"C'mon what's a minute or two outside?" Rick whined. "You really gonna make us stay in here like a bunch of no good, grounded pups?"

"The Major said we should keep a low profile," Peg answered quietly from her spot beside the couch, "so that's what we're doing. Keeping a low profile,"

Seeing her despondent and drawn back state, Rick made no further attempts to pester her and instead pattered off to the kitchen where he was sure there would be more lively company. He most certainly did not find it in his brother who seemed to be just as lacking in energy as anyone else. So much so that he almost found himself asking Cliff if he was alright. Almost.

"You look like a real sad sack of bones, you know that?"

"Flark off."

"Oh trust me I would, but Peg's still all sad and not in the mood to go anywhere or do anything, Randall is...well, he's Randall and I'm bored. Which means that you're the only one I have to talk to right now. So c'mon, let's go."

"Go? Go where?"

Rick rolled his eyes impatiently, "Somewhere that isn't here. I already told you, I'm just about ready to drop dead from boredom."

"Look as much as I tend to disagree with whatever The Major says, you gotta understand that we almost got killed four days ago. I am not getting my throat ripped out just because you're bored."

"Nothing's gonna happen you big scaredy cat. Now make up your mind already, are you coming or not?"

Cliff huffed and it took several moments, but he was soon enough standing and following his brother over the low picket fence. He kept his eyes peeled, wary of any dog that passed them by, wary of both attackers and spies.

"You think Peg's gonna cheer up sometime soon?" Rick asked leading them in a senseless circle.

"I wouldn't blame her if she never did. Her daddy did just die."

"Poor guy. The two of us never really spoke much, but he seemed pretty nice behind closed doors."

"You say that about everyone."

"Yeah, but this time I really mean it, I mean we haven't had a set up like this since I can't even remember how long ago. As much as I can't stand Randall and as creepy as The Major is, this place is like a real family. Gosh Cliff I'm getting sentimental. Can you imagine? Me getting sentimental."

Cliff finally found a reason to smile, "Well don't go crying too hard now."

"I get the feeling that this is what Mama always wanted for us. The food, the shelter, it's what she always wanted...even though she did her best for us."

He nodded in agreement, "That she did."

"It's just a shame that she can't be here with us after..." Rick trailed off, unsure of how to voice his sorrows.

"Hey, what's happened has happened. It's long past us."

He said nothing and kept walking, holding the silence with a distant look, "Y'know," Rick began, peeling his eyes from the road ahead. "I was thinking that once we get a hold of wherever it is that Otto hides out, we should head right up there and send him to meet his maker."

Surprised, but not enough to stop in his tracks, Cliff turned to his brother, "That's real rash decision making. Especially coming from you."

"I know."

There was silence for a beat and then he said more: "How often do you think about it? The first time we did it?"

"As often as it comes to mind."

Rick nodded and then seemingly still unsatisfied, asked, "In detail? Or sort of just in little bits here and there?"

He looked down and then up again, a serious expression covering what was once concern, "How often do you think about it?"

"Honestly," Rick answered quickly, "Every time someone messes with us or tries to piss us off, I think about what we did that day and I think about what we could do to whoever it is that messes with us. Or anyone that we have a little ohana with."

"Sure, sure...what's that word you used just now?"

"Ohana. It means family. Means that nobody gets left behind."

At Cliff's inquisitive look, he ducked sheepishly, "One of my floozes couldn't shut up about it."

"Oh brother..."

"You gotta admit that it has a nice ring to it. And it is probably the most profound thing anyone of those good for nothing, disposable ho...speaking of which."

Cliff looked ahead at what Rick had turned his attention to, "Oh brother..." he repeated, a thick groan lacing his voice.

"Well aren't you just a handsome dog, you" the retriever spoke sweetly once they had gotten close enough.

"Hey baby, are you a beaver? Cause damn!"

She giggled shyly and sidled up to him, "Why don't we find someplace a little more...private. There's a lot I'd like to show you and I'm sure that there's a lot you'd like to show me as well."

"Honey, there is a lot that I would love-"

"I'm sorry but he's taken," Cliff quickly intercepted before it could go any further.

"That's a shame," she said in between chewing her lip sensually. "I wonder what type of devil in disguise managed to snap you up quickly."

Rick opened his mouth to speak but was beaten to it by Cliff.

"Me. He's taken by me."

Embarrassed realisation flashed across her face, "Oh, oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize. I'll just be on my way now."

"No wait mam, I..." he trailed off once it became clear that she had gone. He turned to Cliff with an exasperated sigh, "That was the worst. You're the worst."

"Whatever you say you handsome dog you," Cliff responded with a wink and a chuckle.

"Let's head home already, I have the sudden urge to see what drinking bleach is like."

