FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Hokkk-ay~ phew... this part is even longer (97 pages of A4, yikes!) and I blame it on my stupid skills in organizing my work. Should I have finished the story beforehand, I'd be able to keep every part somewhat balanced with the rest. But again, it's just some ranting on my part (if this really is ranting or just plain thinking-out-loud). Freaky title, isn't it? The eleventh part shall be the final closure of the story. No-Yiff in this part, but I kept the tag of adult just to be safe =X

Also, a fair warning: (R18+)

Yes, this is an adult story, with male/male action (with mild drama squeezed in between for the sake of the story), bad language and mild violence (in yiff at times), so if you are disturbed by such things, or simply get a turn off by some, do yourself a favor and don't proceed. Consider yourself warned.

_________________________________________________________________

Ix walked across the empty white hallway, stopping at one room and glancing at the patient inside before entering. The wolf was still in bed, looking at the news on TV, an owl was with him who stood... so childishly close to the window's glass (he could swear he saw him like that since ever arriving), and a bear was there too... sleeping... in a corner of the room.

He walked in, surprised that none of them noticed him entering. Ix turned his attention from Silver to the TV, it was the weather forecast, showing - typically - some predicted heavy showers to hit the city for the coming three days. He turned to the wolf again, but Silver was still oblivious about his presence. The doberman smirked in agony to himself; this hospital always succeeds in pulling the weirdest weirdoes. He stepped closer, faking a cough to mark his arrival visible. To his surprise, the fake cough turned real, a cough loud enough to even wake the bear up.

"How are you feeling?"

The wolf turned to the doctor, smiled and shook his head.

"I feel fine, thanks."

"No clutches so far, yes?"

"Not a tiny bit since I woke up."

"Good, you can be reassured now; you're not infected."

"... yeah, thank y-"

Suddenly, Silver found a big brown ominous bear over him. Kuma dashed quickly to his bed and hugged his face in his bosom. His muzzle kept digging and rubbing at the wolf's head as Silver writhed in surprise. A Bear Hug Time? Here of all places? He felt embarrassment hitting way high; his muzzle and nose were just in between his...

"Silver is fine!"

"... y... yes, man... *groan~* I'm ok, don't worry so-"

"Kuma was scared... so scared... *sniff~*"

"H... hey, don't cry over every little thing... my head, included... *grunt~* come on dude, ease up a bit, you're hurting my neck."

The doctor smiled awkwardly as the bear let go gradually, sulking a bit while listening to the wolf scolding his over-sensitive reactions, and how he end up hurting him every time he hug him like that. The dog can see the signs clearly on Kuma, maybe due to his innocence, but the wolf seems to be good in hiding it; only a slight blush failed him, but that wasn't enough.

"Well, I came here to tell you that you're good to leave next thing tomorrow."

"Alright! Does that mean I can go to work tomorrow?"

"Yes, though I'd recommend a day off."

"No way, I feel totally fine, really."

"... ok, but take it easy."

"*Grin~* no prob~! Really appreciate it, doctor."

+++

"Ben!"

"..."

The snare dark-bluish penguin walked across the main hall, in front of everyone's silent glares. He was in his uniform, only the E-rank emblem was missing, but only that little glittery thing missing did all the difference.

The tiger appeared after him shortly, clearly taking wide steps to catch up to him. He gripped his arm but the penguin broke it quickly, still walking to the exit. His steps finally came to a stop when Turbo faced him and stopped in his way.

"Benjamin, hold on."

"What now?"

"What now?! Why? Tell me why?"

The cold-loving creature turned his gaze elsewhere, this anger he's feeling towards Turbo isn't fair. Sure, he had to appear the way he did before those crooks, but he can't explain to his superiors that he couldn't stop this one enraged civilian from darting in. He himself didn't know what he was about to face when he followed Turbo, but these were all excuses an Emergency Troop leader wouldn't make. It's not that he couldn't stop Turbo if he wanted to, but his friend was acting out of himself; stopping him meant hurting him too.

His thoughts broke as Turbo shook him a bit, placing his paws on his friend's shoulders.

"Ben, why? Why are you being suspended?"

"It's only tempor-"

"Fuck that! Tell me why?"

"Turbo, stop making a scene."

The penguin pushed Turbo's arms away, looking at his face again calmly.

"These things happen, you know that since you've been an officer once."

"I know they happen for a valid reason."

"Well... I screwed up and let a prisoner es-"

"Don't bullshit me, man! They won't suspend you for..."

