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Chapter 6.

Marcus just held onto John, trying desperately to comfort the crumpled human. He ignored the fact that the still wet blood was getting all over him. 'God...what the hell happened to him?' He leaned his nose closer to the human and took a long sniff...and he caught a heavy, musky smell. 'Oh fuck.' He thought real hard before he grabbed John's head and directed it so that they were looking at each other. "John...I think your one hell of a strong person who's been through worse than this. Now c'mon, let's get you cleaned up."

He grabbed John's shoulders and helped him up on his feet, "Can you walk?"

John nodded slowly, "Yeah...I can...Ungh..." John leaned forward into Marcus's chest, unconscious.

Marcus sighed, "Damn...alright then." He placed his paw on John's back and directed the other to his legs. Slowly and carefully, he lifted the human off the ground and headed upstairs. 'He's covered from head to toe in that smell...damn it! This...this is my entire fault.' As he was walking, he looked at John's face, his eyes glued on the scar on his right eye. 'He's...he's been through so much already. I told myself I would protect him. But instead, he just keeps on getting fucked over.' He carried John into his room and laid him down gently on the bed, 'I need to get him clean....'

Hesitantly, he reached over to John's chest and grabbed the shreds of blood soaked shirt. It was already torn beyond repair, so he just ripped it off, carefully of course. He had to cover his nose with his paw; the strong smell hit his face like a speeding train. Marcus didn't know how John got covered in the smell, but he knew what it was. Along with it, there were several other scents, most likely the blood. Marcus knew what John's blood smelt like, and this wasn't his. In fact, only about six percent was his. The blood had soaked through the shirt and stained his furless skin.

Marcus's eyes drifted over towards John's wound, and his eyes widened. The cut was worse than before, looking as if it had been forced open. The forced opening had caused it to also rip the skin, making the cut longer than before. The stitching was also missing. Marcus straightened himself,'Okay...so first, I'll take him for a bath. Then, I'll re-stitch his cut. After that, I'll let him rest.' He reached for John's shoes and pulled them off along with his socks. Then he went for his pants button, but then paused. 'Uh...um...fuck it!' He grabbed John's pants and slid them down, his eyes looking down to avoid looking at his groin. Then, he had to think for a minute, 'Um...should I?...Nah, I'll leave them on.'

When he was done, he threw the pants into the pile that consisted of the shredded, blood soaked t-shirt and shoes. He recomposed himself and stood...and stared at John. He was breathing peacefully, eyes closed. He looked...so blissful. Marcus sighed,'It's like...the only time he's at peace, is when he's asleep. Safe from the cruelty of the world.'

Slowly and carefully, he lifted John once more and headed to the bathroom. Once in, he laid the unconscious human in the tub and turned on the water. Turning the nozzle to make the water warm, he ran his paw through it to make sure it wasn't too hot. Then he stood and removed his shirt and pants, leaving only his briefs on. Once the water was at the requested level, he sat down on the edge of the bath tub, his foot paws soaking in the pleasant warmth. He murred, the warmth was so welcoming; he wanted to just dive in. Then he remembered the purpose of him being here, shaking his head, he went to work. He grabbed the blue scrubber and dunked it in the water, and then brought it out and squeezed the water out over John's body.

Marcus watched as the blood coated on the humans body dissolved and started creating dark red swirls in the water. He watched as the swirls drifted down towards the drain, vanishing from his sight into the dark, mysterious hole. Marcus looked back at John and squeezed more water onto his body. John reacted by sighing and turning his head slightly to the left. Marcus saw this, and smiled. But the smile disappeared when he remembered whose fault it was for John being in this state. The wolf closed his eyes, 'Damn it!...I was supposed to protect him...and instead I fucked up!'

Marcus put his paw on his face; he could feel tears building up. He hadn't cried since his mom died, and he wasn't going to start now, 'At this rate, he'll die because of me, and that'll make it two people that have died from that reason. There's...no way I can make up for this...I lied to him.' The wolf shook his head and opened his eyes, the sadness and regret replaced with determination and hope, 'No! There is a way I can make up for this...and God damn it, I'm going to find it!'

