This chapter is going up as I am working on the very last chapter, lol. There is going to be a total of 36 chapters plus a couple of little epilogue chapters. Then, there will be a sequel later on. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Reports of coyotes in the area seemed to have made Amy nervous. For the past two days, she would patrol around the edge of the clearing just within the trees to look for any signs of them having come around. She did this at least twice a day; once before letting the sheep out and a second time after getting them all back into the barn for the night. Bud accompanied her on her patrols to sniff out any traces of the coyotes. Bill told her at one point that she was far too worried over those sheep then appeared baffled after she got angry with him about it.

The sun had sunk below the trees but not yet beneath the horizon, leaving the forest and the clearing swathed in soft orange dusk light. From the kitchen table inside, they could hear the raspy song of cicadas in the woods while they ate their dinner. Amy had made a beef and vegetable soup with some of the vegetables from her garden. Bill was somewhere else in the house and Bud was outside on the porch where he always liked to be at this time. The sheep had been corralled up in their barn and the rooster was beginning to gather up all the hens and usher them over to the coop.

In the middle of eating dinner, however, they were distracted by the sound of Bud barking outside. The dog did not often bark, and if he did, it was usually only once or twice. But right now, he was barking madly at something. They all paused to listen and exchanged curious looks with each other while Amy froze and listened hard. Suddenly, there was a vicious snarl from Bud, a yelp and strange yapping sounds from some other kind of animal, followed by even more frantic barking and yelping.

Amy stood up from her chair so fast that it caused Mabel and Ford to jump but not before she was already throwing open the front door and running out of the house. Feeling her rush of panic, the others quickly got up to follow after her. Bill sat up quickly from the sofa and watched curiously as they rushed out of the house after all the noise.

Outside, several feet away from the chicken coop, was a patch of blood that trailed about halfway over in the direction of the sheep pen where a limp coyote was laying in its own blood. Amy quickly ran to look over it, seeing the large bite marks in its neck through the blood-matted fur.

"Bud killed it," she said as the others approached and she glanced around. There did not appear to be any signs of the rest of the pack still lingering about, but there were no signs of her dog either. "Bud! Come!" She waited a moment then whistled loudly. The sound echoed around the clearing but no dog came and no bark sounded. "Mabel, count the chickens," Amy said as she stepped around the dead coyote and walked towards the sheep pen.

Mabel hurried off to the chicken coop and bent over to peer inside of it. Chuck the rooster was standing defiantly in the entrance and turning his head to eye her suspiciously. Still, she was able to count out the hens behind him. "Four, five… Six hens and one rooster! They're all here!" She ran back over to meet the others by the fence. "I don't think any of them are hurt either."

Dipper stepped out from the sheep barn with Amy. "The sheep are fine too," he said. "But where's Bud?"

Amy had already gone over to the old brown barn beside the house and was looking around inside. The only creature she saw inside was her ox munching away at a pile of hay. She stepped back out and called again, "Bud! Come here!" There was no response.

Bill had come outside and was looking down at the dead coyote in the yard, examining it critically.

"Look here!" Ford called from near the trees. He pointed at the red blotches in the grass as the others approached. "It's a blood trail leading into the woods. It's either another coyote…or Bud's."

Amy stared down at the trail with an unreadable silent expression.

"Either way," he continued, "if we follow it, we may just encounter Bud along the way. Stanley, stay here in case he comes back. And keep searching the area just in case we missed him. The rest of us will follow this trail."

Amy was already entering the forest before he had even finished speaking. As Stan began to call and search around the clearing for the dog, Bill turned his head to watch the rest of them disappear amongst the trees.

Despite her lack of saying so, Dipper, Mabel, and Ford could tell that Amy was incredibly worried about her dog. She was quiet and expressionless, walking stiffly but quickly through the woods as she followed the trail, only speaking to call out for Bud. The spotting became less frequent after a while though. That factor combined with the increasing darkness was making it highly difficult to notice any specks or spots of blood in the grass, and there were no sounds to be heard other than cicadas, a couple of birds, and the grass beneath their feet.