Turbo's eyes grew wider, he's becoming more and more familiar with these looks... he saw such eyes before on him. The penguin was cowering from an eye contact.

"... heh... Ben, it's because of me, isn't it?"

"!?"

"I've been with you for years, I know those habits. You don't want me to-"

"You're wrong, you've got nothing to do with it."

"... let's see who's wrong, then. Shall we?"

"Huh?"

Turbo gripped his friend's wrist once again, and began walking strong steps inside the hall again, dragging his shocked friend behind him. Ben kept ordering him to stop, wanting him to wait for a minute. He even tried to pull at his arm and stop him forcefully, but the tiger's grip didn't yield.

Again, he knew he was able to stop Turbo, but it would mean hurting him.

The tiger kept dragging the clueless penguin in front of everyone, and his troop kept following them. The penguin's eyes got wider; the tiger took the middle walkway, took the first right and was aiming for the last door on his left.

"W-w-w-wait, Turbo! You're not-"

"Silence, I'll talk sense into them."

"*Gasp~* Turbo, stop it!"

The angry cat ignored those words for now, his mind has to do what it wants. He actually kicked the door open, blowing the secretary out of her chair. The moose stood in shock, her mind confused between the sudden fright and the familiar face.

"What are you... eh? Mr. Bosc-"

"Where is the High Chairman?"

Benjamin felt his spine detach from his back, he looked at Turbo; his face was serious, he's not kidding, he's really doing it...

"H... He's still in the conferen-"

"HEY, NO! DON'T TELL HIM!"

Benjamin screamed out for the lady to be silent, but the answer was already out. The tiger grinned, walking slowly while pulling his friend behind him who started to pull on his turn by now. The moose said nothing, staring at them just like a father pulling his ill-mannered child for a serious talk.

"Turbo, Turbo c'mon, you don't know what you're doing, man!"

The orange feline said no reply, his foot did the talking as it rose again and bashed another kick at the meeting room's door, sending a shiver inside the commandant, the director and the two other generals. The chief inspector and the high chairman looked calm... surprised but calm. The crow commandant's anger was the first to show up.

"The hell is this?!"

Turbo walked inside, and gave a strong pull at his friend, forcing him to stand in front of him. He released his hand and stood silent with his arms crossed in front of his chest, but Ben was silent as well, not knowing why he was forced to stand here. A couple of silent seconds passed, then the penguin gave a quick, almost-90-dgrees bow with his eyes shut in embarrassment.

"I-I'm terribly sorry for th-Ack!"

Turbo walked forward, giving the penguin a stinging smack at the back of his head to make him stand straight again. He looked at the rest of the high-ranked people in power, his eyes were bored and angry at the same time.

"Aaaaah~ Ben, you're such a useless nice guy. Guess I'll have to do the talking."

The crow moved from his chair, going in front of the tiger with eyes that didn't seem ready to hear nonsense.

"We're in the middle of a-"

"Are you really alright with this, your Highness?"

The crow got baffled by this man's rude behavior, addressing the High Chairman like that in a mocking voice. The generals were silent, along with the director. But the chief and chairman kept gawking at that bold tiger in curiosity. The crow didn't like what's going on one bit.

"Hey, you! Don't get cocky just because you were once an officer!"

"You sure you want him to-"

"Quiet! We're having an impo-"

In front of everyone's surprise, Turbo extended his claw to the crow's neck, almost snatching it out of its place when he pulled the commandant near his visible fangs. Turbo's eyes were wide, thin and tall. His voice was low, but dominating nevertheless. It brought a quick shiver to Ben, fearing that he might go primal frenzy on them too.

"Excuse me... are you perhaps the high chairman?"

"... *gasp~*..."

"No? Then I'm obviously not talking to you, am I? Two words for you, coal-coated feathers: Fuck off."

A violent push sent the crow staggering backwards, and the tiger stepped closer, reverting his eyes back to the bored but angry badass and looking again at the chairman, silent. The chief gave a concerned look at the kangaroo humming in thought, but the high chairman soon stood up, ordering everyone to leave.

The crow was clearly against giving this brute an ear, but the chief shook his head at him, reminding him that the high chairman spoke his mind out and they should respect his decision, giving a secret wink at Ben.

+++

"My mind remains the same."

"But, sir-"

"Turbo... it's not that easy."

The African kangaroo shook his head several times at Turbo, and Ben was standing near them, looking away in bitter silence.