On the way back, Cliff thought of a lot. The raw memory of what had happened still as fresh as ever. It frustrated him to no end that he had never been able to filter these things from his brother in any sort of meaningful way. Mostly, he had only been privy to seeing the way that Rick reacted to such things and was then made to steer those reactions. Growing up, he'd naturally never felt much of a responsibility, but after a worthless fight that had almost killed him, Cliff himself had sworn to be more proactive, having mixed results to show for it so far.

"Cliff."

Rick spoke suddenly and unsurely, voice filled with far more concern than was normal.

"Yeah?"

"My mind may still be a little foggy and all so I'm not really even sure that I'm seeing straight, but tell me that don't look like some dog trying to sneak into the yard?"

Cliff looked ahead at where his brother's sight was focused and alarm bells immediately went off in his head.

"Looks like a spy," he affirmed, but then looked closer. "All by himself too. You know what we do with spies don't'cha Rick?"

Rick grinned a grin that only grew wider as they stalked closer.


"And now it is with both great pleasure and great excitement that I introduce to all of you tonight ladies and gentlemen, Sparky! Sparky the magical dog. Give him a round of applause everyone!"

Cheers went up among the large group of children stationed in front of the stage. And then, as if out of nowhere, a small, brown mutt sped out from behind the curtain and at the expense of his balance was barely able to stop himself from sliding off the stage.

The sight out of the dog laying almost flat on his muzzle encouraged more cheers and a hint of laughter.

"You alright there Sparky?" The ringmaster asked, feigning concern.

At the sound of his voice, Sparky quickly got to his feet and let out a bark of affirmation.

"Good," he turned back to their audience. "Now everyone I do believe that it's time for all of us to be formally acquainted. My name is Peter Trawick Bennet, you can call me Pete."

A handful of the gathered children sing-songed a 'hello Mr. Pete'.

"And this here," he pointed his staff at his dog, "this here is Sparky. More specifically Sparky Marky Domesticata Basta Frances Canis. But for simplicity sake feel free to just call him Sparky."

"Hello Sparky!"

Sparky's tail wagged at their greeting.

"Say there Sparky, how does a treat sound to you?"

The dog barked, feigning excitement, which only grew larger as his master presented a comically large bone from seemingly out of nowhere.

"Here you are boy!"

Sparky leapt up to catch the bone and predictably fell down just as fast, calcium firmly between his teeth, but also keeping him from moving by pinning him to the floor.

"Yup," The Ringmaster commented while looking between Sparky and the crowd. "Bones will do that to ya'."

The children laughed at Sparky's predicament and then watched in eager anticipation as the Ringmaster rolled up his sleeves.

"Here we go Sparky," he squatted down and took the bone in both hands. "One, two, three!" He groaned and pushed and pulled, but despite his best efforts, the bone refused to budge. "Ah well," he said, cracking his back into place, "I always said not to take your youth for granted."

Sparky whimpered.

"Don't you worry one bit boy, I'll just go off to fetch the merry strongmen and you'll be free in no time."

He jogged off the stage, leaving his audience to watch the still helpless Sparky wriggle and squirm around to the best of his ability.

*meow*

They all giggled when they heard the cat in the background. At the noise, Sparky began to shift around uncomfortably.

*mrowwww*

The rest of the routine included all the usual acts and tricks that the children in particular liked to see. Acts that involved messy cream pies, juggling a few balls and seeing how many of them Sparky could catch, a funny pair of glasses and and something to do with a unicycle that is far too complex to describe here.

By the end though, clapping had erupted from everyone watching and Sparky and the Ringmaster bowed gracefully, while the children bid them a farewell.

It was from somewhere else that they had no idea they were being watched, from somewhere beyond the lights and the antics where one dog sat silently, while his son cheered and laughed. The happiness on his the young dog's face being just enough to get the older dog to shift slightly into a smile.

"You enjoyed it?"

"Yes Papi!" he nodded, still watching even as the Ringmaster and Sparky began to take their leave.

"And would you like to see it again?"

"Really?" he asked with bright inquisitive eyes.

"Of course, you are an Otto after all. We get what we want when we want it."

"Oh...Papi?"

"Yes?"

"Do you ever have to hurt a dog? Like, make them feel pain when they don't do what you want them to do?"

Otto sighed before answering, "Yes, but not out of vile, evil hatred. I do it, or more likely, Roman does it out of necessity to keep the order."

"But won't that just make everyone afraid of you, I saw Roman take a dog into the backrooms and then I heard lots and lots of screaming and whining."

"What have I told you about eavesdropping on business that does not concern you!" he snapped.

Otto Junior sunk back, feeling the fear crawling across his back, "I-I'm sorry Papi. I couldn't s-sleep and then I saw...I'm sorry."

