AN: This is one of the longer chapters of this story. I just had so much I wanted to tell and didn't want to split into separate chapters. I've created a backstory for Juno since Paru Itagaki never gave us one. Also...more trigger warnings for talks of suicide. On to the story.

Ch 8: Parents as Special Guests

Louis wakes up to pitch black. He's tied up in a chair and his mouth is gagged.

"Good evening, Father," comes Philip's voice from the dark. "How lucky that I inherited a carnivore's night vision from Mother. She's beside you if you're wondering. The lights go on once she's awake."

The stag collects his thoughts while he waits. 'Philip has kidnapped us. Whatever he has planned, it's not going to be pleasant.'

A muffled groan can be heard, signaling that Juno is awake.

"Glad you could join us, Mother," Philip's voice calls out.

The lights go on, which the eyes of the two recently woken animals have to adjust to.

Standing up on a stage in front of the tied up animals is their son, Philip. He smirks at his parents before speaking into a microphone. "Now that both of you are awake, we can go on with the show. Ben! Start it up!"

Though Louis and Juno can't see it, the eagle-vulture hybrid turns on the camera and sets it up for another live stream. "We're live!"

Philip grins at the camera. "Hello, viewers. This is Dancer W, AKA Philip. Welcome to another live stream. I am sorry to say this will be my final video. Luckily, I've made sure this is going to be a special sendoff. First, I have abandoned my now pointless disguise, which I forgot to mention during the last live stream. Second, I have two very special guests. Here are my very own parents!"

Ben steps out in front of the stag and the she wolf. He points the camera right at them.

"Ex Beastar, Juno, and former CEO of Horns Conglomerate, Louis."

Ben goes back behind the two tied up animals and points the camera back at Philip up on the stage.

"This is the first time they'll see me perform in the same room as them. Oh, Mother?"

The bound and gagged Juno just stares at her son.

"I heard you were quite the dancer back in your Cherryton days. Let's see how I compare to you. Ready, Casey?!"

The cheetah-chimpanzee hybrid can be seen sitting down at a piano. "Born ready."

Philip looks back at the camera. "Viewers, today's fitting theme is…victory. Andy!"

The alligator-rhino hybrid goes over to the front of the stage and takes the mic stand from Philip.

As Philip gets into a ready stance, Louis can't help but anticipate the performance despite the situation. 'A new dance. Even now, I can't help looking forward to it.'

Juno blinks at her son. 'After the broadcast, I watched each one of your videos. I adored all of them, Philip.'

When the music starts, Philip gives a smirk as he begins to dance. Once again, he is able to captivate his audience with his movements.

Juno feels herself shaking. 'Our son is a natural. So much better than I ever was.'

Louis feels an ache in his heart. 'This brings to mind an auditorium, where kids perform for a crowd, their parents watching as part of said crowd. Philip should've had that. We should have given him that.'

Philip spins, twirls, and leaps with a smirk set into his face. As the music builds up to its finale, the deer-wolf hybrid goes into a long spin with a leg lifted. At the end of the dance, Philip stomps his foot down and raises his arms in a V for victory.

The other two hybrids clap for Casey and especially for Philip.

Juno and Louis both know they'd be clapping too if their arms weren't restrained.

"Thank you," Philip says with a quick bow. "Now, with that over and done with, time to bring my mother and father onstage."

Juno gets picked up by Andy, while Louis gets picked up by Casey. They're carried onto the stage and turned so that they're facing the camera. This is when they notice they're inside of an abandoned warehouse.

"What's the plan, Philip?" asks Andy.

"Are we going to shave them bald?" Casey asks with a chuckle.

"That would be fittingly humiliating!" Ben shouts from behind the camera.

Philip is glaring at his parents. "No, I have much a better idea." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out…a gun. "I'm going to kill them."

Louis and Juno feel their stomachs lurch. 'He hates us that much?!'

"WHAT?!" shout the other three hybrids.

"You can't be serious!" Andy shouts while shaking his head.

Philip gives a wicked grin. "I'm very serious."

