Hey!

I will try to upload weekly, but this time you on FFN got it early, since I was already about done with Chapter 2 by the time I posted it here.

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Onwards!

Chapter 2: A Slightly Off-Pitch Tune

Wrath.

The burning, seething notion that blossomed in the pit of his stomach, profusely bleeding like an old wound that had been reopened deeper than the scar. The bitter and thorny rise of it, choking and slicing his throat. The hellfire that singed his consciousness, numbed his mind to anything else besides it. The self-destructive, silent executioner of the soul that wreaks more havoc to the victim it seeded itself in more than the target of wrath, when left untamed.

Its work had manifested itself in Legosi when he ripped his mask off.

"It's been... six years, Gloomy, " Legosi growled lowly, clenching the fist which had shattered his glass, feeling the razored edges cut into his flesh.

The older wolf blinked, eyes widening marginally. "You need to leave," he growled, balling his own fists. "I thought you didn't drink; you're obviously drunk-"

"2012," Legosi interrupted, spreading his feet shoulder-width apart. "February 16th. The day of the funeral, and the day after you ran away."

Gloomy's eyes widened more, baring his fangs as his ears flattened against his skull. "Who are you?" he snarled, leaning over and slamming his hands on the counter. "Stop playing games with me and-"

"Are you sure you're not drunk?" Legosi spat back, slamming his own hands on the counter and leaning close to Gloomy's face. "Look at me. Tell me who I am."

By now, most of the animals had forgotten their drinks and partners and were all eavesdropping on the commotion at the bar, ears pricked and tilted toward Legosi and Gloomy as concerned whispers filled the empty space. The bartender, eyes widened incredulously, scrutinized the other wolf's face, eyes darting across his face until he looked Legosi in the eye. Recognition and horror slowly spread across his face, mouth slowly gaping open and ears perking erectly.

"...Legosi?"

The younger wolf blinked, and suddenly Gloomy had staggered back, Legosi's hand hanging in the air. He drew his hand back, shaking it slightly from the impact on his father's face.

The bartender quickly shook himself out of his daze and retaliated, sending his fist at lightning speed to Legosi, who was unable to react in time before he was sent swaying back.

"Leave. Now." Gloomy barked, drawing his hand back to wipe the blood streaming from his nose. "Do not come back. That was a warning. I will force you out myself if you do not leave now."

"What's the matter, Miyagi? " Legosi retorted, dragging himself off the floor, eye throbbing. He tiled up his chin, looking down at him with his irritated eye. "You think you can take me on? You couldn't handle me when I was twelve - what makes you think you can now?"

With a roar, Miyagi leaped onto the counter and sprung off of it toward Legosi. He was ready this time, catching him by the arm and throwing him over his shoulder and slamming him by the head into the tile with his other hand, spiderweb cracks appearing on the flooring.

The spectators of the scene backed away in shock, some staring wide-eyed at the situation, some taking their partners by the hands and leading them out of the party, others whipping out their phones and recording the fight, pointing ecstatically.

Miyagi threw a kick into Legosi's gut, making him let go as he was sent backwards. Hand-springing to his feet, he rushed Legosi, slamming his fist in the same spot, making Legosi retch and fall to his knees while clutching his stomach. Showing no mercy, the older wolf put his knee to Legosi's teeth, sending him down on his back as his dentures flew out of his mouth.

Miyagi paused in his shock, freezing in his stance and staring at the fake teeth in disbelief. Legosi took the opportunity and pushed his body back up with a growl, slamming into Miyagi with his full force, sending the unprepared wolf back on flat his own back.

Legosi was briefly reminded of the second day of the Adler drama, about a year ago at Cherryton Academy. Legosi had been in this situation before, on top of Bill because of the rabbit blood he'd doped himself on. Here he was again, on top of his father for what he'd done to him and Gosha.

"You took eweyting wome me when oo wef!" Legosi shouted in his face, forgetting about the onlookers as he drooled from the lack of dentures. "You wef me woh dead , not ewen caweing about your child who admired you tho much!" Legosi paused, slurping up his spit sloppily and gasping for air. "I di-id ewen hawwa pwathe thoo cry , you bad-ter." He reeled his hand back, squeezing his eyes shut as he let his hand loose, losing his sense of restraint as he followed the attack up.

Losing himself as his fists pounded on Miyagi's face, he felt separated from his body, as if he were several feet away and standing like the onlookers, who were either shocked and silent or excited and cheering.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

The only thing he felt at that moment was the contact he made with Miyagi. Not the physical pain that he should be feeling on his hands. Contact.

"I wanted it to stay that way," Legosi mumbled through the egg sandwich in his mouth, setting his foot on the stair his other one was propped on.