"I think we've lost the trail," Ford said after a while. They had stopped to look around for the next clue but it was too dark now to see anything.

Amy whistled for the dog. "…Bud!" Still nothing. She shifted her feet, appearing agitated now.

"Don't worry Amy," Mabel tried to soothe her. "We'll find him. He probably just wanted to chase those coyotes really far away from the house before coming back."

"Yeah," Dipper agreed. "Maybe he's back home already? Let's go check to make sure. If not, I'm sure he'll be back before morning."

"Unlike us," Ford said, "he doesn't need to be able to see to find his way back home. We can't find any more of the trail and if we continue like this, we risk getting lost."

"…Fine." Amy said. Without looking at any of them, she turned and began walking back in the direction of home.

"No dice, huh?" Stan asked as they returned to the clearing.

Ford shook his head. "We lost the trail in the dark and there were no noticeable landmarks to go by."

"Well, I'm sure the old guy's all right. I mean, look what he did to that coyote over there." He gestured a thumb over his shoulder at the carcass.

"I'll go get the snow shovel," Ford said. "You know, to…move it."

"What's the big deal with the dog?" Bill shrugged as Amy passed him. "It's just a dumb animal. You can get a new one."

She stomped her foot down and shouted at him, "Shut up Bill!"

He flinched slightly and stared wide-eyed at her in shock. So did the others.

"That 'dumb animal' is a better person than most of the people in this world! No, in the whole damn multiverse! For eight goddamn years that dog has been my most loyal friend! There is no creature or person out there that can ever replace that dog!" She had tears threatening to fall from her eyes and the aura about her had changed dramatically.

He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words, or maybe he didn't say anything because of her command for him to shut up. Either way, he was left stunned and speechless as she stormed off into the house and slammed the door behind her so hard that the porchlight trembled and flickered. Even after she had gone, he did not speak and only stared at the front door of the house. After a long minute or two, he finally turned away and walked off somewhere.

…

Amy turned over in her bed and exhaled deeply through her nose. She couldn't possibly sleep without knowing if Bud was okay. If he was even alive… She stared at the empty cushion lined along the bottom half of the big round window. Bill was normally sitting there and staring out the window every night, but he had not entered her room since she yelled at him earlier. Good, she thought bitterly. That jerk couldn't know love and affection if it hit him in the face. He could never understand how much she cared about that dog and why. And there was no point in explaining it either, because he wouldn't care.

She turned herself over onto her back and stared up at the big paper dragon hanging from the ceiling. In its mouth, it was holding a white flower that glowed with its own pale ring of moonlight. That amaranth… She had placed it up there after Bill had given it to her on her birthday. She stared at the petals curling over the paper dragon's bottom jaw, thinking. Bill had given her that as a gift, despite admitting that he did not understand why people bothered doing such things for others…

Amy got out from her bed and left her room, stepping lightly down the stairs to get to the first floor of the house. She looked around for a bit, peeking into both the living room and the kitchen, but she did not find anyone. She opened the front door and glanced around outside. No sign of Bud. …Or Bill. Amy closed the door and made her way back upstairs.

…

Bill stopped as he finally came across the source of the blood. There were three limp masses laying in the grass, though one was larger and darker than the others. He walked over and briefly examined the two smaller ones.

One of the coyotes had a bloody mangled hindleg and its neck was snapped. It was as if it had been caught by the leg and beaten to death like an old rug. The other simply had a bite to the neck that crushed its jugular vein and caused it to bleed to death.

"You're a lot more aggressive than I thought you were," Bill said as he moved over to the larger mass.

Bud was laying on his side and breathing slowly. One of his ears had been torn and he had several open bite and claw wounds along his chest, shoulders, and legs, and one of his front paws was twisted at an unnatural angle. He whined as Bill crouched down to look him over.

"I don't get it," he muttered and carefully scooped the dog up in his arms. "…But I kind of wish I did."