With new confidence, he grabbed the body wash and applied it to the scrubber. He then started to gently remove all of the clotted blood from John's body. As he did this, John kept on shifting his head with satisfied sighs. After Marcus had removed all of the blood and stains, he went over all of John's body again, just to be sure. After that, he drained the water and lifted the soaked human. He grabbed a towel and was about to walk out, when he heard a groan. He looked down and saw that John was slowly coming back, "John?"

The human tried to open his eyes, but only brought them to halfway, and Marcus could tell he was struggling. "Marcus?...Let...let me down."

The wolf did as he asked, still cautious of John's condition, he put a paw on his back, "Can you walk?"

John nodded slowly, "Yeah...I...I can...alley...Linkin..."

Hearing this confused the wolf, "Alley? Linkin? John...who's Linkin?"

John grunted, "I have to...go and..."

As soon as Marcus heard, 'go,' he put his paws on John's shoulders and turned him around, "Whoa buddy, you're not going anywhere. You need to rest."

John shook his head slowly, "No...Need to...help...Lin...Linkin...L..." John lost all of his energy and lost consciousness again. He slowly leaned forward, and fell asleep with the side of his head against the wolf's warm, fluffy chest.

Marcus held John's head with both paws, "C'mon sleepy head, let's dry you up and let you get some rest." He grabbed the back of John's legs and lifted him, heading out the door and into John's bedroom. Once inside, he used the towel he grabbed and dried him, then laid him down on the bed. He left him there and went to his room to grab some more bandages. He returned and walked to the side of the bed. Gently, he applied the bandage over the laceration, deciding to let Michael reapply the sutures rather than risk messing them up himself. 'Damn, is this thing ever going to heal? It just keeps getting worse.' He ran his paw across the bandage, just to make sure it was on right, stopping the wound from weeping for the time being.

He stood and headed for John's closet to get out some fresh clothes. All he pulled out was some pants and boxers, everything else looked like school clothes so he didn't bother to suggest putting them on him. He walked towards the bed and set the clothes aside. First, he had to remove the boxers. Marcus just stood there, unsure of how he should do this. 'Uh...maybe I can wake him up?'

He reached his paw above John's head and snapped his fingers, "Hey...John? Yooohooo...Damn, guess I've got to do it."

Focusing his eyes on John's knee joints, he nervously wrapped his fingers around the waistband of John's boxers, and gently pulled down. They slid off easily, and he pulled them completely off. He didn't know what came over him, but he slowly looked up, curiosity had gotten the better of him. He stood and took a step back, staring in awe, "Whoa...that's something you don't see every day," he muttered to himself. He grabbed the waistband of his own pants and boxers and stretched them, looking at his own junk for comparison, "That...looks nothing like mine. Wait...What am I doing?!"

Shaking his head, he grabbed the clean clothes and began to apply them. When he put on the clean boxers, it took him most of his mental strength not to look again. This is what confused him the most, why did he want to look again so badly? This one question scared the hell out of him, so he quickly put on the pants. He lifted John one last time, and put him under the covers. He was about to walk away, when he stopped. He turned around and looked at his...friend? After all the pain he had caused him, is he still his friend? Marcus doubted it. But he wanted John to be...his little brother, and it was his job to protect him no matter what.