"I heard everything from the chief."

"Chief inspector, sir?"

"Yes, I know that Ben did what he did because of you."

"Then why?"

"It's simple, really. Rules and regulations, you understand, don't you?"

The tiger found himself suddenly out of ideas; the system cannot be bent for any reason. They were the police, if they themselves bend the rules, then why would they run after thugs?

"But... he didn't do anything wrong."

"Keeping a prisoner there without us knowing was wrong enough to put him at this state... and, again, he did that for you."

"... but you can't suspend him... not like this..."

"It won't be long befo-"

"I need his help now!"

Turbo couldn't keep the matter secret any longer, he motioned for Ben to come closer and took out his phone, showing them the marker blinking.

"This is where they are, sir."

"... is that a tracker?"

"I placed it in the prisoner's phone, and they took the phone too when they helped him escape."

Ben's eyes opened wide at the blinking red dot, a slight smile formed on his beak. That's right, the tracker Turbo placed in his mate's phone, he remembers the tiger saying something about that. They lost them, and thought they'd never get another chance for years... but there it was, another chance! He looked at the high chairman again, his face turned serious fast and his voice returned.

"Mr. High Chairman, sir."

"Hmm?"

The snare penguin stood in attention and suddenly gave a bow full of respect. His arms and hands got attached to his sides, pleading to the old kangaroo as best he could.

"Please, just give me this one chance to make things right."

"..."

"Just for one day, let me carry my emblem again for 24 more hours."

Turbo smiled at his friend, finally he's acting the way he wanted. He turned in his turn to the roo and bowed down next to his friend, supporting his cause.

"Please, sir. Do this one favor for me... I'll be greatly indebted to you."

Silence caught the chairman for awhile, having not just one, but two youthful passionate underlings like that begging him to change his mind was heart-breaking. He took out his phone with his left hand as he pointed at the marker with the other hand, and began copying the marker's serial code.

The many silent clicks scared the two, they peaked up, noticing that the kangaroo isn't paying much attention to them.

"S... sir?"

Turbo stood straight slowly, his eyes getting wider at those strange reactions. He knew what that meant, it meant the exact thing he didn't want to happen. The chairman returned the tiger's phone back to him.

"I'm sorry, son... but you know I can't bend the rules."

"But... but, sir..."

"I thank you for handing us some valuable information-"

"You... ungrateful old geezer!"

"... you made your point, so-"

Turbo instantly felt his blood exploding his head in anger, feeling backstabbed. He snatched at the chairman's tidy uniform collar, snarling as he did, but he found his friend quickly holding his arm with both hands, shaking his head left and right slowly.

"Turbo, this is enough."

"Ben, why are you so fucking ok with all this?!"

"I'm not, but you're going too far."

"Ben, quit being a big chicken wuss and stand up for yo-"

"TURBO, SHUT UP! JUST BACK OFF!"

The penguin pressed on his friend's arm, forcing him to break that rude snatch at his superior. He pushed the tiger back, standing in his way. Anger took the best of the penguin now too.

"This is so unfair, Ben, and you know it!"

"Just drop it, man-"

"LIKE HELL!"

"Hey!"

"They should be thankful to get their hands on the rest, and now - just because ONE of them escaped - they suspend you?! It's not like the rest of the crooks they caught can't talk!"

"No, but the one I was holding there was the only person they wanted back. Besides, that isn't reason enough to-"

"WHY ARE THEY IGNORING ALL THE OTHER THINGS THEN?"

"You're making it worse, man! Enou-"

"THEY ASKED FOR IT-"

"I SAID SHUT UP, I WAS WRONG, I SHOULD HAVE STOPPED YOU BY FORCE BACK THEN AND I DIDN'T! JUST LIKE NOW!"

"YOU THINK YOU COULD, YOU SON OF A-"

"THAT'S NOT EVEN THE FUCKING POINT ANYMORE, IS IT?!"

"... Benjamin..."

The penguin shivered, finally aware that he snapped for the past 30 seconds in front of the chairman. He turned slowly and sighed in silence, bowing down again in apology. The kangaroo motioned for him to relax and turned to Turbo, still the tiger was breathing fast, irritated.

"I'm so sorry for my friend, sir."

"It's ok, officer. At ease."

Irritated in his turn as well, Ben stood up straight and made his way to the door, leaving the tiger and kangaroo inside the meeting hall. Turbo's anger prevented him from following his friend, and made do with just trying to talk sense into this old jumper.

