Meanwhile, it was nightfall by the gang decided to call it their day at the mall.
As they socialised, waiting for Loona and Balin to leave the grocery store, Blitzø approached Neptune and Marijiana as they laughed at some funny social media videos in puppy-like barks.
"Hey there, ladies..." he greeted them awkwardly at first, as usual, but then cleared his throat. "I just gotta say, I was super impressed with your skillsets in the laser-tag game back there."
"Thanks." smiled Neptune in response.
"Hang on, didn't you see you were Loona's dad?" Marijiana then asked. "Before she yelled 'adopted?'"
"Yes, that's me. Blitzø is the name, the O is silent." he extended his hand in friendship to each of them, as confused as they looked. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask, do you two happen to have jobs at the moment or are considering looking for employment, perhaps?"
"Well, we're actually in the middle of college right now." explained Marijiana. "...But I guess the rent of two people living in a dorm is still pretty dicey."
"I see." Blitzø said scratching his chin.
He soon handed the two a business card for IMP, which even though was poorly spelt, had the company logo drawn on it spot-on.
"Well, you see, before you girls freak, I run this company with Loonie and my associates called the Immediate Murder Professionals. What we do is with the help of some... valuable resources, the targets we handle are those on Earth, and..."
"Earth?" interrupted Neptune. With a smile, her puppy eyes widened and her border-collie tail started wagging. "You mean, THE living world?"
"Yep. That's the place." smirked Blitzø. "You see, what we do is..."
As Blitzø started explaining his company's slasher yet fundamental business model, Loona and Balin walked out of the mall carrying their grocery bags and caught up with the rest of the gang.
"What's up with them?" she asked Millie, seeing the three's socialising.
"Looks like he might want some new trainees soon." she said, before pinching Balin's cheek to make him giggle. "And Balin might be seeing his big fans everyday."
"So there, it's not much, but uh... what do ya girls think?" the boss then asked them.
"Well, I've always wanted to see what the living world was like since I was a puppy." Neptune replied.
"We both have babe." said Marijiana. "But..."
"You're slightly against the idea of murdering humans, ain't ya?" finished Blitzø.
"Well I think you two might love it." Balin walked up to the two hounds, who then crouched down to him with warm smiles. "I was told IMP is like a job for superheroes."
"Awww." Moxxie blushed and smiled at the boy's compliment.
"I'm against the killing part too, but it's really fun." the boy then continued.
"You think so, sweetie?"
The two hounds then looked to each other and nodded, thinking the same thing.
"Then yeah." said Neptune. "We can consider."
"Ha ha! Splendid!" cheered Blitzø.
As he celebrated, Loona walked up to Neptune and Marijiana with an eye-roll and said: "He's always like this."
Before long, she grabbed out her phone and airdropped her number to theirs.
"If you do end up considering, hit me up." she explained further. "I'm the receptionist."
"Will do." they both said.
"But for now, I think it's about time this little guy was in bed." Loona picked Balin up with her strength and carried the yawning boy in her arms. "Tex, mind if we roll home with you?"
"Anything. Here, let me carry those." replied Tex, picking up the bags and turning to the two newbie hounds. "You two need a lift home too?"
"Sure. Yeah." replied Marijiana kindly.
So the five hellhounds walked to Tex's car while the imps travelled home in their work-van, leaving the carpool lane of the mall.
...
Soon, the hellhounds arrived to Loona's apartment in Tex's car as Balin struggled to keep his eyes open, laying his head down on Loona's shoulder.
Neptune then leaned close to him from her seat behind Loona's to give him a kiss on his cheek.
"Good night, Balin." she whispered. "It was so much fun meeting you."
"Bye..." sang Marijiana.
As they waved goodbye, Balin responded with a tired smile and wave as Loona carried him out of the buff hellhound's car and into her apartment.
A/N: Tissues are recommended for the rest of the chapter.
AT LOONA'S APARTMENT...
Balin was now in his PJs, spitting out the last of his toothpaste and getting ready for bed, while looking at himself in the mirror.
A few moments later, he tucked himself into bed as Loona walked in to say good night.
"Good night, Loona." sighed Balin happily. "And thank you."
"For what? A fun day today?" she smirked. "Meeting those two sexy hellhounds?"
"Yes." he giggled. "But for making me so happy. Even if only for a little while."
"What do you mean by that?" she asked tilting her head.
Balin then yawned as he then fell asleep, cuddled up to his plushies, which made Loona roll her eyes with a shrug.