Thinking about it for a minute, he walked to the other side of the bed. He was fully aware that all he had was boxers on, but he got under the covers next to John. He turned his body so that he was facing him, scooting forward so that he was closer to him. John was facing the other direction, breathing peacefully, completely unaware of the two furry arms that wrapped around his torso, pulling him closer so that his back was against the wolf's furry, warm chest. Marcus closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose, John's scent was so unique, 'He could be in a room with a thousand people, and all I have to do to find him is close my eyes and breath in through my nose.' He nuzzled the humans neck, feeling John's body shiver in response to the cold nose touching him, "I'll protect you...I promise."

~~~~

John opened his eyes, to see nothing but white. He grabbed his head, trying to wake up faster so that he could see where he was. Once he got his vision together, he looked around...and knew where he was. He hadn't been here since the day Marcus and Michael found him, and it wasn't his intention to return. He stood and looked at himself, he was wearing the same school clothes that he had put on this morning, but they weren't damaged at all. He looked around; everything was the same about this place, nothing new. It was the same, never ending whiteness.

He closed his eyes, and tried to remember what happened. The alley...the tiger...Linkin! John mentally slapped himself, how could've he forgotten? But along with Linkin returning to his memory, so did his actions of what he did to the thugs. Of course, all the blood was gone but he could still remember how it felt against his skin; cold, clammy and sticky. He shook his head, "Alright! Time to wake up!"

He closed his eyes again and clapped his hands, 'Focus...concentrate...' Slowly, he felt this warm feeling around his whole body, and he opened his eyes in reality. What he saw seriously confused him. He saw the conscious world and his sub-conscious world at the same time. Except his sub-conscious world was more in control than his conscious, which was extremely transparent. He was in a bathtub, filled with warm water. He moved his fingers, slowly waking up his body from its slumber. But even so, his S.C world was still the dominant one.

He looked around, and noticed that he was practically naked. In normal circumstances, he would've flipped out, but then he looked to the left and saw that Marcus was squeezing water out over his body. He tried to speak, nothing came out. Getting pissed, he tried to move, but only his head responded. So-he just watched. Watched as Marcus bathed him and cared for him. While he watched, several questions popped into his head. 'Why is he...damn it! I...I need to trust him. Marcus is doing this because he wants to help me, so I need to just relax. This is going to be an adjustment for everyone, and I need to learn to not have my shields so high. Otherwise, I'll push away people who are just trying to help me.'

He watched as Marcus lifted him out of the bath tub_, 'Okay, let's try this again.'_ He tried to wake up completely again by speaking, "Marcus, let me down."

He listened as his body tried to obey, it stuttered a little bit, but it still got through. The wolf looked at John, and he could tell that his violet eyes were full of caring and...Regret?

Marcus spoke, "Can you walk?"

John tried to speak again, "Yeah, I can walk. Look, we need to go back to the alley and find Linkin!" Or at least that's what John waited for his body to say. He was disappointed to hear that all he was speaking was incoherent sentences. Marcus set John down, and it took him all his strength to not collapse. Keeping his link to the conscious world was hard enough.

A puzzled look struck the lupine, "Alley? Linkin?...John, who's Linkin?"

The human was getting annoyed now, and his body grunted in response to that. Suddenly, he felt the link weaken drastically, and tried to quickly respond. "C'mon! I have to go back and find Linkin! I need to make sure he's alright Marcus!" Because of the link's weakness, his body spoke in even worse incoherency. This time, only a couple of words came out.

Marcus responded to the few that he heard, "Whoa buddy, you're not going anywhere. You need to rest."

John felt the connection worsen, and tried to object, "No! We need to find Linkin and help him Marcus! C'mon!...Damn it!" His surroundings turned back into his sub-conscious world, and his clothing slowly reappeared.

He'd lost it; his body must be too exhausted for him to fully gain control. He sighed, 'Damn...I need to wake up!' He was about to kick himself to see if it'll work, but then he felt something. This feeling...he'd felt it before. He closed his eyes, and it all hit him at once. This was the feeling he'd felt when he touched the door. He opened his eyes; his green iris's filled with fear. Slowly and shakily, he turned around. He saw it, the same black, ebony coloured door. Except for the thing that was different this time... it was slightly opened.

Dark, liquid looking shadows were spreading around the door, the source coming from whatever was inside. The dark shadows looked like a virus, infecting everything around the door, slowly turning the white into dark. Just looking at this thing made John's skin crawl, he wanted to just run away, but where was there to go? Instead of running, he began to back up slowly, until a voice spoke out to him, "So...I see you punished those dickheads. Heh heh, I've gotta say, after seeing what you did to them, I can't wait to see what's going to be next!"

John was scared shitless, this voice... it was the same one that spoke to him in the alley, and when he first encountered the door, the same bone chilling, distorted voice. John spoke up, "Wha-what the hell are you doing here?! How'd you get here?!"