"Sir, I don't want him to be suspended because of me."

"It wasn't because of you, young man. Benjamin got himself to this situation because of the decisions he took."

"... but he did all that for me."

"Still, he had the choice not to."

"..."

"It's alright, it won't take long before he returns in service. This period will give him the chance to think about his actions. It's for his best interest."

"Then... then can I perhaps..."

"Hmm?"

"Can I join the operation?"

"For these guys?"

"Please, I brought you their hideout coordinates, I should deserve as much."

+++

The tiger walked slowly out the meeting room, his face was troubled big time. Benjamin's troop members were waiting for him, and tried to make him understand the situation, but none of their words really reached his mind. He can only see one lion being so pissed off at him, pulling his leader like some kind of animal and rub salt to his injury. The lion was facing trouble sending his piece of mind to the tiger; all his friends were trying to keep him back, scared that they might end up fighting.

After asking them about their leader's whereabouts again, Turbo found himself walking away. His mind was absent, he clearly needed to think but no thoughts reached up his brain cells however he tried. He stood in front of a slightly-closed door, he can make his friend inside, sitting on the leather chair and crashing his head all the way back, facing the roof.

His beak was slightly open too, trying his best to remain calm. The way he snapped at Turbo in front of the high chairman was a big mistake. Ben closed his eyes in another attempt to cool himself, but got them opened again as he caught the door creaking open.

"Ben."

The penguin sighed, his ear drums identifying this voice. He sat straight again, still silent, and his eyes got fixed on the E-rank badge lying in front of him, not wanting to look at Turbo just yet. The tiger stood there for a good minute, not knowing where to begin; an apology or an explanation.

+++

'Ramzy...'

"..."

'Ramzy!'

"!!"

The human quickly sat in fright, alarmed at that voice. The room was cold, or... no, his body was cold, the room's temperature was fine. His limbs felt so heavy once his eyes made the scary creature in black hood again. He closed his eyes, wriggling on his bed.

(He's not here, his voice isn't... this is my imagination. He... he can't be real.)

'Not long now, morsel...'

(He's not real, he's not real, he's not real, he's not real, he's not real-)

'It will soon feed.'

"You're not real!"

'Soon, feeble mortal-'

"SHUT YOUR TRAP! YOU'RE NOT REAL!"

Ramzy reached for his head as he bowed, pressing hard at both ears, but the sound was echoing in his mind directly. It was hallucinations, the voices were not real, and they didn't need his ears to make him hear.

'All that lives-'

"NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

A little later, the human left his head slowly, noticing his voice was finally gone, he slipped his hands down from his head. A sheer sharp sound radiated in his ears, but it soon subsided. His heart was pounding fast, and his eyes were looking forward, right through the mirror in the room. It reflected a white-haired human, with eyes as pure as snow. From the distance, it was impossible to tell that he had irises in his eyeballs. It made him shiver, scared at his own reflection.

"What have I become?"

'Like father like son?'

"Sh... Shut up! I'd never!"

His knees stood up, he hugged them and buried his face behind them. He never wanted to be like him, never like his father, but he's exactly a living clone of him now. He's a crook, an outlaw, but that was the only way to keep everyone safe. His breather returned calm again, reminding himself of the reasons.

"... I'd never..."

His body vibrated at the sudden knocking at his room's door, and his ears can hear the hyena calling from outside. He went and stood behind the door, still not sure if he want to let him in.

"Hey... you asleep or something?"

"..."

"Don't act asleep, I heard you shouting."

"..."

"... heheh, are you going to make me stand here forever?"

"What do you want?"

"It's time, remember?"

The human instantly flinched, pressing at his chest and gasped greedily. He dropped at his knees; this one was a strong robust. The hyena sighed through the door and gave a bored remark.

"Just open up, will you?"

"G... go away..."

"... *sigh~* you sure? And just when I came here to give you some."

"I don't... need... g...ggeh..."

"Tsk tsk tsk."

The human raised his head at the door in horror as he heard something, it was... more like iron... iron cracking with other metals... his eyes got frozen at the door when it began to open. The bastard was a master lockpicker too?! With a whimper, the human crawled forward quickly and tackled the door close again, receiving an 'ow' and hearing a thud sound.

"You idiot... my nose!"

"Stay out!!"

"Damit, stop being emo..."