"Fear is a tool. It drives order and ends chaos, something that we strive to achieve."

"Do you think that one dog fears you?"

"Which one? There are many."

"The one with the bushy tail and the fur covering her eye."

"Oh, that one. Yes, yes, I'm sure somewhere in that heart of hers', she fears me."

"It's a shame that she can't perform anymore," then he stopped in his tracks and brightness that was before in his eyes, turning to fear. "Y-you didn't kill her, did you?"

"Kill her? No, but I might."

He laughed in that way that his son never understood, filled with joy that he rarely displayed anywhere else.

"Well i-it's just a shame that she can't perform anymore because she's well, funny."

"You find her funny?"

"Beautiful too Papi."

"Just as you find this...Sparky to be funny?"

"Yes, but she's funnier."

"Mhm."


Peg laid down with a huff once more, body no longer feeling satisfied by the light stretching that she put it through every few hours. She laid behind a couch, purposefully distancing herself from anything so much as a ray of sun, for fear of being judged and attacked. Judged and attacked by the outside world that was.

At first the idea of staying inside and doing essentially nothing but feeling a heavy burden on her shoulders had not sounded tempting at all, even when it came from the mouth of The Major. As the clock ticked by however, she had gradually started to accept that he was right. There was very little that she could do in her current predicament that could result in any sort of chaos. And so she had paced and when that had grown tiring, she had sat and now she simply laid down. Ignoring Randall and Cliff and Rick. Awaiting for even the slightest bit of news from The Major.

A sort of paranoia had certainly grown in her heart, but unless there was a disturbance off in the distance, or she shut her eyes for a little too long, it didn't tend to flare up too badly. Not the way it was flaring up now.

She'd heard it before taking care to see any of it. The sound of Cliff and Rick barking angrily while a yelp washed into the backdrop of the sudden action. Whose was who after a certain point, she couldn't tell. But she did feel sure that such a thing could be no coincidence. Whoever was out there was there for her and they had possibly had Cliff and Rick by the balls. It wasn't fair that she stay sheltered while they battled her storms for her, so she crept out slowly.

When she got to the kitchen, Peg thought that she might as well be ready to pass out in anticipation of whatever was awaiting her. Things had quieted down and two voices, easily recognizable to her ears, could easily be heard from outside. It was enough so that she had just the confidence needed to press her head against the flap in the kitchen door.

"...end of the road friend. Why don't you let us know who you're working for, why the answer to that is Mr. Otto and how many more of you are coming and we might just make what comes next quick and painless."

"Yeah, what he said."

Peg grew bolder still and stuck her head through the flap. On the other side she saw Cliff and Rick towering over a dog who shook and whimpered in uneven fear.

"I already told you two fella's that I ain't no spy!"

"Which is precisely what a spy would say."

Now that she had a closer look at him, his identity from several days before became apparent and she quickly stepped in to stop the interrogation.

"Rick give me a hand here, looks like this one isn't going to squeal so easily."

"Boys."

She saw that he was in the middle of gulping when she spoke.

"Oh Peg," Rick said as he casually approached her. "Good call earlier on staying inside and good thing you're here too. We just found this little piggy here wandering around where he shouldn't."

"Yeah," Cliff nodded, "all we need now are a couple of answers so if you wanna head inside for this next part feel free. But me and Rick ain't gonna stop you from watching if you really want."

Peg sighed, "Let him up boys."

"What?" they said in surprised unison.

"Let him up," she repeated and took a step forward to reiterate her command. "I...know him."

Cliff lifted his paws warily before turning to face her, "So this scruffy bag of bones wasn't lying? The two of you really are associated with each other?"

She bit her lip and looked between the three dogs before speaking, "Why don't you two give us a chance to talk, mhm?" At their lingering stares, she made sure to add: "Privately."

"If you're sure," Rick said at last and dragged a hesitant Cliff back into the house.

Peg watched after both of them and then turned back to...what was his name again?

"Sorry about that. Those two can sometimes be just a little too-"

"Oh thank goodness you were actually here!" he exclaimed suddenly. "And you remembered me too!" his tail wagged happily behind him.

"Yeah I guess. Should probably apologize for ditching you the way I did the other day, shouldn't I?"

"Eh," he shrugged both shoulders, "don't worry about it. You did just save my skin after all."

"Still, it wasn't right."

"Well...if you really wanna make it up to me, we could always hang out today instead."

"Right now?"

"If that's alright with you."

She shuffled her paws and then looked back to him, "Remember what you said about wanting to be apart of something bigger? Maybe, you could show me something bigger."

He appeared thoughtful for a moment before nodding, "Yeah...yeah I could do that."

"Alright then."

"Alright. I Robert hereby declare that by the end of today, the lovely lady in front of me will be entirely impressed with what it is that I have to show her."