The distorted voice answered with glee, "Oh! You already know the answers to that John...besides, you ARE the one who let me in."

John was perplexed, "What do you mean, I let you in?"

The voice just laughed, "You really don't get it do you? You were close to dying that day, you pathetic weakling. You were here, scared out of your mind and you wanted to wake up so badly. So...I gave you an option, set me free, and I'll get you out of here. And like a bitch in heat, you jumped at that offer."

John was getting pissed, "What do you mean, set you free?"

The voice sighed, obviously getting agitated, "You opened the door John, and you let me out, even if it was just a little bit. This is your sub-conscious world, and you had me locked up all those years, deep in the darkest corner of your mind. I asked you to let me completely out, but as soon as you touched the door; I couldn't wait anymore...so I charged. But I guess that backfired, but at least I have some room to 'spread' out in here."

John took another step back, 'What the hell is this thing?' The voice interrupted, "Oh that has a very simple answer John. I am ...what you wish you were. I am all the things that you wish you had. Remember all those dark thoughts that you've had throughout your life?...Well, that's what created me. I'm better than you John. I've got more courage and bravery. I am the extra strength that you wish you had back in that alley. I am better because I've got more balls than you. I'd even kill someone and not give a damn. You're too soft, and that makes you pathetic and weak. You care about other people's emotions...well...I don't. The door isn't open enough so that I can actually do anything, so all I can do is talk to you when you're in the conscious world. And speaking of which, you did a satisfying number on those thugs. It was quite easy to get you going, all I had to do was get your blood going with some pep talk."

John's eyes widened, is this thing for real? The voice continued, "Didn't you see John? Didn't you see what I did? I showed you a small glimpse of your true capabilities, and just with a couple of words! Imagine the amount of power and strength you'd have...If you just open this door. Just picture it John, you'd never be weak again! And anyone who'd fuck with you would turn out three times as worse than those dipshits in the alley. All you have to do...Is open this door."

This snapped John out of his fear, what he did to those people, he didn't like it. "No! You're fucking crazy if you think I'm going to open that! What I did to those guys, I didn't like it. Sure, I would've kicked their ass, but not like that. If that was just a small glimpse of what I can do," he pointed a finger at the door, "Than I'd rather shut this damn thing for good!"

The voice stayed quiet, and then sighed, "Alright...but I'm afraid you can't shut me. Once I'm open, I stay open. I am now permanently attached to your sub-conscious world, and there's nothing you can do to get rid of me. As for declining to open this door, I think it's a poor choice. One day John, you will need me. You'll face hopelessness, and I'll be your salvation...your last resort. Oh and by the way, you think those two mutts care for you? You're pathetic to think that they would help you. Hell, you don't even trust them!"

This pushed John over the edge, partially because this thing was insulting Marcus and Michael, and partially because deep inside...he knew the voice was right. Never the less, he defended his new family, "How the hell do you know? You don't even know what they're like!"

The voice snickered, "Oh yes I do...turn around, and you'll see."

John scoffed and turned around, and froze. Standing there smiling as if nothing was wrong, was Marcus. Just like John, he was wearing the same school clothes that he'd put on this morning. John was taken aback by his presence, "Marcus? What're you- ack!"

His sentence was cut off when several of the liquid shadows grabbed John's body, pulling him towards the ominous door, "Wha-what the hell are you doing?! Let me go!"

The voice snickered again, "I don't think so...you think they care about you? Then call for help John, beg them to help you and watch as they do nothing!"

John stopped struggling and looked up, to see that Marcus was standing there, even closer than before. The wolf reached his hand out, smiling as he did. John just stared at him, and then he felt the strength of the shadows increase. Desperately, he reached out his hand towards the wolf, "Marcus! Help me!"

His hand was just about two inches from Marcus's; he called out again but got no response from the wolf. The shadows pulled him closer to the door, forcing his hand to go down. John was on the verge of tears caused by pure fear, "Marcus!...Please!"

Marcus put his hand down and moved closer to John so that his muzzle was right next to his ear, then he gently whispered, "No." With that being said, the wolf turned around and began to walk off.

John eyes widened, not believing what he'd just heard. The black door opened all the way and pulled John with all of its strength, pulling him all of the way in. Right before John was about to be consumed by the darkness, he grabbed the edges of the door frame with his hands; his nails were scraping against the black wood, holding on for dear life. "No!" he grunted, "Not again!"

He gritted his teeth and pulled, and slowly started to ascend from the black space, back into his safe white haven. "Yes!" But as soon as he saw a spark of hope, it was extinguished when a huge, thick black tentacle popped out and wrapped around his torso. Then, lightning fast, it pulled his body into the cold, horrifying darkness.

