I noticed in the distance that Trevor, Dixie and Fergus were talking amongst each other as I approached them, Dixie quickly pacing over to me and planting a kiss on my cheek the second she saw me.

"How are ya feeling, Cody?" Trevor asked me as I had completely forgotten about my back pain at this point which thankfully wasn't as severe as before.

"I'm still a little hurt after all that, but I'm more glad that my family's all okay. Especially you guys." I said with a small smile which Fergus and Trevor returned.

"Well… Now that this is all over, there's something I think you should know, Cody." Dixie said to me as I faced her, signalling that she had my attention.

"Cruella revealed something to us long before you rescued us… You see, Trevor-"

"...is Dixie's half brother."

We all suddenly turned to see an older male Dalmatian standing before us. Whilst I was surprised upon knowing this, Dixie looked to be way more stunned than I was.

"D-Dad?! You knew all along?!" So this was Dixie's dad. The Dalmatian in question exhaled before replying.

"Yes… Dixie, when you were much younger and my human wife cheated on me, I found out the human she was having an affair with had gotten her pregnant. Even though I never met Trevor, I was given a copy of his birth certificate from the orphanage which was were he was sent to after his parents died. ...I'm sorry I never told you, Dixie."

Dixie was left speechless as he explained all this, as was Fergus but that wasn't all he had to say.

"...And I'm also sorry for ignoring your feelings about Cody and only thinking about myself. I was only trying to prevent you getting hurt like I did. But instead, I was just being selfish and refusing to let you live your life how you want it. After I found out that you had been captured by one of Cruella's captives, I wanted nothing more than to make sure you were saved just in time." Dixie nodded in understanding before she smiled at me. "And someone did save me and Trevor, dad." She retorted, glancing at me. Dixie's father came closer to me before holding my hand and gently shaking it.

"Thank you… Thank you so much for saving my baby girl." He said gratefully as I smiled in return.

"You're welcome, Mr. Walsh."

"Say, Trev… Remember when you asked me back at the canal if you could call me 'dad'?" Fergus piped up as we turned to face him and the Irish teenager who nodded.

"I was going to say 'yes'." Fergus continued as Trevor grinned before hugging the fox whom returned the embrace. "But..." Fergus said as he and Trevor let go. "It seems like you may already have one." He said before gesturing to Dixie's dad. Trevor looked at Dixie and her father for a moment until the latter spoke out.

"It's your choice, son. No matter which decision you make, we'll always be there for you."

Trevor's look alternated between the two and Fergus as if he was having a hard time to decide. Stay with Dixie and her dad and live in a comfy home with food and safety provided or stay with Fergus who may not have all those things but has cared for and protected him for much longer.

"Follow what your heart says, Trevor." I suggested as then teen looked down in thought until he finally looked up to Fergus.

"A real home does sound nice… but you Fergus, are the best thing I could call a father. Sorry, Mr. Walsh." Dixie's dad merely waved a hand dismissively. "That's alright, son. Just remember if you ever need us for anything, our door will always be open."

"And you better visit us once in a while!" Dixie demanded playfully as Trevor chuckled before looking back up at Fergus.

"How about a game of kick the can then, Trev?" Fergus suggested before speeding off.

"Right behind ya, dad!" Trevor called after the fox, tailing after him with a laugh as Dixie and I waved goodbye to him.

Hunter's POV

God, today has been one hell of a stressful day. But at the very least, everyone in Cody's family and his friends were alive and well. I watched some of the officers carried away Cruella into one of the police vans before it drove away. Hopefully they take to a prison with better security. And one that's maybe much further away from London.

Suddenly, I felt two arms wrap around me as I turned to see Dee Dee with a playful smile on her face as she rubbed her cheek against mine.

"Hey Mr. Funnyface! Was beginning to wonder where you were!"

"Hehe, hey Dee Dee." I chuckled as she let go of me before scratching one of her ears.

"S-So… You still upset that Dizzy said 'no'?" She stammered a little worriedly. "Nah, I kind of knew it was a lost cause to begin with. I'm more happy that you two are alright. You or Dizzy may not be my girlfriend. But you're still my best friends." I replied as she had a smirk on her face and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"SUPER best friends, you mean!" She rephrased with a laugh before patting my shoulder. "Don't worry though. If Cody could find a loved one so easily, I know you will too." She reassured me as I smiled at her before looking over to see a woman in detective's clothing attempting to carry some case files, possibly of Cruella and Cody's former dad before stumbling as they fell to the ground. I asked Dee Dee to excuse me for a moment before approaching a lady and picking up the files and handing them to her.

"A-Ah, thank you sir." She said a little timidly as we both ended up staring at each other for probably the longest time. She had long brunette hair and blue glistening eyes. I immediately blinked upon realising what I was doing and looked away in embarrassment.

"Ah! S-Sorry!" I quickly apologised as the woman waved a hand in front of her face. "No-no, don't worry about it, my bad!" She apologised as well before recomposing herself. "Wait… Are you the one they call Hunter De Vil?" I turned to face the woman again before briefly shaking my head. "I don't go by De Vil anymore, not after I learnt what Cruella was going to do." She frowned in response with a flustered blush. "O-Oh, I apologise! I see you're friends with the Dalmatian family, yes?" I nodded with a little smile. "Yeah. Sorry, what did you say your name was?" Her eyebrows raised with realisation before she answered.

"S-Smith. Amy Smith. And t-thank you for your time, Hunter." She said before quickly stepping away, still with that flustered blush on her face.

"Ooooooooooooooh!" Dee Dee cooed teasingly as she slapped my back. "What did I tell ya? You've already got yourself an admirer!"

"Ahaha, knock it off, man!" I laughed in response to her teasing. Though then again… This Amy Smith person did seem like a real nice lady.