Jack turned his head, peeking his ears. "Huh?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Always getting down and getting back up on my own… living without anyone knowing how I feel." Legosi swallowed his bite and looked down at the sandwich, feeling his hunger ebb away. "But yesterday was different. For the first time in my life, I felt that I just couldn't let it go. I wanted to vent my anger, even if that meant throwing the stage into chaos." He stood up, pacing a step or two from the stairs. "I didn't want to control myself…"

Jack had encouraged him that day after his violent change on stage, saying Legosi had been the most alive he'd seen him.

Now, as he looked at himself from the several feet away he found himself now, dread and disgust spread across his chest, wrapping itself around his rib cage. I want to control myself. I don't want to throw this stage into chaos. This isn't Bill at the school. This makes no sense, and animals are watching…

Legosi felt different thud, and he noticed this time he didn't follow up. That realization snapped him back to reality, seeing through his own eyes again when he opened them.

"I don't know why you're here," Miyagi grunted, Legosi's fist in his right hand. "Or how you found me." He gasped for air, pushing Legosi's hand back some more as his eyes narrowed. "But…" he sighed, leaning his head back. "You need to go." His blackened eyes rounded some, his facial features softening some.

Legosi let out a breath, eyes widening and heart clenching in his chest, suddenly feeling the violent strength draining out of his system. Staring at the wolf who had traumatized him, the wolf who was the base of much of his insecurities because of his sudden departure from his life; hearing him say those words made Legosi want to obey. He trembled from rage, yet those simple words spoken so calmly had pierced through that. And before he knew it-

Legosi perked his ears, a flash in the corner of his eye catching his attention. Legosi felt a sharp thud, and flew through the air, landing on his side and clutching his ribs where he'd been shot. He felt fire pulse through the spot again, and another round of adrenaline began to kick in - that son of a-

A tall male in a red-velvet suit stood before him, the double-barrel of his gun even closer to his face. Legosi looked up slowly, sitting up and beginning to raise his hands until he caught eye of the tiger mask the animal donned.

"Y-yaf-"

Crack!

Legosi crippled to the floor, the ground rushing to meet his head when the horse struck him with the gun. Everything spun for a moment, until he made out the figure of Yafya pointing his gun at Miyagi.

"No!"

Yafya turned to Legosi, who attempted to pull himself up unsuccessfully. "...wait…"

Yafya turned back to the other wolf, offering his hand. Miyagi accepted it, bringing himself back up to his feet.

Miyagi must have said something that put the crowd at ease, because everyone seemed to disperse and go back to their normal habits of the night. Legosi couldn't see, however, and his ears were ringing from the gun.

The only thing he could make out clearly was Yafya's form getting larger as he approached him, and the clear words he spoke.

"Get up."

"What happened with you?"

The black-leather couch, which was more uncomfortable than it looked, was immaculately clean and well placed in Yafya's top-floor office, where Yafya had made him beg for his life and where Legosi had pulled his teeth out. He noticed now that it doubled as his bedroom, an elegant, purpled draped horse sized bed against the wall.

Yafya had teared his mask off and threw it on the floor, along with his designer jacket. "How did you manage to pick a fight with the bartender?" His angrily narrowed eyes shone with contempt, nostrils flaring with each breath. "You jeopardized the mission by doing that. I thought you wanted your criminal record erased. You aren't going to go a lot of places with a predation charge on your file."

Legosi decided to not make eye contact yet, his head hung low and his left shoulder slouched. His right hand covered his black eye with an ice pack Yafya had thrown at him. "I'm sorry I sabotaged the mission," he spoke carefully. "I didn't mean to… but something in me lost control at the bartender." He thought back to that moment in time - what had made Legosi lash out so extremely? Was it pent up emotion? No, he felt it still, like at Cherryton; it wasn't released. Anger at Miyagi? While this seemed the most obvious answer, something within him told him that wasn't quite the answer, either - all the sleepless nights following Leano's death were only filled with confusion and melancholia. Whenever he thought of his father in the school dorms at night, he only felt a sense of hollowness, as if he was subconsciously blocking himself from thinking about it. Jack had caught him like that, once.

Perhaps he never gave himself the opportunity to be angry until then? Had his wrath faded from his consciousness, not his heart, and revived itself with a fervor?

" Why in the name of Rex did you decide to direct all the attention towards you because of something happening between you and a bartender?" Yafya shouted, arms sharply gesturing his lividness. "What could a bartender have said to piss you off? Even when I was about to shoot you last time we were here, your temperament hardly changed! " He began pacing the floor. "Anyways, I didn't see him before or after the party, so he may have not been there in the first place, or he may have left when you went off your rocker…" He stopped at the large window overlooking the city, putting his hand to his chin ponderously.

"You may leave."

Legosi perked his ears, head shooting up as his eyes widened. "H-huh?" he asked dumbly, eye throbbing in protest from his sudden movement.