~~~~

John opened his eyes with a gasp...to find himself in his room, tucked nicely into his warm, soft bed. He could feel his heart thumping around in his chest, beating so fast as if it wanted to escape its home. He was sweating slightly; he could feel it on his forehead. The bright, orange sunlight poured through the open window, which welcomed cooling breezes into the small room. He closed his eyes again and tried to relax his body with some slow breathing. His whole body was sore, mostly his arms. His mind was swimming with thoughts, mostly about what he'd just seen. Then, somewhere in the storm, he remembered what his goal was at the moment. Linkin.

There were two problems though; the first one was that he was too tired and weak at the moment. He tried to move, but he could tell that his body had gone way over its limits. The second problem, something was holding him. Lifting the covers and looking down, he saw two thick, furry arms wrapped around his body. John sighed, 'Marcus.'

Feeling a little nervous, he tried to pry open the arms, but it was no use. In fact, Marcus responded by only re-enforcing his hug, increasing the amount of warmth he was giving John. Even though John was sweating, the warmth...felt amazing. John's eyes glazed over, and he sunk himself deeper into his personal heater. Even though he knew who it was, he still wanted to turn around and face the person hugging him. Moving slowly, he twisted his upper body first and then flipped his legs.

Marcus's eyes were closed, breathing calmly as he slept. His head was slightly tilted down, snoring. John smiled faintly; he had to admit that Marcus looked cute. Not the kind of attraction cute, but the kind of cute that people would use to describe a puppy. That's exactly what Marcus looked like, a giant, adorable, fluffy puppy. As much as John wanted to stay in the warm, soft bed, he decided to get up. But first, he had to wake Marcus up.

John spoke softly, "Marcus."

The wolf's ears twitched slightly at hearing his name, but he still remained in his slumber. John chuckled softly and lifted his right hand to scratch behind the lupine's ear. Marcus smiled and murred, tilting his head so John could gain more access. John complied and scratched a little rougher, just enough to wake him up from his sleep.

Marcus slowly opened his eyes, sighing, "Hey...how you feeling?"

John chuckled, "Well, despite the fact that I'm practically being held down in my own bed, just peachy."

Marcus deeply blushed, his white and black fur failing to hide the blood rushing to his face, "Oh, heh heh, sorry."

He released him, but John stayed put, "I didn't say it was bugging me."

Marcus blinked in surprise, "Really?"

John closed his eyes and nodded, "Yeah, I've never been held like that, it makes me feel loved and protected. It makes me feel safe."

Marcus stared for a couple of seconds, letting this sink in, "So...do you mind?"

John still had his eyes closed, "Nah, go ahead, knock yourself out."

Still a little hesitant, Marcus wrapped his arms around John, pulling him closer than before. John sighed deeply, 'This warmth...it's so amazing.' The human pressed his head deeper into Marcus's chest, trying to envelop himself as much as he could. If John had all his strength right now, he would have been out the door as soon as his eyes were open, searching for his red and black friend. But, he had never felt this exhausted before, even on the day he was stabbed. Instead, he just kept his eyes closed, and listened. He could hear the steady beats of the wolf's heart, it's constant tempo reminding him that there was a living person right next to him, *bump bump*.....*bump bump*.....*bump bump*.....*bump bump.*

Several minutes of silence passed by, until the wolf broke it by speaking up, "John...what happened?"

John opened his eyes, but he didn't look up, "You know, I made a friend today."

Marcus stayed silent, even though he didn't understand what this had to do with what happened. John continued, "His name's Linkin. He's a black and mahogany Doberman. I met him in ROTC today. Since he's the platoon leader, he showed me the ropes. We didn't get to do anything because by the time he was done, class was over. We said goodbye and parted and after I got my bag I headed out the door and started walking home."

John heaved a sigh and closed his eyes, everything replaying in his head, "Before I actually left the perimeter of the school, he came out of nowhere and asked if he could walk with me. I, being the negative person at the time, warned him that being seen with me or talking to me will ruin his rep. I mean, I didn't know much about the guy, but I could tell he was popular. Anyway, I was going to start walking to where you were supposed to pick me up, until he stopped me." John felt the wolf's heart rate increase.

