Hello all! It's been a while, but here is the latest chapter!

Is it right to do this? To enter your space? Is it really worth disturbing your rest with the mutt in his stupid quest, especially when it was probably that wolf that killed you in the first place?

He seems convinced that the walking basket case had nothing to do with your death. What does he know? Blinded by his devotion to an image of that killer that he's made up in his head, he has no idea of the true nature of that… of Legoshi.

Even in my mind, why is it so difficult to use his name?

Am I blinded by hate?

But still, ever since leaving the rooftop, I've felt… something. It's like you're here again. It's little things. Moments that disappear as suddenly as they appear. Your scent on the breeze. A shadow that flashes when I blink. And now… I just don't know what you want. It's something related to the wolf. It has to be. But, what is it? What do you want me to know?

I stared at the pathway as we walked towards the main building of the campus.

What am I going to do if Legoshi survives the hospital? Will I even be able to bear seeing his face around the campus? Will he even be allowed to stay? Will he confess to his murders?

I hummed to myself.

It seems like I've turned into Jack. Worrying about these senseless hypotheticals will do nothing to bring her back. It will do nothing to fix all of the death and destruction. I have spent more time with him than I ever anticipated.

Why do I care so much? I just want to get this all over with. Why does this cause so much agony? I just want to be done with the mutt and his guilt-ridden face.

But what comes after?

We didn't speak during the short walk to the memorial. It was for the best. There was no need for our shouting to echo through the halls. No telling who might hear us. No telling who was already aware and had been listening to our fight from earlier. No telling who was watching us right now.

I spent it too caught up in my own thoughts.

The front doors to the building were locked. Jack grabbed the handle and twisted. As would have been expected, the door refused to budge.

Did he really expect the door to open just because he tried? Did he think I had been able to open it and chose not to do so?

The not-so-subtle arrogance of a carnivore.

I fished around in my bag to find my key ring. Having nearly unlimited access to the campus came with the drawback of having to deal with nearly two dozen keys, none of which were labeled. Something about plausible deniability for the school if I ever lost them. Trying each of the keys would be much quicker than trying to have Jack pick the lock. Especially as dogs had some of the shortest and dullest nails of all carnivores.

Jack's body stood rigid in the night. He watched me. He was as silent as a statue.

I cannot believe that I wish he would say something instead of just staring at me like a predator looking at his prey.

Each species with claws had ones with different sizes, lengths, and widths. I was uncertain how the size of the species or their claws would affect a lock, particularly one that appeared to come from the last century. I examined the lock on the door. It was heavy and the hole was deep. Only a large claw would have been able to reach the back of it to trigger the release.

"How did you manage to pick this lock last night?" I spoke my first words to Jack since we left the steps of the Drama Club's building.

"I didn't. It was already unlocked when I got here." He sounded more confused than concerned.

I didn't share my immediate realization with him.

It had to have been some student with sharp claws. They would have been a large carnivore as well. Or at least have large claws. Right? Surely an animal with tiny claws or fragile ones wouldn't stand a chance against a lock like this one? Someone was here last night, doing who knows what.

And they were here before Jack.

"Did you unlock the door last night?" The volume of his voice had dropped to a whisper.

Maybe he was starting to put two and two together. Maybe he was just nervous to begin with. Maybe it was the setting that we were in that was making the fur on the back of his neck stand up. Maybe it was…

No, that's just me.

"No, I didn't. Not since I… not since the night that Legoshi… you know." To put it that things were more awkward now than ever would be an understatement.

Why do I care about not stepping on his toes all of a sudden?

"So, do you think the school forgot to lock it last night?"

He filled the space with empty chatter while I made an attempt with each key to find the one that fit this particular lock.

"No. This door is always locked at night. In my three years here, there's never been a time that I haven't had to use my key to open these doors."

It was becoming a frustrating task. None of the keys were working.

"Seems like you'd know which key is the right one, then." His tone was so even.

Is he mocking me?

"Are you trying to start another fight?" I reached the last couple keys on the ring. "There we go," I huffed as the second to last one turned completely to the left once and then the door opened at the second rotation.

"Seems like a school this fancy would use a digital door lock." Jack mumbled to no one in particular.

Surely he wasn't going to spend the rest of the night killing me with small talk and complaints.

We passed by classrooms and the administrative rooms. The silence of the building was polluted by the ticking of the clocks on the walls. Cleaning solution still lingered from the janitorial work of the students just a few hours prior to our arrival. The light from the moon bounced off the floor and illuminated the hallways.

After passing the main lecture hall, we made a right turn towards the back of the school. The auditorium came into view. As we reached the door, I was stopped by the sight of the caution tape across the door. The moonlight bounced off the yellow tape, creating a shining cross in front of the door. Tem's memorial absorbed the light, giving off an ethereal glow as well. The scene was… surreal.

This isn't… is it? Him? Here?

"Louis, are you alright?"

That damned question again.

I failed to notice Jack as he approached the door. He managed to avoid disturbing the memorial, but was waiting by the door handle.

"It's locked." He stated, seemingly having accepted that I wasn't going to answer his previous question.