Bud lifted his head and feebly attempted to lick at Bill's face before falling limp again and whining.

"Let's go, mutt," Bill said as he hefted the animal and began to walk away. "Your master likes you too much for you to die out here."

The next morning, Amy did not eat breakfast and went straight to let out the sheep. There was still no sign of her dog anywhere nor of Bill. She had gone out to look for Bud again for several hours before returning just before noon.

"Still can't find him?" Mabel asked worriedly as Amy returned.

"No. I haven't even found –" She was interrupted by a bark and spun around with surprise to see Bill walking across the clearing with Bud limping beside him.

"I found your stupid dog," Bill told her.

"Bud," she breathed and hurried over to meet him and grab his droopy face.

His left ear was torn and stitched up and he had a few other stitched wounds. His left forepaw was wrapped in bandages and he was keeping it off the ground as he walked, but he still perked up and wagged his tail excitedly when he saw Amy.

She was so happy to see the old dog that she was holding back tears. "Good boy." She pressed her face into the dog's for a long while before kissing his nose and standing up to look at Bill. Is that why Bill had disappeared? "You went to look for him?" she asked.

He shrugged and looked away. "Well, you nearly bit my head off over the damn dog!" He was surprised when she suddenly hugged him tightly and nuzzled her face into his neck. She was warm…

"Thank you," she said quietly to him.

He lightly placed his hands on her sides, debating on returning the gesture but ultimately deciding not to. "Yeah, sure," he muttered. He looked away from her again as she released him. "You probably would have made me go look for him anyway, so… You know. Uh, anyways, the vet said he should be fine. He just has to rest his paw and not mess with those stitches. I'm sure even a coyote chasing dumbass like him could do that much."

"Bud, rest?" Amy smiled. "Absolutely. He's even better than Stan at that."

…

June 18th

Bud is missing.

Those coyotes showed up around dusk and he got in a scrap with them. I think they were after the chickens. By the time we got outside, it was already over and Bud and the coyotes were nowhere in sight. The only coyote we found was dead. Looked like Bud got him. We went searching, following a trail of blood into the woods, but we lost it in the dark and had to come back.

Amy's really upset. She even blew up at Bill and he looked completely stunned by it. He almost looked offended or hurt, but Amy was too, because of what he had said to her about her dog. So, serves him right.

June 19th

Bud is back! Thank goodness!

It seems that after Amy got mad at him, Bill went looking for Bud and actually found him. He even went out of his way to bring Bud to the vet and have him fixed up before bringing him back home. The craziest part is that Amy didn't even ask or tell Bill to look for him. He just did it on his own for some reason. I know he gets along with Bud but I don't think he really cares about him enough to be bothered by his absence. I agree with Mabel that he did it for Amy, but I'm still not sure about his motifs for doing so.

Amy was so happy, she hugged Bill. He looked so surprised. For a moment, it looked like he was going to hug her back, but he stopped himself, I think.

Bud's a little banged up but he's okay. He's got a few stitches and a hurt paw, but he'll be fine with some rest and TLC. And he's getting a LOT of that. Not just from Amy. Mabel and I are loving this dog too. Even Grunkle Stan and Ford are giving him attention. Amy spent the rest of the day with him.

At some point, Bill went outside to sit with her on the porch. He didn't say anything. Just sat so close to her that their sides were practically touching. They had just come inside a few minutes ago with Bud. He normally sleeps on the porch at night, but I think Amy's keeping him inside now. At least until he's all better.

He's a good dog.

June 21st

Today might just be my favorite day of the summer so far.

So, during morning chores Mabel happened to ask Amy about horses. Amy told her that she used to have a horse, but it was her father's and was pretty old. It ended up hurting its leg and couldn't recover and, well… She doesn't have a horse anymore. But she told us that she had been planning on getting a workhorse for a while now since Bruno (the ox) is kind of dumb. Her words, not mine. Though, horses are far more versatile I would think.

