Still carrying the little human child in her arms, Loona was now in a gothic-looking human disguise, looking around every place in No-Name Town, Australia she chased him to see if he had a home or a family around those parts.

But alas, even with her sniffing, it was no good.

It wasn't easy with him passed out, but it was better than him still being scared shitless of her what she did. And she knew it was her fault.

Soon, she made it back to the school to see the bodies were gone, dismembered or otherwise, and all that was left was the bloodshed.

Loona shielded the kid from the gory sight for safety, then took one last look at him while he was still unconscious.

...Before she had an idea.

She knew it was a risky one, but if no-one in town was gonna come out, she might as well help him herself.

"Get ready for a ride, squirt." Loona sighed to him. "I got you."

With that said and done, Loona reverted to her hellhound form and started sprinting in her supersonic speed from the school all the way back to the park, where the portal spawn was slowly closing.

She and the child were about to make it, when...

BACK AT I.M.P:

Blitzø and the gang returned to the office all shook up, clean, and paid after their high-school royale.

"WHOA! Fuck yeah!" exclaimed Blitzø wildly. "Great job again, lovebirds. I can't remember having this much fun since the last time I had fun!"

He grabbed some booze and downed the whole bottle in 3 seconds before smashing it to the carpet.

"Now that's gotta be a record of something!"

Just then, Loona walked inside still watching over the boy.

"Ah, there's my Loonie." Blitzø wrapped her into a hug, which easily annoyed her. "You would not believe the shit we've been through tonight."

"Do not call me that! And no hugs!"

Loona quietly shoved Blitzø away, not wanting to wake up the kid he saw in her arms.

"Hey, uh, what's that in your arms?" he asked her curiously.

"It's... he's the peeper from earlier." she sighed in response.

"Wait, it was a kid? Heh, small world." chuckled Blitzø, while Loona rolled her eyes in a sneer. "So what brings him here? Is he your dessert tonight?"

"What?! FUCK NO!" Loona shouted, then covered her mouth hoping the kid didn't wake up hearing her swear. Rather loudly. "I was about to kill him until I saw him like... this. He looked so injured out there, and for some reason, alone. So I brought him here to nurse him up a bit."

"Are you effing nuts, Loona?!" exclaimed Moxxie. "Barely doing your job is one thing, but when even the princess questioning it is worrisome enough, do you know how much trouble bringing this scruffy human is to us?! Way to go you..." he ended with a slow-clap.

"C'mon Moxx, I'm sure Loona has her intentions." Blitzø sympathised him cheekily. "After all, she is employee of the month. Twice."

"Uhh... indeed. Try and keep up, fatty."

"Yeah, yeah, pipe down." Moxxie secretly flipped her off as he read a magazine. "I am not fat, soft..."

"Do you want me to slap the other cheek?!" Loona towered over him, foaming angrily.

"No ma'am! See? I said ma'am." smiled Moxxie anxiously.

"That's nice. Now if you ever insult or question me again, so help me Satan."

Moxxie stopped her and gulped, knowing he'd be dead in two seconds if he took on that gothic monster of a hellhound, again.

Blitzø lightly tugged on her tail to have a private talk with her.

"Loona, sweetie, on one part, I have to agree with Moxx." he then shivered having said that. "If someone out there found out about this kid in our midst, even Stolas, we'd have more than just clients. I.M.P could fall and we might never get it back. No humans can be seen here, not even mere children like this one, so do you think what you're doing is worthwhile?"

Loona wanted to respond right away, but feeling her eyes water a little, she couldn't.

"Well, Stolas has his daughter, sir." said Millie gleefully. "So he must know how that feels."

"Millie, Via renounced him AND she's a bird that eats mice." replied Blitzø sternly. "Imagine what he'd do to this one? I don't have the capacity to hit you or her."

As Loona continued thinking, she began rubbing the boy's back, putting a surprised look on the imps' faces.