"Right." I made my way around the memorial, stopping to glance at Tem's photo. "Once we open these doors, the school's going to find out. There'll be no way to fix the tape." I said. I began to try the ring of keys again.

"I understand. But this is for Legoshi."

The adoration was apparent in his voice.

I paused. "Why?"

"What?"

"Why are you so obsessed with him? That's all you talk about. Every conversation we have feels like it's just an excuse for you to talk about that wolf. You're like some kind of leech that's attached to him and it seems he finally ran out of blood for you to suck and you don't know what to do with yourself."

He flinched next to me. "No."

It was my turn to be confused. "'No' what?"

"I mean no as in you don't get to say that to me."

His voice carried a growl. It was the second time I had heard that sound come from him. Different from the anger that came from a fight or disagreement, this sound was guttural. It was darker. It was predatory.

My fur, much like my ears had done last night on the rooftop, stood at attention. It was just as frightening to hear the sound tonight. As much of an experiment and domesticated pet as he was, the dog was still a carnivore. No amount of engineering would ever be able to change that. No amount of experimentation with DNA would be able to completely erase his nature.

I backed down. Looking away from the shadows dancing around his silhouette, I focused on finding the correct key as quickly as possible. I needed to get some space between us and hopefully distract him enough with the large crime scene we were about to visit.

A hand grabbed my shoulder. It squeezed. I shuddered and my body went rigid. The world around me slowed down and the darkness of the night amplified its presence. I was too stiff to turn around of my own volition, but I felt my body turn as the hand put pressure on my shoulder.

As my body was turned for me, I saw the figure as it rose high above me. Gold gave way to a gray and silver that swirled in the light of the moon. It portrayed an appropriate sight as the carnivore towered above me. Brown eyes had been replaced with black. The lithe figure had swelled into rippling muscles that bulged and pulsed in anger and fury. The sling melted into the clothing of the beast before me. Red droplets of blood fell to the floor from the monster's mouth.

His breath pushed the smell of iron and death into my nostrils. Her scent trickled in, slowly at first, before the only thing my mind could focus on was the scent of Haru coming from his mouth.

My hand burned. It pulsed in rapid repetitions and the puss-covered scab that shielded my wound from the open air broke. The liquid was warm as it ran down the space between my thumb and index finger. Despite the growls coming from the beast in front of me, I heard each and every drop of the bloody puss as it plopped to the floor.

Growling turned into ear-splitting roaring. Roaring morphed into howling. Howling devolved into mad cackling and laughter. Specks of blood from the snout of the demon hit my face as the laughter continued in earnest.

At that moment, the demon was nothing less than terrifying. Legoshi was nothing less than terrifying.

Sharp claws caught the moon's light and shined directly into my eyes in a blinding flash. I was forced to shut my eyes. Upon opening them, the hulking behemoth that was the murderous wolf was gone. In its place, the domesticated dog stared at me. His uninjured arm was clenched on my shoulder. I was aware of the circular motion his thumb was tracing over my collarbone.

Liquid stained my cheeks. I reached a trembling finger up to confirm that it was not blood. I needed to be certain that it was not hers.

Jack was quiet. His attention solely consisted of staring at my shoulder and watching his fingers. His eyes darted to meet mine when my body stiffened.

"It's okay. You're okay." It came out as a whisper. I would not have been able to withstand anything louder.

The sound of panting filled my ears. My panting filled my ears. The tears continued to trickle down my face. I refused to remove my hand from my cheek for fear that the clear solution may turn red and viscous. My other hand was empty. The keys were likely on the floor.

What that was… That was it. True terror.

Heat radiated from Jack's hand. It only made me acutely aware of how drenched my shirt had become. I recognized it immediately, both from how cold it was against my fur and the smell that emanated from it. It was the same kind of clammy sweat that I had from my drea… from my nightmares every night.

No point in lying to myself any further. No way to avoid the pathetic situation I've created for myself. No way to hide this from the carnivore in front of me, despite his intentions.

What do I make of this?

"Do you want to talk? That was always something that helped Legoshi when-"

I stepped back at the mention of his name. A shudder from the removal of the heat source on my collar was the least of the discomforting actions that had just occurred.

I want to go… somewhere.

"No."

Am I going to wilt away and die if I don't resolve this situation? Is that why I called the nurse? To get closure with the fucking wolf? Is that why I'm here with the mutt?

Is that why I saw you, Tem?

I bent over to grab the ring of keys. "Not now." I chose the first key by random and stuck it in the hole. "I can't."

Can't what? What can't I do? Him? The wolf? Her? Tem?

Myself?

The lock clicked as I turned the key to the left. As the door swung open to the outside, it met resistance from the caution tape. The momentary pause was broken by a snap, not too unlike my mind since I entered the building. Some dust particles were disturbed by the motion and fluttered in the moonlight like snowflakes.

Nothing to go back to. Nothing waiting on the other side.

I hope the chapter was enjoyable. Lots of emotional trauma to unpack. The story continues to grow on me and there are so many loose ends that I need to tie up. That just means more chapters and events to occur. Until the next chapter!

As always, comments and constructive feedback are welcomed and appreciated!