To answer Mabel's question, Amy's idea of a perfect workhorse is "big, strong, brave, smart but willing to work, and mild-mannered and gentle." Then she told us about this stallion that she had her eye on. A "big, muscular, perlino with feathering around his hooves." Apparently, a perlino horse is white with like a blonde mane and tail and light blue eyes. And feathering is what they call the long hair around draft horses' hooves. Learn something new every day.

Then, she decided she might as well go get the horse today. When we asked where she was buying it from, she laughed and said, "Buy? Ha! I ain't buyin' no horse! I'm just gonna go coax a wild one through the portal and bring it here. Hopefully that perlino." Bill did not seem to like the idea of Amy doing that. He muttered, "And you people call me crazy…" He was even less pleased after finding out that the horse was in Telmak. When I asked why, he told me "If it's from Telmak then it isn't just some regular old horse." Then he called me a little shit and told me to fuck off. Charming… -_-

So, Amy left. After about an hour or so, she walked into the house and told us to come see something outside. We all followed her out to the sheep pen. She had gathered all the sheep back into the barn, and a big white and blonde stallion was prancing around in the pen.

Okay, so this horse is gorgeous. Like, fairy tale material, one-hundred percent. He's also huge! If you've ever seen a Clydesdale horse in person, you could compare him to that. Big. I don't even know how someone could get on that thing's back. He looks like the horse that a rich boy would have just to show off. I bet Pacifica would be jealous. Or not. I don't know horses, man. Or rich people.

Anyways, Amy said that it was easy getting him to go with her because of that fairy dragon aura that she has. Animals just like her. But she told us that she still needed the horse to be broken. Mabel took that literally and looked horrified. Amy had to explain that it was just the term used for taming a horse. Bill put it as "They call it that because you break their will and make them your slave." An awful sounding way of putting it, but really, he's not wrong.

Because horses are actually super dangerous, and this isn't just some regular horse, Amy didn't want any of us humans going near the horse until he was okay. So, to "break" him… She made Bill do it. He was…not happy about it. It wasn't until Amy had said it like a command that he actually climbed the fence and starting walking over to the horse, muttering words I couldn't understand and some words I'm sure were swears. Even though he saved Bud in the end, I think Amy was still a little sour about things from the other day and that's maybe why she made Bill do it.

You'd think someone as scary and as strong as Bill wouldn't have any trouble intimidating a horse, but you'd be wrong. He's far from a rancher/cowboy and although he knows lots of weird stuff, he apparently has no clue how to deal with horses. It also turns out that Telmak animals are not like the animals around here. They're all magical and kind of scary.

The horses of Telmak are omnivorous instead of strictly herbivorous, and they have some crazy sharp fangs. Like, two-inch-long fangs! And a wicked nasty bite to back it up. I was kind of surprised to see that Bill could bleed. Amy joked something about him normally liking pain, but he yelled "Not animal bites!" just before the stallion kicked him in the hip and knocked him into the ground. I'm pretty sure I heard the sound of bones breaking from where I was standing.

Other than their large fangs, Telmak horses look just like Earth horses. They even have different breeds and come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Amy told us though that when Telmak horses are mad, they go into what the dragons call "fight AND flight mode."

They spontaneously sprout huge bat-like wings from their shoulders and three huge, upwards pointing spikes from the back of their necks and their fangs get bigger. About five extra inches longer. Scary. Kind of reminds me of the Gremloblin in a way. Luckily, we didn't have to see that today. Though it would have been pretty cool.

Unfortunately for Bill, it didn't matter, because that horse still kicked his butt. Literally. Twice. It also bucked and threw him to the ground several times and bit his wrist so hard that it was bleeding. I think it was broken too. The problem was, he wouldn't listen to Amy's instructions. He was being stubborn, so she ended up just standing there and watching him fail.

Finally, he managed to stay on long enough for the horse to wear itself out and stop bucking and kicking. He even got the horse to walk over to where we were standing by the gate before he let himself fall off the side of the horse and laid in the dirt for a few minutes while the horse walked away.