Ben walks over without the camera until he's in front of the stage. "This is way too far!"

"No it's not! This is a fitting end for pieces of shit like them!"

Casey takes a few steps back while waving his hands out in front of him. "We didn't sign up for this!"

"Are you kidding?! You had your thumb on that detonator! If you'd pressed it, everyone in that control room would've been dead!" Philip points a finger at Andy. "And you! You were holding those guns, ready to shoot anyone who tried to make a move!"

Casey looks down at the floor. "We just had those so we could be heard."

Andy crosses his arms and looks away. "We didn't think we'd actually use them."

"I guess that's what makes us different," says Philip. "I plan to put bullets right between the eyes of Mommy and Daddy."

"No!" shouts Ben. "You do that, you'll be a fugitive with tons of animals after you!"

Philip fondles the gun in his hand. "That won't happen. Once my parents are gone, there won't be any more reason for me to keep living."

All the others in the room stare in horror at Philip.

Juno is shuddering. 'He's going to take his own life?!'

"You're still on this, Philip?" asks Andy.

"We thought we'd convinced you to forget those thoughts!" shouts Ben.

'It's why we've been helping you all these years!" shouts Casey.

Louis stares at Philip. 'You've been contemplating suicide for years?'

The deer-wolf hybrid chuckles. "The thoughts never left."

"Stop it, Philip," says Ben.

"We can't let you do this," says Andy.

"We'll stop you," says Casey.

Philip frowns. "I'll say this once. I've bested all of you in a fight and I have a gun. Any of you try to stop me, you'll end up dead."

The other three hybrids are deeply hurt by this statement from someone they considered a friend.

Juno stares at her son. 'He's consumed with vengeance.'

Louis is shaking. 'Philip's so obsessed with his goals, he's pushing away everybody who cares about him. He's just like me.'

"Can we leave?" asks Casey.

Philip points behind him with his thumb. "Exit's that way."

Slowly, Andy and Casey leave the stage and start heading for the door. They pause when they realize Ben isn't following them.

"Ben?" asks Andy.

"You coming?" asks Casey.

The eagle-vulture hybrid looks at those still on the stage, then at his two friends. "I'll be staying here with the camera."

The other two stare at their friend feeling surprised. Then, they nod.

"Okay," says Andy.

"We get it," says Casey.

The two walk to the door and close it behind them as they leave.

Ben takes his place behind the camera.

Philip turns back to his parents with a frown. "Do you know what it was like living with Xander and Delilah as parents? Even before discovering I was a hybrid, those two were cold and they hurt me. With the expectation that I would one day take over their company, I was given so many private tutors to educate me since all of my 'deformities' made me unfit for public schools. If I didn't achieve total perfection in even one assignment, they'd beat me mercilessly for all my mistakes."

Juno almost whines through the gag. 'I sent him into the hands of abusers.'

"I had to learn to strive for perfection quickly to avoid pain. The only reason Xander and Delilah encouraged my love for dance was because 'high class individuals are required to have at least one high class hobby'. Just because they saw my dancing as a simple hobby doesn't mean I was safe from getting punished if I made the slightest error though."

Louis's hatred for Xander and Delilah has grown exponentially. 'Those monsters! If they weren't already dead, I'd end them myself!'

"Then came the day my antlers were discovered by my doctor. What little bit of restraint Xander and Delilah had with me had disappeared. The tool they'd bought turned out to be faulty beyond repair. What else could they do but get rid of it? I escaped, heard tell of my 'death', then watched my own funeral. Knowing how Xander and Delilah's minds worked, I was able to read the subtle message they were sending me. 'We'll let you live out there on the streets. If you ever try to resurface, we'll end you in the most brutal way.' Considering my isolated life in a mansion involved little survival skill training, I struggled to get by. Combine that with the antlers steadily growing and making my status as a hybrid more obvious, life was really hard at that time. It was the first occasion that I seriously considered ending it all."

Louis and Juno shake their heads, trying to tell him suicide was not the answer.