"I don't know, Blitzø. Don't make me deny it, but I'm starting to have feelings for the little guy." she said softly. "You didn't see him look at me back there, like I was some... monster to him. And I doubt he'll forget it when he wakes up, but I wanna fix that. So yes, it's worthwhile to me."

The three imps were dazed to see her soft spot like this.

Blitzø in particular almost shed a tear at this moment. He wanted to show Loona more fatherly affection, but instead did so by rubbing the boy's head too.

"I understand Loona. He does look like he could use the..." he said, making his decision. "Okay, you can nurse him."

Loona looked up, surprised he could agree.

"Guess so." continued Moxxie. "If or when he wakes up, maybe we can help find his family. If they're still up there, but that's a promise."

"Right now though, we'll give you two some alone time." finished Millie, holding her husband's hand as they were about to leave.

"Wait!" yelled Loona sincerely, stopping them with her free paw. "I appreciate the kindness, Fatty, that means a lot. But you should stay and celebrate. You three clearly earned it. But I think I'll just take him home for a clean. He'll wake up soon and the last thing he should see is any of us getting in a fight."

"Touché." replied Millie.

"Best be ditching now. See ya in a bit, tits." Loona flatly said, leaving the office.

Moxxie still tried to comprehend all Loona had said to him. "Hmm... she's, never done that before."

"Done what, hun?"

"Act so well." replied Moxx. "The crown still goes to Fatty, but the rest of it... yeah, she's gonna kill the kid."

"MOXXIE!" Millie angrily gasped.

"Come on, Millie. You've read the fairytales, right?"

"...And now I'm not sure if I want to." said Blitzø, third-wheeling the two from behind.

AT LOONA'S APARTMENT:

Loona carried the kid all the way to her apartment, a few minutes away from I.M.P by car.

She used to leave with Blitzø when she was adopted, but after a few years of her receptionist job, she earned enough in her meeker allowance to rent her own apartment.

Bearing this boy close to her chest, she stealthily made it from the elevator to her room.

It slightly smelt of wine, dog fur, and raw meat, along with the new apartment smell since she's been living there for 2 months now.

One of the spare rooms smelt no different, but Loona rested his head on the pillow, then took off his black hoodie to show he was wearing a sky-blue and green striped t-shirt.

He was still covered in tears and cuts, so filling two wine glasses full of water, she crouched next to him and spent the next two minutes washing him from all over with a rag from one of them.

The other wine glass was for when he woke up.

She even remembered his sprained ankle from earlier, and patched it up with a few bandages.

When she finished, she didn't want to take her eyes off him in case he woke up at all, so stayed crouched next to him and kept a close eye, like a dog worried about its owner.

As he laid there on the bed, Loona looked at his little face exhausted from the chase, cold from the Winter night, and whatever other ordeal he must've lived through for God knows how long.

She was truly guilty for how she treated him back on Earth, and for the first time felt like she was about to cry, knowing that when he'd wake up, it'd all feel like a dream until he regains the memory. And it'd break her heart once more.

Feeling his forehead again, Loona felt his fever going down, but he still felt so cold and she sensed his shivering. So sighing yet mustering up the courage, Loona wrapped her bushy black-and-white tail around his body like a blanket. As he began to warm up, she gently stroked his hair with her now-clean paw.

"I'm so sorry, kiddo." Loona choked, as tears began strolling down her face. "Please be okay."

She was about to sob, before she noticed the boy groaning. He was coming to very slowly. So taking back her tail and wiping the mascara off her face, she began patting his cheek gently.

"Kid? Are you al...?" she was about to finish speaking, but then remembered:

"What the hell am I doing? I can't just talk to him, like this."

Luckily, the boy didn't hear her. He may have regained consciousness, but still had difficulties waking up. This meant Loona couldn't switch into her human disguise, or else he could notice.

"Hmm..." pondered Loona again. "How to wake up a sleeping human?"

She spent the next few seconds thinking about what to do, until she remembered one time she was in the human world and she saw a dog doing something with its owner.