John reached up and held Marcus's wrist, he could feel the skin under his fur becoming tense. Curious for what may have caused this, John looked up. Marcus was looking down at John, his brows furrowed slightly, "Is he the bastard that did this to you? Because I swear to God..."

John raised his hands and pressed them against the wolf's chest, shaking his head, "Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on there Mr Testosterone, he's not the one who did this to me, I'm getting there." He held onto his wrist until he felt the wolf relax completely, then he continued, "Anyway, to put it simple, he told me that he didn't give a damn about what other people thought of him if they found out we were trying to be friends. He said that there was something about me that made him want to get to know me better."

Marcus spoke up, "And what could that be?"

Even though the wolf was calm, John could sense a little bit of suspicion in his voice. John shrugged, "I dunno...beats me. Anyway, he suggested we start over. So we both introduced ourselves and told each other a little something about ourselves. After that, we began walking again and...ran...into..." John's voice trailed off, images of the tiger and his friends invading his no longer un-tarnished mind.

Shaking his head slightly and clearing his throat, he continued, "We ran into a tiger." John closed his eyes, 'God...just saying that is making me shaky.' His arms grew tense and his breath started to stagger.

Marcus, picking up these signs, squeezed John a little tighter, "It's okay John, and it's over now. You don't have to be afraid anymore, I'm here to protect you."

John opened his eyes half way, and leaned his head against the wolf's furry chest, using it as a pillow. 'He's right,' John thought, 'I'm safe now.' "He wasn't alone," he continued, "He had three other guys with him. There were two in the front and two in the back, so Linkin and I went into a back-to-back defensive stance. Everything was going great, until I let my guard down. I was hit in the back of the head."

"No shit," Marcus grunted, "You've got a huge ball on the back of your head." Just to prove his statement, he ran his paw over the small back of John's head, he didn't move too quickly though because he didn't want to hurt him even more.

John drew another sigh, "Yeah, so as soon as I got hit, Linkin ran towards me. Seeing how his guard was down, one of the other guys hit him on the back of the head. Unlike me though, he was knocked unconscious." Just not knowing what state his new friend was in, was driving John insane, "He got hurt because of me."

John was fighting to hold it together, but inevitably, tears began to escape his tight-shut eyes. "Had I not ever met him, he'd be safe right now, perfectly fine."

Marcus looked down at John. Hesitantly, he leaned in and licked the tears away, "Well, how do you know he's not okay? I mean, didn't you see him before you left?"

John shook his head slightly, "Uh uh, as soon as they knocked him out they sent one of their guys to drop him off in front of his house."

Marcus put his chin on the top of John's head, "Well he should be safe, right? Why wouldn't he be?"

More tears escaped the human's eyes, and he spoke in a small whisper, "You don't know what those fucking bastards had in mind for us...for me."

Suddenly the heat got uncomfortable for him, and John pushed himself away from Marcus, removing the covers so that he could stand up. He quickly walked towards the window and slammed both of his hands against the border of the window, one on each side. Then, he let it all out. Since his head was down, tears hit the wood floor instead of rolling down his face. Marcus quickly got out of the bed and walked towards John, stopping about five feet from the breaking human. John hit the border with one of his hands, "They tried to face fuck me Marcus! They...tried to use me like I was a fucking boy toy or something!"

John opened his eyes, watching as his tears dropped from his face towards the floor. The sun's rays that poured in through the open window reflected off the falling tears, creating a spectrum. "Linkin was unconscious when one of those bastards took him...how do I know that he didn't do anything to him! I-I can't deal with the thought that he's hurt because of me! This is my entire fault...all my fucking fault!"

He raised his fist to punch the border again, but a white paw stopped him. Turning him around, Marcus released his wrist and put both of his paws on John's shoulders. John was looking straight at the ground, breathing heavily. "John," the wolf spoke, "Look at me."

John didn't obey; he just kept staring at the ground. "John!" Marcus spoke in a louder, more aggressive tone, "God damn it, look at me!" Marcus reached over to John's chin and lifted it so that he was looking at him, "None of this is your fault. Get that out of your head, you and your friend were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. And I know you're worried about him, but you're too weak right now to do anything, but I promise that as soon as you get better, we'll go look for him together, okay?"