"That's when I met up with Andy, Ben, and Casey. They took me in and they taught me how to get by. Even showed me how to defend myself in a fight. Once I began equating fighting with dancing, I became a complete terror able to defeat anyone I faced. I'd started thinking I was invincible and able to handle anything thrown at me." Philip steps forward, turns so that he faces the camera, then sits down on the floor between his parents. "One day, I happened to be walking by a park. There, I saw an inter couple with their hybrid son. I couldn't believe my own eyes. I had never known a hybrid to walk around in regular society without a disguise. And that couple was…seemingly so mismatched, but…it was clear to me the two of them were in love with each other and not afraid to hide it. It didn't matter that they were a wolf and a rabbit."

Juno's eyes widen. 'He saw Legoshi and Haru.'

Louis blinks. 'This means the hybrid Philip saw was Goshen.'

Philip brings his legs to his chest and wraps his arms around himself. "Wasn't until later that I found out who they all were." He lets out a little chuckle. "The way those two had looked at their son…they treasured him. He was the whole world to them." Philip starts crying. "They loved him with all their hearts. It's not fair! Why did he get that?! Why did I have to get hatred and pain?! Why couldn't I have love?!" He hides his face in his arms as he sobs.

Louis and Juno's hearts break. It's fully dawned on them what they've done. While they had thrown themselves into power plays and privilege, their son had been crying out for affection and love. He'd only known disappointment all his life. The she wolf and the stag cry with their son, desperately wishing they could run to him and hold him.

Eventually, Philip lifts his head up and looks at the gun that's still in his hand. "That was rock bottom for me. Aware of the love I was lacking, I was about ready to put a gun just like this one in my mouth and blow my brains out. That was when the others suggested I try and find my birth parents. 'Maybe they just couldn't afford to keep you.' 'They could love you.' 'Try it, you might find everything you ever wanted.'" The deer-wolf hybrid stands up. "I latched onto those words, desperate to believe they were true." He looks at Juno on his right. "It didn't take me too long to find out you were my mother. It also didn't take long to figure out why you gave me up. You even said it yourself. I would've held you back from becoming a Beastar. I was an obstacle and a hindrance that had to disappear from your life."

Juno feels like she's crumbling to pieces from those words.

Philip turns to Louis on his left. "It took some time to figure out that you were my father. Mother dated a lot of red deer stags early on. Which of them was my father? Then, I looked into Cherryton's Drama Club. Seeing your name listed as a member along with Mother, I looked you up. The moment I saw your face for the first time, I knew no one else could be my father. It was your eyes. I see those same exact eyes whenever I look at my own reflection. Then, I looked up your life." The deer-wolf hybrid is shaking with rage. "Walking arm in arm into all those social events with Azuki as the picture of proper, classy, and perfect. I was all too familiar with that. I spent my whole childhood seeing it through the TV feeds of those events. You two were Xander and Delilah as herbivores!"

Louis freezes at this accusation. 'Xander and Delilah?! Azuki, sure, but me?'

"Arranging that business marriage for your daughter, attempting to forbid her from seeing the 'socially unacceptable' boyfriend, letting Azuki get away with slapping her, it all sounds like it came right out of Xander and Delilah's playbook. Putting yourselves and public perception of you first! YOU'RE ALL CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH!"

Louis feels like he just got sucker punched in the gut. He slumps forward, dazed from all this.

Philip steps forward until he's right at the edge of the stage. "I just couldn't stand having both my adopted parents and my birth parents being that powerful while I was on the streets. So, I planned my revenge to topple all of you. Created the Dancer W persona, swiped the equipment to bring you all down, blackmailed Mara to get onto her show and reveal myself to the world, all of it to get to this point." He turns to face his parents. "Xander and Delilah dying right after that broadcast just made things easier for me. I only had to get the two of you here. I can finally take both of you out here and now. Put an end to my suffering." The deer-wolf hybrid raises his gun. "The only question left is which of you to kill first."

Juno stares at Philip. 'Our own son wants to kill us.'

Louis is breathing heavily through his nose. 'If we can't escape this, please take me first. If there's any mercy left in you, don't make me have to witness Juno's death.'