And it made her eyes widen in shell-shock, then look back at the kid, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Ooh, fuck me. If I do this, then I hope I know it what I'm doing!" hesitated Loona, then looked back at him and looked further into that moment. "Although, that human was a kid too. Kids must love hounds. Maybe, this one's bound to like me?"

After a few seconds of deciding, Loona then looked at the boy, with what was a small smile. Something completely new to her.

"Fuck it." she mouthed to herself, having made her choice.

She pulled her hair back from her one eye, leaned close to him on all fours, and began doing another unexpected thing.

Loona started licking the boy's face from cheek to cheek, trying to wake him up and causing him to squirm.

"Hehehehe. Huh. This is actually, kinda fun." she chuckled to herself, with now a wider smile. "Alright then..."

She continued to lick the boy's face with her tail wagging in the air, and little by little, the boy started giggling louder and louder. Until he woke up laughing from Loona's wet tongue on his face.

"Hahahahaha! H-H-Hey. S-Stop it." the boy giggled. "Th-That tickles."

Loona then stopped licking and quickly sat down in a dog-like position.

The boy slowly sat up on the bed, rubbing his head in pain but then going silent as he saw Loona.

Their eyes were now looking into each other, like a staring contest.

"A... a doggy?" the boy said in surprise.

Loona decided to play along and tilt her head, keeping up the illusion.

"Where am I?" he then looked around and even inhaled the smell of the room, before he remembered a slither of earlier. "Did you... save me?"

"Uhh..." after a brief second, Loona barked two times as her response.

"Oh. Well. Good girl. I mean, you look like a girl." he said with an awkward chuckle, noticing her garments. "Your owner must love playing dress-up."

The kid chuckled a little bit, along with Loona, who smiled at how adorable he actually was.

He was about to give her ears a scratch, but then flinched his hands away before he could.

"Can I, uh... can I pet you? Please?" he asked, feeling embarrassed with himself.

She was about to flinch as well, but Loona saw how worried he was. It looked like he was anxious around dogs for some reason.

But she had set out to fix it for him, seeing as though her heart was actually melting for him.

Nuzzling along his tummy like a cat and laying on his lap, Loona exposed her belly and twitching her ears, showing him she was okay with being petted.

So the boy started scratching her head and behind her ears, making her pant like a normal big dog. Feeling calmer doing this, he then gave her belly rubs next, making her tail way and her leg shake up and down in pleasure.

Ironically, Loona was actually enjoying this.

"Huh. I never thought I would say this, but, I like dogs." the boy thought to himself.

Then, something strange happened.

Rubbing her belly, he started hearing a growling noise coming from Loona, as if her chest was vibrating. He looked down to see she was purring in her normal speaking voice.

"What the... dogs aren't supposed to do that. What kind of doggy are...?"

Soon, something else happened. The boy got a flashback hearing that growl, where she saw him creep up towards him back at the teacher's lounge at the school.

Figuring everything out, he gasped. "You're the... you're the wolf! AAHHH!" the boy cowered.

He ran out of the spare room and hid in hers before she could come out.

Her room, like her old one at Blitzø's, still had a lot of heavy metal and rock band posters all over her walls, along with wine bottles (empty or filled), chewed-up pillows or toys, toys used for sex, worn-out clothes, and a closet full of bones. Worse, the smell from the apartment came from that room alone.

Loona walked out of the spare room on all fours and followed the boy inside following his scent. She then saw him hide at the far back of the wall with his eyes shut.

The boy then sighed to himself, feeling scared once again. "OK. I understand if you want to eat me up, Mrs. Wolf. I know wolves eat humans sometimes."

Loona felt the heartbreak again, but this time, she didn't let it get to her knowing how sweet he seemed.

So she bravely decided to finally drop the act, walked up to him on all fours before crouching down on her hinds to comfort him, whilst still giving some space.

"Hey. Hey, shhhhh. It's okay kiddo." she said in a motherly tone.

The boy then opened her eyes and looked up at her warmly-smiling face.