"Good night, Balin. *whispers playfully* Don't, let, me, bite!" she let out a playful growl and kissed his forehead good night.
She then lightly tapped on his solar system mobile on the ceiling before leaving the bedroom and shutting the door to let him sleep with his cute smile.
...
A few hours later... at midnight.
As the two slept in their beds, Balin snoozed peacefully until he heard a thunderous noise that definitely didn't belong to Loona.
"Balin S Johnson!" a male voice boomed. "All rise! From your slumber!"
Balin was then startled awake to see that the person speaking, was the judge standing in front of his bed like the priest from 'The Exorcist'.
JUDGE: "Balin. After days of searching the city streets for you, having escaped from your only chance of safety and/or survival, you've been found, at long last."
"How?!" exclaimed Balin in shock.
But the judge didn't hear him, as he was merely the simulation of a nightmare.
JUDGE: "I gave you a chance to wait patiently, where you could still be in the comfort of your home and see your family again when the time was right. We hoped to have been compassionate. But there's only one thing about opportunities. They're not for the hands of delinquents, such as yourself!"
BALIN: (Whimpering) "No!"
JUDGE: "It's become clear to me that you merely wish to show a side of yourself, labelled in the past as strong-willed, and above all, dangerous! This behaviour, having shocked the people of your foster home, is one that cannot and will not stand in support of you nor the court's good name. And what was it all for? To show your family you were strong enough? Perhaps even good enough?"
BALIN: "NO!"
As the judge continued speaking, a swarm of ghosts in the form of a court jury appeared and surrounded his bed.
JUDGE: "And may I add, because of what the jury of your peers' claimed to have brought before this court in their search for you, one of treacherous character!"
The bedroom door slammed open to see a priest tugging an angry Loona by a leash with a muzzle on her snout.
"LOONA!" cried Balin.
JUDGE: "HA! As I live and breathe! This kid's a spawn! He is consorting with the devil!"
"NO!" screamed Balin. "Get away from me!"
JUDGE: "This court shalt not fear the weeds of Kingdom Come! Not for these good people! You, Balin S. Johnson, have been sentenced to another fate of our choosing! Not as an Anti-christ, not someone wishing to prove he's something he's not, not even as a child of the human race!"
The judge then pulled out a gun and unzipped himself to reveal himself as... STRIKER!
"You're indeed a liability risk, kid." he grimly said. "And liabilities, like you, take the SHOT."
As he cocked the gun, Balin then shut his eyes as Striker took the shot.
...
(REALITY)
...
Balin then woke up in his bed with a sudden gasp, then covered his mouth to make sure Loona didn't hear it.
Thankfully, she didn't.
But the boy was all shook up and scared after what he just witnessed.
Panting, shivering, and looking at his hands, he wanted to cry. But he swallowed it down and just went back to sleep. Which was easier said than done.
NIGHTMARE TWO:
Balin then woke up tied to his foster home bed by the bigger kids, around 11 and 12, who cackled and laughed at his pain.
"Look at this dippy egg!" one of them said. "So scared and nothing!"
"You think away running from us like that would work?" another one followed. "HA! Don't make me laugh pee-wee!"
"LOONA! HELP ME!" screamed Balin with tears in his eyes.
"Who's Loona?" the second kid asked.
"She must be his imaginary new mommy." cackled the first kid with a coo. "After he sent the last one away!"
He soon opened his eyes again, ending the nightmare before the bullies could even punch him, then went back to sleep to see he was in another dream.
NIGHTMARE THREE:
This time, Balin laid on the warm green lawn of his old home, where he saw the family car on the driveway.
"The nightmare." he said to himself, feeling stunned. "It's over."
He then ran up to the door, knocked on it three times, and then his parents, Elton & Raven, opened it a few seconds later with smiling faces. ...which soon turned to faces of shock.
"Balin?" shivered hismother.
"Yes, mommy." smiled the boy. "It's me, Balin. I'm home."
"No." quivered Elton. "Aren't you supposed to be at the foster home?"
Balin was already getting distraught at what he heard.
"How long were you out here alone?" asked Raven in disappointment.
"Uhh, I don't- I don't know!" stuttered Balin.
"We were just about to get you. What were you thinking escaping?" said Elton, still in shock. "I'm sorry, not-my-son."
Raven then whistled as the ground began to shake, and Missi Zilla then rose up from the backyard and roared like a T-rex.
Balin screamed seeing her once again and tried to run away from her, even on the road, before she caught him with her long arms.
She lifted him back into the backyard where a mosh pit of full-grown hellhounds were waiting on all fours.