"Philip!" Ben suddenly shouts.

"WHAT?!" the deer-wolf hybrid screams at his cameraman. "Can't you see I'm finally going to complete my revenge?!"

"Don't you think we should let them have their final words before killing them off?"

Philip takes a few moments to think about it. Then, he smiles. "That's a great idea." He walks over to Juno. "It'd be poetic justice to hear them beg for their lives like the scum they are on the inside." Philip takes off the she wolf's gag. "Go ahead, Mother. Beg."

It's at this moment that Louis makes a discovery. 'The ropes binding my hands are loose. One of the others must've been careless with me. Philip never would've allowed that to happen. I need to get myself free without him noticing. Otherwise…he'll probably kill Juno once she gets done with whatever she says.'

The she wolf looks her son in the eyes. "My childhood was sheltered."

"Huh?" asks Philip. He wasn't expecting this.

"I was born and raised in an area where only carnivores lived. I had little exposure to any herbivores as a child. If I ever saw one, my parents would always tell me the same things. 'Stay away. Don't go near them.'"

Louis is so confused by these words, he pauses in his attempts to free his hands. 'That all makes it sound like herbivores are the dangerous ones. Most herbivores are weak.'

Philip just stares, also feeling confused.

Juno keeps going. "One day, I happened to be alone in a park. I saw some herbivore kids playing together. They looked like they were having so much fun and they seemed so friendly, I ignored my parents' warnings and went over to them. That's when things went really bad." The she wolf looks down at the floor. "'Look out.' 'It's a carnivore.' 'She's coming to eat us.' I was so blindsided by what they had said, I didn't see what they were doing until it was too late. They all picked up sticks and rocks…and threw them at me."

Louis is seething with rage. 'How dare those little shits hurt Juno?!'

"I ran all the way home. My parents got the story from me, which is when they finally let me know why they'd always warned me about going near herbivores. All their lives, my parents had been put down and belittled by herbivores in positions of power."

'Herbivores who lord their supposed moral superiority over carnivores just because they have the capability to eat us. In reality, their fear just made them lash out. I've been around that type all my life.'

"Mom and Dad moved to an all carnivore area before I was born in an attempt to keep me from that treatment." Juno looks back up at Philip. "Instead of convincing me to stay away from herbivores, it convinced me to prove I was better than that. I set out to show all of the herbivores that carnivores could be wonderful creatures. I strove to be a Beastar because it'd prove my own worth as well as give me a position to help other carnivores put down by scared herbivores. That is why I convinced my parents to send me to the prestigious Cherryton Academy. Of course, my arrival there gave me a crash course on how bad things between carnivores and herbivores could really get. I was lucky to have been helped out by friends like Legoshi." Juno laughs. "To think I used to have a crush on him."

'Did you have to mention that?' Louis gets back to freeing his hands.

"The truth was that my feelings weren't love. Biology makes it where many animals feel comfortable and at ease around their own species. Legoshi also represented everything I wanted to accomplish. He was a carnivore who was kind and helpful despite looking rather intimidating. It irked me when I discovered he liked Haru. Sure, I was jealous. However, I had a much bigger reason to dislike the relationship at that time. In my immature mind, Legoshi was giving himself to…the enemy."

No one in the room or the viewers watching can believe Juno just said that.

Ben is a little bit disgusted.

Louis is so stunned, he doesn't even notice the ropes binding his hands are starting to get a bit looser.

Philip doesn't really know what to think.

Juno sighs. "Deep down, I had believed all herbivores were like those kids who attacked me in the park. Any friendliness on their part, I assumed it was because I came off as a carnivore they could…control." The she wolf shakes her head. "Didn't take long for me to figure out that was stupid."

Louis's mind has gone into overdrive. 'Control? Is that it? My friendship with Legoshi, having the lions from the Shishigumi as my bodyguards, sleeping with those submissive carnivore women? Was it all a desire for control over carnivores? Is that really why I left Juno? Because I knew she was too spirited to be controlled? Am I that despicable?'