"Oh bother," she said, "and don't call me lovely. I don't take to random compliments."

"I'll lead the way," Robert declared properly.

Peg sighed again.

"I'm gonna regret this aren't I?"


"Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.

chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie."

"What does that mean?"

Peg looked up from the streak of ground that she had been staring down, "Huh?"

"That thing you just said," Robert repeated himself, "what's it mean?"

"Oh it's just some silly old lyrics I heard someone sing one time. It's pretty meaningless. To me anyways," she glanced a proper look at his face and when she saw curiosity there, decided to go further. "I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to be French, but I've never really heard French before so I can't be completely sure."

"Well for what it's worth, I think those words sound really beautiful...almost as beautiful as you."

"And there goes the moment."

"Wha- hey! You gotta admit that was a good one," he marched several steps forward, quickly catching up to her. "I still don't really get why it's so hard for you to take a compliment."

Peg snorted, "Compliments are cheap. Way too easy to hand out while you're trying to flirt with something. Show me something big and worthwhile. Something that really means something and I'll let you compliment me as much as you want. Cause that way, I'll know that you actually mean it."

"I'm planning on doing just that, the whole big and worthwhile thing. Why can't I just compliment you in the meantime though? A compromise just for me?"

"Pass."

He sighed, but did not argue any further, leading the way down one street and then another, paws fully attuned to whatever path it was that he was taking. The silence shared between them was oddly blissful, neither of them sharing any reservations of awkwardness. Had she known him for even a day longer, Peg might have admitted that the difference was nice, refreshing.

"C'mon!" Robert suddenly picked up his pace. "This way."

"Honey slow down for a minute, you're moving much too fast."

"Well we'll never get there in time with you moving like a snail caught in a storm."

Peg rolled her eyes, "My, my, ever the charmer Mr. Chivalry."

"Hey, when we meet I didn't say nothing about being a gentleman. Now hurry up would you, we're almost there."

As they passed the industrial complex, Peg heard the clank of metal against metal and hurried past. She never enjoyed those sounds, the sounds of grinding and smashing and heating. It made her feel vulnerable, as if whatever the amalgamation of all that metal was, would spring up from the ground and chew her to bits and pieces.

There in the confines of the mines, where heavy carts brought out more rocks than could be counted, was where she had dreamt of her mother. Once her father too. It was a short-lived habit that she had at present dropped when her dreams revealed nothing more of the truth. Instead they brought her more pain of distant memories.

"This is it. The beginning and the end...you look just like her."

She would wake up with a gasp, searching for that lost voice but never able to find it. It's familiarity was never lost on her though and she would sometimes spend the day listening for it's owner, but never found the nerve to confront anyone over it. Never found the nerve to accuse someone of dirtying her dreams.

"Hey, you okay?"

Robert's voice broke her from her daydream.

"You looked a little lost."

His voice was kind and gentle and not at all filled with the soft confidence from when they had spoken earlier on.

"Just a little tired is all," she mumbled in reply, although tried to keep her voice upbeat.

He seemed to recognize her falling mood and immediately sought to remedy it, "Whatever you say Peg. Now allow me to welcome you to the greatest night of your life...ta-da!"

At his burst of enthusiasm, Peg finally realized that they were standing on a grassy hill, far from the industrial complex and all of it's trivial noises. The moonlight caused Robert's uncovered eye to light up in silver, making his appearance more foolish than it already was.

When nothing happened for several moments, she tore her eyes from him.

"Well I can't say anyone has ever made nothing seem so interesting, so congratulations in regards to that."

"So my timing was a bit off," he ran in front of her to stop her leaving, although she never really tried. "Give it a second. In three, two, o-"

He was cut off by a loud explosion from behind him, one that sent lights into the black sky, turning it from a mass of stars and planets that were hopelessly understood into a sparkling assortment of blue, yellow and gray, the type of which children would dream their futures would reap.

Although, they were yards and yards away from any other dog, let alone person, it was still easy for Robert to make out the cheers, the oohs and ahs and the barking of those dogs both excited and alarmed. As his eyes took on the steady and ongoing lights in the sky, he thought that all that he had done was surely enough to have impressed Peg, a dog with seemingly the highest of standards. He thought that she must have finally trusted him enough to let him just a little closer into her closest circle. What other dog knew of this place, but him? What other dog would show, not tell in such a way?

But as his eyes wandered from the sky to the one he was trying to court, he finally noticed that her trembles were not out of enthusiasm of their position or the event happening before them, but rather cowers of fear.

"Peg!" he had to shout to ensure his voice was heard. "Peg! What's wrong?"

A particularly large and loud firework went up overhead, briefly making the world appear yellow.

"Peg!"

She took off despite his yelling and with little choice, he followed after her.