"Leave. I have no need for you now." Yafya turned his head, eyeballing Legosi threateningly. "Don't bother coming back."

"What?" Legosi bolted up, tail standing stiff as both his arms stiffened. "B-but what about my record-"

"Your record will remain as is," Yafya cut him off, turning from his spot and pacing slowly towards Legosi. "We have not caught Melon, yet, and you have put yourself at risk and ruined the entire mission twice. As Beastar, I cannot afford to make that mistake again." Standing a pace or two in front of Legosi, his eyes narrowed as his hand moved to the firearm at his hip. "I thought Gosha taught you better."

Legosi physically recoiled at the personal remark, taking a step back. Quickly recovering, he offered a stiff bow. "Excuse my immaturity and irrationality. I hope you put Melon to justice," he added meekly, swiftly turning on his heel and marching out the door.

As soon as he shut the door, he let out a breath, exhaustion coating his muscles and energy leaking from his system all at once. A million thoughts raced through his mind as he walked down the long corridor towards the elevator. He chose to ignore the stares he got from other animals.

What time is it?

He pulled out the cellphone in his pocket, which was miraculously unharmed, and clicked the button on the side. He was greeted with a cheerful picture of everyone from Room 701, the numbers 2:18 reading at the top.

He clicked his phone off, staring at the reflection disdainfully. Work was going to be a pain in the tail tomorrow, he knew. He might be sent home or confined to janitorial work from his black eye.

Black eye.

The ice pack!

He started at his hand through his screen, anxiety seizing his chest. He whipped himself around 180 degrees and speed-walked back to Yafya's office. Not bothering to knock, he opened the door and placed it on the nearest table.

"Here's your ice pack back!" he said shakily. "A-and… I'll wash my blood off this suit and give it back to you, too." He quickly saw himself out once more, leaving a wide-eyed, shocked, and almost fully undressed Yafya.

He woke to the sound of his alarm crooning its usual monotonous tune. Groaning, he reached up and swatted at the snooze button until he hit it. He attempted to pull himself out of his bed, groaning in pain when aches wracked his body, causing him to plop back on his bed.

I never knew you used your stomach muscles to get out of bed…

He took another more ginger approach to getting up, this time successful, finding himself in the mirror he'd set up by his bed. He flinched at his beaten-up appearance - along with the black eye, which had worsened in its purpleness overnight, he was heavily bruised on his arms and stomach, and his old bullet wound that Yafya kicked was especially red and tender; his knees were slightly damaged, and his head where Miyagi had kicked his dentures out was swollen. Yafya's gun had also left a nasty goosebump.

I can't go to work like this.

He picked up his phone out of the jacket he'd messily dropped from his exhaustion the night before, taking the time to hang up the rest of the white suit, and dialed his boss. It rang several times before he realized he hadn't put on his dentures - so he slipped them on as soon as the owl answered, letting him know he was calling in sick.

"And… I think I need to use the week of my paid leave."

"Why?" the owl asked, his surprise evident in his sudden high pitch. "You've never missed a shift before. You won't get to use that for the rest of the year, you know."

"I-I know," Legosi sighed, bringing his free hand to his head and rubbing it. "A family emergency came up in the middle of the night, and I need to be there for them."

"O-oh!" the owl laughed awkwardly. "Okay. Right, that's okay… I'll let everyone know, then. I hope everything turns out okay." Legosi thanked the small bird and hung up after exchanging farewells, closing his eyes.

Only one thought entered his mind after a moment: he needed sleep. Turning to his bed, went there and set his alarm, which read 5:25 AM in its vivid green blocky font, to 10:00 AM - that seemed like a reasonable time to get up for the day after last night's excursion. He plopped belly-first on his bed, forgetting about his wounds, and grunted, rolling over on his left side as he squeezed his eyes shut, which only made his eye throb worse.

After the pain subsided, he found sleep more easily than when he first arrived, at 3:00 AM.

On the third night of his time off, most of his wounds had paled significantly. His bruises were far less prominent, and his stomach didn't feel as painful - he could get out of bed without collapsing and needing to catch his breath anymore; his goose bump had gone down, though it was still sensitive to the touch. His eye was the only thing besides his old bullet wound that still stung. The color of his eyes had adopted a more reddish color, and it had swollen a lot more since he called in. His bullet wound, while not opened like it had been when he got shot, was still sore - horses kicked hard, and since Yafya was Beastar and decided to kick where he'd been shot, the wound sometimes would remind Legosi of that fact at random intervals of the day.

He didn't leave his little apartment since the incident at the mask party - he thought there was no need to. Plus, walking around with his eye was bound to attract attention he was sure he didn't want, and animals who went to the party that pretended they had normal lives might recognize him. He wasn't sure if the police got involved, either. Fortunately, his refrigerator was packed from his last paycheck, so he had enough to eat and drink.