"I got to know Haru on a personal level. She was so friendly to me despite how I'd been antagonizing her before. Of course, one of the biggest reasons my stance on herbivores changed, Philip, was because of your father."

Louis looks over at Juno, not expecting that statement.

"I'd certainly heard about him before, the shining star of Cherryton expected to be named the next Beastar. In my eyes, he seemed to be a prime example of the herbivore that I didn't like. Already in a position of power and having what I thought to be a hatred of all carnivores. So, in a moment alone, I told him that I was declaring war on him for the title of Beastar. This included me restraining him with my strength." The she wolf laughs again. "Do you know what the crazy deer said while he was trapped under me? He said he'd be okay with me eating him compared to Legoshi or any other carnivore he knew."

Ben almost gasps from this freaky statement. 'Seriously? Louis has issues. Maybe that's where Philip gets it from.'

Philip is looking between his parents, unable to fully believe he just heard what he did.

"That stuck in my mind even while I was still pursuing Legoshi. In time, I realized there was nothing there with Legoshi. When Louis graduated Cherryton after he lost his leg during the Riz incident, I impulsively gave him my first kiss. This led to me slowly falling for the stag with each successive meeting until he broke things off to marry Azuki. Knowing I couldn't be with a carnivore and feel satisfied, I continued to date herbivores. Most were red deer stags since I was not over Louis. To be honest, even when I was angry at him, I still wanted Louis. No other was able to hold a candle to him in his prime." Juno smiles sadly. "Even after all these years, I never stopped loving him."

Louis stares longingly at the she wolf. 'I was so stupid. I should've left Azuki years ago. Should've taken Marie with me. We could've rescued Philip from Xander and Delilah. The four of us could've been a happy family.'

"And that's my story. I only have one thing left to say, Philip. Please…don't throw your life away."

"My life?" asks the deer-wolf hybrid. "You really should be worrying about your own."

Only now does Louis remember to get back to freeing his hands.

"I am, but I also don't want you to commit suicide."

"Not your call to make."

"Maybe, but I still care. I am your mother."

"FUCK YOU!" Philip is shaking with rage. "You don't get to say that shit to me! You abandoned me! You let me fall into Xander and Delilah's hands! I went through hell because of you!" He smiles in an unsettling way. "Time to pay the price."

Louis panics as Philip raises the gun to point at Juno. 'NO!'

"WAIT!" shouts Ben.

"NOW WHAT?!" Philip screams at the other hybrid.

"Uh…what about Louis?"

As the stag's hands get free, he realizes what's going on now. 'Ben's trying to stall. Andy and Casey have gone to find someone to stop this.'

"What about him?!" Philip shouts as he walks to the edge of the stage.

'Perfect.' Louis gets to work on his feet.

Ben is clearly struggling to come up with something to say to Philip. "Well…he still has his last words to say."

Philip scoffs. "He can say them after I get rid of Mother."

"But—"

"Shut up! You thought me hearing them out would convince me to spare them! All it did was piss me off more! I've heard Mother out and now it's over! I'm done with her! She can get a bullet in her brain!"

"But I'd like her to hear what I have to say," Louis says to his son.

Philip turns and gasps.

Louis is standing right in front of Juno with his gag in his hand. He tilts his hand and lets the item fall to the floor. "If you're wondering how I got free, whoever tied me up didn't do that good of a job." He looks back at Juno. "I'm sorry I didn't untie you. Didn't think I would have enough time."

"It's okay," says the she wolf.

Louis turns back to Philip. "If you don't mind, I'd like to say my piece now."

The deer-wolf hybrid crosses his arms. "Fine. Talk."

'I don't know how long it'll take those other two to get help. The best bet for success…is for me to reveal everything.' "Buckle up. We're all in for a ride."

AN: So Philip wants to kill off Louis and Juno...his own parents. He wants to do it in front of an entire viewing audience. Insane much? We've also discovered that his crew have decided to take action to stop him by having Andy and Casey go get help while Ben tries to stall. Who would these helpers be? Louis will also reveal his own backstory to Philip as well as the viewers. All of this to come on Wednesday. See you then!