Never thought I'd see Bill all torn up like that. The funniest part… It was all done by a single horse. No better way to humble someone than to let them get beat up by a horse. I guess?

When he finally decided to get up, he was limping, and instead of going all the way to the house, he just stopped and laid down in a pile of hay in the old barn. He wouldn't let Amy heal him. Guess he just wanted to wallow in his misery or something. That, or the more likely explanation… He was just mad and being stubborn. Yeah. Probably that one. He'll get over it. Probably. Or not. That guy can hold a grudge. Needless to say, I don't think Bill likes horses much.

…

It was an hour after dark and Bill had still not come inside, so Amy went out to the old barn to find him. He was still in the exact same place she had left him hours earlier. Still laying on his left side in a pile of fresh hay and turned with his back to the doors. She slipped into the barn and pulled the chain hanging from an old lamp nearby so that it would shed a bit of light in the place. Not much, but enough to see in that general area. Bill did not visibly react nor did he say anything.

Amy walked around to sit on her knees in front of him and leaned to the side a little to try and see his face. It was covered by his hair, so she reached out and brushed his long bangs out of the way and he opened his eye to look at her.

"Were you sleeping?"

"Of course not," he scoffed.

"Oh. Okay." She took her hand away and sat up straight. "Are you going to let me heal you now?"

He huffed then muttered, "If you insist."

She was planning on doing it anyway, honestly. She had even brought some hydrogen peroxide and some bandages for the bite on his wrist and decided to start there. She scooted closer and gently scooped up his right hand and placed it in her lap on a towel she had brought. Taking the bottle of peroxide, she carefully poured some of the liquid over the wound then stopped to watch it bubble and fizz.

Bill hissed through his teeth. "Mm, that stings nice," he said after.

"You're weird," she mumbled casually as she patted the wound with the dry half of the towel.

Once it was clean, she checked over the punctures and carefully moved and felt the bones in his wrist. He made a quiet sound almost like a low growl and appeared highly uncomfortable as she worked the bones into place with her fingers while using her magic to heal them and the flesh wounds at the same time.

He chuckled at the cold feeling that passed through the blood in his limbs. He was sweating though… He was hot but felt cold, and he found that funny. He both detested and thoroughly enjoyed the pain in his wrist right now. Pain was a funny thing to him already, but maybe he was feeling that way so suddenly because of the magic. Healing magic had this odd tingly effect, so his wrist hurt horribly but also felt unbearably pleasant. It was very nearly erotic.

When she was done, he let out a hard sigh and pulled his hand back to examine the bandages wrapped around his wrist.

"The bones are not fully healed yet," she told him. "That's why I wrapped it. To keep them in place while the leftover fractures finish healing. So, be careful not to hurt your hand again until tomorrow afternoon."

He was going to say something smart-mouthed at her but was interrupted and tensed when she placed her whole hand on his hip. First of all, it hurt. Even though she barely touched him. Second, whether it was the pain itself or just her touch and the location of it, he felt a weird sensation course through his center and up into his chest. Like some kind of tingling warm rush of pure ecstasy followed by a tinge of aching.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh? I'm fine," he answered quickly. He sat up the instant she had finished healing his hip, surprising her.

"Take it easy," she scolded him.

He looked a tad confused for a second. "I'm fine. What are you worried for?"

"I don't know," she said without thinking. "I mean… Do you have any other injuries I need to heal?"

"Probably," he stated bluntly and a little loudly too. "Uh, but now that I can walk again, I want to get the hell out of this itchy hay. Of all of the physical sensations I can feel in this form, itchiness is the most horrid and obnoxious."

"Honestly, yeah. It is," she agreed and stood up. "Okay. Let's get you inside and upstairs into bed."

"I don't need sleep."

"Maybe not, but you should lay down somewhere comfortable while you're injured. It's just one night. Come on."

"Fine…"

To be continued…

Originally, I was gonna have Bud die... But my friend was mad about it so I changed it around lol. Someone WILL die though. Eventually. You just won't know who until it happens.