The deep claw marks in the soil. The terrified squealing of Feli. The pinprick tears threatening to fall from Lovi's eyes. It was all too much. Your knees started to wobble under you, but you would not fall. You were too mighty for that.
Stop, breathe, think, you thought to yourself repeatedly, repeating the mantra under your breath in an effort to calm yourself down. Lovi was still panicking, pacing up and down like he has lost his mind, howling desperately for Feli, to see could he reply and tell them he was ok. No such sounds of comfort were received.
"Lovi! Get your head together! We can't find Feli by pacing around and panicking. Go search the immediate area, see can you find any clues. Paw-prints, smells, even" you shuddered before continuing, the thought making you feel ten times worse "human evidence." You couldn't rule anything out.
Lovi looked at you, the loyalty and brotherly bond obvious in his eyes. He felt like his life had been torn to pieces. He needed Feli, he was the one who was supposed to stop this sort of thing happening to him! He had failed him as a friend, and as a brother. He needed to make up for it. So, without even a noise of acknowledgement, he put his nose to the ground and started sniffing for clues.
At first, it was fruitless. You could only smell Feli's scent, and it was really frustrating. Sniffing around in the bushes, following the track of claw marks in the ground to where they disturbingly just ended, you found a strange item. It was long and sinewy, wrapped around itself again and again for strength. You sniffed it quickly. Rope?
You bit the rope softly between your sharp teeth, it smelled unmistakably wooden and stringy, but it also smelt of Feli. There was a small dotting of blood on it, and the blood was his too, to your horror, and the sight of it sent you into a panic. Obviously there was a struggle, and a fight here, but humans had captured your Feliciano!
Humans were the only ones who could wield weapons in their strange long limbs, there was no one else who could have done this! He was such a timid, quiet wolf, you hated to imagine him with humans, scared brown eyes looking up into their cold, dead eyes. You hoped he was still alive, but honestly, you were beginning to doubt it, and that terrified you.
A whine from behind you snapped you out of the nightmare you were having, and you saw Romano lying on the ground, the strands of chewed and broken rope between his paws. Tears were threatening to fall down his dark brown fur, and he looked terrified. You didn't need to tell him anything, he had already worked it out for himself. Lying down next to him, you curled your (h/c) tail around his smaller body, hugging him with it. You were just trying to comfort him, but Lovi didn't like it, pushing away from you angrily with a few swear words uttered. He moved a few paces away from you, and lay down with his head between his paws, refusing to even look at you. There's the stubborn Lovi that I know, you thought.
Turning away from him, you didn't let him see the tears spilling down your face, from the loss of someone who was like a brother to you. You had to retrieve his body, at least. It was the minimum you could, and should, do.
A/N: I am *so* glad I went back over this, the original wasn't even 300 words! I've more than doubled it now, to try and slow down the story a tad. And so the plot thickens! Will reader-chan and Lovi get Feli back? Is Feli even still alive?! Read on to find out!
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