"EAT UP, MY BABIES!" she snarled in her hangry voice and laughed.
Balin saw one of the hellhounds as they licked their lips with a hungry grin, knowing who that hound was.
"...Loona?" he gasped.
Soon, Zeezi dropped him into the dog-pile, where they proceeded to maul him apart and eat him.
...
(REALITY)
...
Now Balin had enough.
"AAAAHHH!" he woke up with a scream and panted once again. This scream, he knew for sure Loona would hear.
But nonetheless, he couldn't hold in the fright any longer and started sobbing like a kindergartener.
*sobs* *sniffles* *sobs*
He trundled sadly over to Loona's room as he continued his sobbing.
Loona then heard it with her ears as he got closer and slowly woke up with insomnia, yet concern.
"Balin?" she groggily yawned. "Is that you?"
She got up from her bed, got in her night-gown, then opened the door gasping in dread to see him crying his eyes out.
"Holy shit, Balin!" she exclaimed softly in sympathy. "Are you okay?"
"No." he sobbed again.
"Oh my god, sweetheart." she spoke sorrowfully to him. "Come here." she then lifted him in her arms and took him to her bed where she sat on the edge.
"What's wrong? You can tell me, buddy."
"I-I-I had a-a bad d-dream, Loona." he stuttered as she went into shock.
"Shhhhh, it's okay, sweetie." Loona tenderly soothed him again. "Loona's here, Loona's got you."
"I dreamt I was... back home, and I was... e-e-eaten by-by hellhounds, fed to by that dinosaur lady." stuttered Balin again.
Loona started feeling sadder seeing him like this.
"Hey, hey, relax." she whispered. "You don't have to explain the bad dream if you don't wanna."
"I don't?" Balin then looked up at her with his tear-stained eyes.
"No." she replied. "I'm pretty sure I know what it was all about anyway."
Soon, the hellhound caught a whiff of something else in his fear, and sniffed him soon figuring it out.
"Balin... how many bad dreams did you have?"
Hearing that, Balin then looked down feeling so scared to tell her, he was about to cry into her chest.
"Hey, c'mon now, don't look at my fur like that." she spoke to him again. "How many? Please."
"I had three, Loona." sighed the boy, choking with a few sniffles.
Loona then grabbed some tissues from out of her bedside table and handed them to Balin so he could wipe his nose.
"Here you go." she whispered "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, Loona. It wasn't your fault." he replied. "But what is mine?"
"What?"
"Is it my fault that I'm not with them?" he started tearing up again. "Am I just a kid to everyone? Am I... am I really a... liability risk?"
The boy then started crying into Loona's pyjama top, planting his head into her furry chest.
"Waaaaahhhhhh!"
"Aww, Balin." Loona comforted him again, softly kissing his hair. "Shhhhh. The nightmares are over. I'm here." she began ribbing his cheeks and back with her smooth paws.
Over the next few minutes, the boy cried and cried as Loona dared not let him go, rocking him back and forth, until he started calming down to the warmth of her fur and pyjama top on his tiny body.
"There there, Balin." she said lovingly. "You're safe. Everything that's going on right now, you're safe."
After those few minutes, Loona sensed the boy running out of tears to shed.
"You feeling better yet?" she asked him.
"Only a little." sighed Balin.
"Now, listen kiddo." Loona began speaking clear to him. "This whole ordeal you've been through, it wasn't your fault."
"It wasn't?"
"No. It was that mean judge's for calling you a risk, because you weren't with your parents when they saw that scary... something. But I promise, kiddo, it was not your fault. Understand?"
"I understand." Balin looked down again.
Loona began stroking his hair with her soft fingertips, along his hair and behind his ears too, making him cuddle deeper into her furry body outside her PJ top as she continued showing him this affection.
Normally, Loona would be the one with the nightmare problems, but with Balin by her side or in the other room, it felt like the best cure for her because of the warm smile she felt doing this.
Slowly, Balin started regaining his smile from the treatment, and Loona noticed.
"My, my." she fake-gasped, now deciding to have some fun. "Is someone feeling happy again?"
"What?" Balin then pretended to go back to being sad and scared. "Um, I mean, no."
"Balin... don't lie to me." sang Loona. "I can smell liars, remember?"
"I'm just not sure if I can smile for a while, Loona." sighed Balin quietly.
Then, Loona thought of an idea to get him to smile again.
"OK, I don't wanna see your tears anymore." she smirked. "You have 10 seconds to wipe them away, or I'll have to lick them away."