John closed his eyes and sighed, as much as he hated it, Marcus was right. His body was still too exhausted to do anything, just standing up was taking all of his strength. "Okay," John muttered.

Marcus closed his eyes, relief moving through his body, "Okay...so, do you mind telling me why you were covered in blood?"

John opened his eyes halfway, "You know...I don't even remember how it happened. All I felt was anger, anger even I didn't know I could show. Marcus that blood that was all over me, that wasn't mine."

The wolf nodded, "Yeah, I know. You were carrying like three different smells."

John leaned forward so that his head was leaning against the wolf's shoulders. Marcus lifted his paws and wrapped them around John's shoulders, comforting him.

John breathed in deeply, "Marcus, I-I almost killed a man today. I'm only a sixteen year old kid, a sixteen year old kid isn't supposed to be capable of those things. So tell me, please, what the fuck am I?"

Marcus brushed John's soft, short hair with his fingers, "John, you were scared and those people tried to hurt you. What were you supposed to do? Just let them have your way with you? No John, you fought. You fought to protect yourself; you showed them that you weren't just going to stand there. John, you're one of the strongest and smartest people I know, that's what you are." To comfort him some more, Marcus leaned his head to lick some more of the tears off.

Feeling much better, John turned his head to the side and chuckled lightly, "You know, you guys sure do lick a lot."

Marcus smiled, "It's one of the many ways that we show affection and caring."

John closed his eyes, "It reminds me of when a puppy is licking all over your face."

This time the wolf laughed, "Ya know...most people would take offense to that, skin bag."

John smiled and raised an eyebrow, "Skin bag? Do you WANT me to kick your ass?"

Marcus took a step back and smirked, "No, but how about this. We each have our nick name for each other, okay? I get to call you skin bag, and in return, you get to call me pup. Deal?"

John chuckled, "Well, I guess I can't pass that up, deal...pup."

Marcus was still wearing his smirk, "Alright then...skin bag."

The two laughed together until they heard a sound downstairs, a knock coming from the front door. Marcus turned around, his brows furrowed in confusion, "Who the hell could that be?"

John turned around to look out the window, "Did you invite anyone over?"

Marcus shook his head, "No, but let me go see who it is." He turned around and smiled, "And I better not see your ass out of that bed skin bag."

John, still facing the window, rolled his eyes and laughed out of amusement, "Yes sir!"

Marcus walked out the door and headed towards his room to put some pants on. Once he was done with that, he ran down the stairs to answer the door. John was still looking outside through the window, his face soaking up the sun and its rays making his green irises glow. The stone on the necklace also reflected light from its many sides. John looked up towards the sky, 'Linkin...I hope you're alright.' Out of nowhere, he heard a loud bang, following with something that sounded like breaking glass. He quickly turned around and stared at the entrance to his room, listening for anything else. Sure enough, he heard what sounded like grunting. That's all he needed to hear, he bolted straight towards his door and headed downstairs, his heart slowly filling with panic.

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Linkin slowly opened his eyes, groaning as he did. Everything was blurry, and his head hurt like a mother fucker. He closed his eyes and opened them again, and everything slowly came into focus. All he saw was the blue/orange sky, in between two buildings. He tried to get up, but as soon as he sat upright, he felt dizzy and lay back on the ground. "Damn."

He rolled over and tried to get up by pushing himself with both his arms. He got on one knee and gripped his head, "Ugh...fuck, what the hell happened?" Then, it all hit him at once, his eyes widened, "John!"

He pushed himself up to his feet and tried to get his head together, everything was still fuzzy. He leaned against one of the walls while his vision slowly came back. The first thing he saw was his house. Once he was fully functional, he sprinted towards his house. He checked his watch, "2:56 pm, it hasn't been that long. Hold on John, help's on the way!"

As he approached his house, his heart was beating un-controllably, 'Please...please be home dad...Please.' Instead of knocking, he banged on the door three times, not caring if it was rude, this was urgent as hell. He turned around and slowly looked up towards the sky, his blue eyes burning with anxiety. "John...I hope you're alright."

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Linkin Monroe is © to the user Linkin Monroe, please do not use his character without his permission.

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Edit performed on 24/12/2011 as a gift by RuthofPern, at Madfire's request.