"You... you can talk?" he said with a surprised look.

"Yes. Yes I can." she replied. "Now don't be scared. I'm not gonna eat you up."

"You won't?"

"No. Oh, and I'm not a wolf. Or a dog, for that matter. I'm actually, a hellhound."

"I'm sorry. But, don't you look like one?" the boy asked.

Loona couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah, I understand. I guess I'm all those things, aren't I?"

Silence then filled the room as the kid had a blushed look on his face.

"Hey. Do you want a hug?" asked Loona.

The boy then looked up at her and slowly nodded.

"Okay then. Come here." Loona smiled, opening her arms out to him for the hug.

Reluctantly, the boy moved closer to her with his jelly legs, one step forward after another. Soon, he made it to Loona's arms and as he wrapped his arms around her, she stood up carrying him in hers.

"See? I'm not eating you. I'm cuddling you, am I?" she said. "Everything will be alright now."

Loona started swaying him back and forth, giving him back rubs as the boy closed his eyes in the comfort of her embrace.

"So..." the boy started asking. "I guess, you don't have an owner?"

The hellhound then laughed knowing how he asked that question earlier.

"Yeah, I don't. Unless you count my dad." she giggled.

Still in her embrace, the boy saw noticed the windows. So he let go of her and jumped onto the bed looking at the world outside, as well as the crimson red sky, dark-red instead of the normal black night-sky in the human world.

"Where am I?" he asked. "This doesn't look like No-Name Town."

Loona once again hesitated. This was gonna be the hardest thing, knowing what he was about to know. But then, he saw some of the figures on the streets and slowly figured it out.

"Kid, this is gonna be hard to explain, but..."

"Wait. If you're a hellhound... then, is this place... H, E, double hockey-sticks?"

Loona took a deep breath, knowing what she had to do now.

"Well, yes. It is." she said briefly, before moving onto keeping him calm. "But it's okay. You don't have to worry."

"But, isn't this where all the naughty people go when they die?"

"It is, but you didn't die and you're totally not a bad kid at all." explained Loona. "In fact, you're quite cute. I brought you here so I could help you after all that happened back home."

The boy then looked up at her, starting to feel touched.

"Have a look at your ankle if you don't believe me." she teased him.

He then pulled up the sleeve of his pants to see the bandage over his swollen ankle from earlier on, and now, the kid smiled now feeling very touched.

"Now just don't go fiddling with these. Until we know for sure that it's all better."

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Hellhound." he replied with his smile, wrapping his arms around Loona for another hug.

It took her by surprise, but her warm feeling and her smile soon came back.

"My, my, my. Such a gentleman for a little boy." she giggled.

Loona then returned the hug and then rubbed the back of his head with one of her paws.

"But you know what? You can call me, Loona." she continued speaking to him.

"Loona. What a beautiful name. I get it." he whispered that last part in her ear, making her laugh again.

"Awww." she chuckled, before asking him next: "So... can you tell me YOUR name now?"

"My name's Balin." he answered her. "Balin Johnson."

"Balin, eh? I've heard that name from somewhere." she said, before whispering: "I love it too."

After the boy giggled, the two stayed in their cuddly embrace for a little bit, until Loona sensed his soul was finally at peace.

"Now, do you want something to eat or drink, Balin?" she asked him.

"Yes please, I can eat." replied the boy, now known as Balin. "What do you have?"

"Well... for one thing, there's a lot of snacks in the pantry." she chuckled. "And don't worry, they're snacks from your world. Just letting you know."

"OK. Can I have a look, please?"

"Sure."

Loona then stood up from her bed, holding the little boy's hand out of her room as she lead him to the pantry.

A/N: It's always an eye-opening experience to watch a kid make friends with a dog, let alone a hellhound like Loona. In this case, it's also a damn good thing she doesn't wanna kill or eat him. But deep down, this would be where the friendship between this boy and this hound comes to life in our story.

See y'all in the next chapter.