Hearing this, Balin quickly grabbed another tissue and began cleaning the tears off his face as Loona counted.
"1... 2... do I have to get to three?"
Soon, Balin's face was rid of all tears. But a few seconds later: "Three!" Loona then started licking Balin's face anyway.
"C'mon kiddo, smile for me." she cooed. "Or you'll smell like a hellhound."
As she continued licking his face, six seconds into her fun, Balin slowly started showing a giggly face. So she kept it up until he started laughing out loud, showing a full smile on his face.
When she finished, the two then chuckled together before following each other in taking some deep breaths, before the boy was calm and collected.
"You see? Everything's okay." she smiled warmly. "Those bad dreams weren't real."
"I know, Loona." smiled Balin back softly. "I'm sorry for bothering you this late. For crying."
Loona's ears then lowered again hearing that from him.
"Hey. There's nothing wrong with crying, okay?" she softly caressed him. "Crying's probably the strongest thing you can ever do. The strongest, anyone can..."
This definitely surprised her, having said that herself. Loona rarely used to cry in her life, mainly during her orphanage years but never outside of it. But it was having Balin around where she learnt that saying, little by little, day after day.
"And you remember what I said before. Right?"
"Uh-huh? That if I needed you..." the boy sniffled again. "Your door was always open?"
This earned a slow nod from the hellhound.
"Thanks again, Loona." he smiled.
"Well, hey, can I be honest with you?" Loona then started explaining something to him. "Sometimes, I say parents aren't always the best. Especially Blitzø. Maybe, not even mine, if I ever knew them. But hearing about yours, it sounds like they take care of you and love you, like you have the best ones. If you're with them or not."
"Like you?"
"Yeah. Even, like me." replied Loona with a blush. "So don't worry. I feel like the next time you three see each other, things will be better."
Balin then smiled looking at the hellhound's smile, before wiping one of his tears of her cheek.
"Awww." she then hugged him tight with a little nuzzle. "See? You're so kind, just as they raised you to be. Wiping your tear off my fur is one of the many things they'll be proud of once they see you again."
She then booped his nose, making him giggle as she finished speaking with a yawn.
"Alright, what do you say we cuddle each other to..." Loona was about to lie down, before she suggested something else. "But first, why don't I... sing you a song to soothe you a bit more?"
Balin then nodded loving the idea.
Loona then held the human boy close to her chest, in a cradling position like he was a baby, so that could hear and feel her heartbeat sounding like a rolling thunder.
As she began singing a song from one of her favourite rock bands on Earth, Balin looked up at her in surprise.
"LOVE OF MY LIFE" by QUEEN:
Love of my life... you're here with me.
You've stolen my heart... now you're in my arms.
Love of my life, can't you see...
Bring it back, bring it back. Don't take away from me because,
You, don't, know... what it means to me...
Singing those last two lines, Loona drew a little smile across Balin's lips with her claw, while the boy was amazed by the tone of her actually beautiful singing voice as she continued lulling him.
Love of my life... don't leave me.
You're changing my life... with your sweet smile.
Love of my life, can't you see...
Bring it back, bring it back. Don't take it away from me because,
You, don't, know... what it means to me...
You will remember, when this is blown over, and everything's all by the way.
When I grow older, I will be there at your side to remind you.
How I still love you...
(How I still love you...) *Loona howls the Freddie Mercury note*
"C'mon, let's get you some warm milk." she whispered as the guitar solo began. "Maybe that'll help you sleep again."
So during the instrumental, Loona then filled up a glass of warm strawberry milk for Balin to drink. She held the glass up to his mouth, ironically like a baby.
Once he was done, she put it in the sink and gently walked back to her room swishing her tail as she finished the song.
Back, hurry back.
Please bring it back home to me because,
You, don't, know... what it means to me...
Love of my life... love of my life... oooh, oooh, oooohhh...
Loona then finished singing as she laid back down on the bed with Balin snuggling close to her with his eyes shut again.
And with a smile, Loona was now the one crying happy tears herself.
"Sweet dreams, Balin. For real this time." she choked as she kissed his cheek.
So holding him in her arms close to her chest, and once again wrapping her bushy tail around him like a blanket, the two fell asleep peacefully with only happy dreams to come.
Meanwhile, as they slept, they had no idea Blitzø seen, heard, and filmed everything on his cam-corder. Stunned by the performance, he then let out a quiet sigh and slowly slid down the apartment's fire escape, deciding to leave it alone for tonight.
Shocker.
A/N: See y'all in the next chapter.