The only animal that he'd let in was Zanguan, the spotted seal who's teaching on Seaspeak had saved his life (there was no way he could ever tell that semi-aquatic animal "no," in the first place). He had to quickly make up a story that he got in a fight with a local thug, which he felt bad for, but something told Legosi that Zanguan knew it was a lie, which only made him feel worse when he didn't press it and when he left. He wasn't sure he could tolerate Sebun's presence, as nice as she'd been to him and as much as they were friends - that dwarf rabbit girl at the party rubbed Legosi the wrong way, so he wasn't sure he could handle herbivores at the moment, especially females. He wasn't close enough to his other Hidden Condo neighbors for them to bother to check on him, which he didn't mind.

After being with himself for the larger portion of three days, a small list of things had become apparent to him. He knew he couldn't hide this incident from everybody - he'd already texted Jack about it, though not in too much detail:

Jack.

Oh, hey Legosi! What's up?

I'm going to my grandpa's for the week.

Something came up

What? Are you okay?

Yeah now

What happened

I'll tell you the details when I come back,

I just needed to let you know I'm okay and

leaving

Oh, and I'm not in the hospital this time,

so

You were in the hospital?

Oh

Um

Yeah I forgot to tell you huh, I got shot

WHTA?

It's

A long story I'll tell you that too

Legosi I swear to Rex

I'm sorry I really forgot to tell you

You forgot to tell your best friend know you were in the

hospital.

After calming Jack down, reassuring he was okay, and many apologies, he promised to meet with him after his first day back at work. They also worked out a time that the whole group could meet Legosi.

The second thing he figured was that Gosha, by all rights, should be the first one to know about this. He'd already let Gosha know he wanted to come, and of course he was okay with it without hesitation.

His alarm rang at him at 5:00 PM - time to head out to the train station for his 5:30 departure time. After making sure everything was packed and giving his key to Zanguan, who promised to check in his room to make sure no one stole from him, he opened the door and stepped out.

The train ride was an uneventful hour and thirty minutes, mostly spent by Legosi staring out the window and watching the canvas that was the sky change from a murky yellow to a bright pink, the wispy clouds reflecting the time of day as it changed. There was a New Zealand rabbit family across from him (who were all taller and skinnier than Jack, he noticed), but they didn't try to talk to him - which was good. He especially didn't want to talk to a white rabbit.

What would he say to Gosha?

Before he was ready, the train let him know how much time he didn't have to prepare anything of substance by stopping.

"We have arrived at your destination," the engineer boomed over the intercom. "Please take all of your belongings, go out in a sophisticated manner, and have a good day."

After being practically carried by a crowd of smaller animals that were headed out of the train with him, Legosi pulled out his phone and opened his GPS for the hundredth time, checking again that Gosha's house was only a five minute walk from the train system. He had an irrational fear of knocking on the wrong door, and often had anxiety thinking about it.

When he finally reached the house he'd lived in for the years after Leano's death, he paused at the door, studying the flaked red paint on the wooden door of the granite-walled house. Should he knock? Should he let Gosha know he was there first?

The door suddenly opened, revealing a green and scaly face and white teeth.

"Legosi!" cried Gosha, wrapping his arms around his grandson for a moment before backing out of it. "Your face!" he gasped, grabbing Legosi by the head as his face distorted from its initial happiness to terror. He traced his thumb along the edge of his black eye. "What happened to you?"

Cool, hard, and sturdy. Legosi's grandfather had always felt like that. Whenever Gosha had comforted him in the past, it was always in this position - his hands cradled softly around Legosi's face, his thumb smoothly outlining his eye or eyebrow. Words of comfort usually were then followed by a great "dragon-hug," as they used to call it.

Now, in this sacred grandfather-to-grandson interaction, something broke up inside of Legosi, dissolving and sifting inside of his chest and welling at his throat. Hot liquid came from the back of his eyes and began to come forward.

No, don't do it, don't do it- he reprimanded himself, clenching his fist and remembering all the times he'd been told to grow up, to mature, to be strong, Haru, Louis, Gouhin, Riz, Pina's words-

A strangled sob escaped Legosi, causing the entire dam to crack and begin to fall apart. He sobbed again, the ugly, distorted noise coming from his chest.

You're weak, you're weak, you're so weak, you lied to Haru and to Louis about getting stronger, you weak liar-

He wrapped his arms around Gosha again, burying his face in the reptile's broad shoulder and letting his reservoir of tears flow, feeling his walls of strength and secrecy fall at the foot of the doorstep.

It was almost as if he was a cub, again, weeping in the mighty arms of Gosha, who would take all his fear and pain away in a slightly off-pitch tune.