The human felt the door opening again behind his back, but his stubbornness didn't last long with a clutch as strong as this one. He felt his body moving aside as the hyena opened the door enough to enter. Zephyr closed the door, locked it and stood there for a bit, eyeing him from over the human's head.

"I'm being so kind to come so secretly and ease your suffering, and you treat me with a bash of this cursed door at my nose?"

"..."

"Tch, get a grip, pansy."

He kneeled down, showing him the bottle again in front of his head, waiting for him to take it. But Ramzy didn't do so this time, he glared back at the bottle in hatred... this fucking liquid... He hit the bottle with the back of his hand, dropping it from the hyena's hand.

"I... *pant~*... I don't need... your help."

The hyena was silent for a moment, waiting for the clutch to fade. And as soon as it did, he grabbed Ramzy's head from his hair, and rammed it back to the wall. A faint grunt escaped the human, already tired of his death ritual.

"... don't confuse this act of kindness with receiving help from me, jerk."

"*Pant~* Same goes to you."

"... I'm sorry?"

"Don't feel so friendly with me just because I joined, you filthy pigs."

"You think I give the least of shit about you, buddy?"

"You'd scare me if you did."

Taking the small syrup again, Zephyr stood up and turned to the door, not seeing any more meaning for staying here. But the human slowly stood up with the help of the wall, looking at him with eyes that had questions.

"What is it now, human?"

"Why do you-*pant~* criminals mess everything up?"

"Criminals?"

The hyena smiled, looking at him with yet another unexplained smirk.

"You won't be saying that after a couple of years."

"Why not? Is it because I'm one of you now?"

"It's because the side that wins is always the right side."

"What's this blasphemy?!"

"Looks like someone wasn't wide awake in History lessons; look at the past, human, it was always the 'right' side that wins last."

"Criminal acts are against Justice!"

"What is Justice?"

"... wh... what?"

The hyena stood quiet for a bit, his smirk disappeared momentarily as his eyes surfed elsewhere. He chuckled lightly and shrugged, looking back at the human.

"Justice isn't the path of Good, Ramzy, because whoever makes it on top of the food chain is Justice. Whatever he says becomes Justice."

"That's... not-"

"Yes it is, because he has the power to change Justice as he sees fit, no one would have the power to disagree with him."

"..."

"Unless someone else wins his place and kicks his ass, then it would be the new guy's word to be labeled Justice... and so on."

The gaze of his white eyes became blank, those words had some of the most twisted definitions of Justice, yet it made perfect sense. He soon realized that the hyena wasn't in the room anymore, he already left and closed the door behind him, leaving only the echo of his mind in the room with the human.

"Justice..."

The human walked to his bed, sitting slowly on the soft cushions.

"Justice should be... interchangeable... then why?"

+++

"His diaries?"

Ben was sitting behind his office, going through some files before he leave. Turbo was standing at the other side of the office, his paws standing hard and heavy on the brown wood of the table while having his eyes locked on his friend's.

"He's not one of them, Ben."

"... one of who?"

"The Unseen!"

"No, he's not... but he's a criminal."

"What?!"

"Someone kept calling him R.R., you know those letters we found on occasion... and all of them happened to have connections with their activities."

"..."

"The Unseen is like a puppeteer, I believe the crooks we caught at that crumbled building were only dolls moved with thin strings."

"... Ramzy could never be one of them."

"The diaries told you that?"

"Ben, I need no diary to tell me that! I know because I know my mate!"

"What about Marcus?"

"... what does Marc-"

"You don't even sound like you know him anymore, but you look so ready to swear on this human's innocence."

"..."

The penguin sighed, he can't discuss something like that with Turbo and go about these files at the same time. And it's not like the tiger will go away anytime soon. He let go of the files and stood up, moving his feet a bit. The tiger kept his stare on him all the while.

"... Ben..."

"Turbo, I understand why you're so edgy, but I cannot ignore my superiors."

"I know that, and that's exactly why I'm hoping you'd understand."

"Let's say I believe you, what then? I'm suspended; I'm clearly not in the operation."

"Benja-"

"Enough, man."

"..."

"Look, I'm sorry, but I have a lot to do before I leave."

Realizing that nothing he'd say will change his friend's mind, Turbo turned to the office's door and walked out.

"By the way, I'm sorry for snapping at you in front of the chairman. Your actions were too sudden and quick you made me panic."

"... don't worry about it, I already forgot all that."

Turbo walked off, his mind was troubled, being excluded from this mission just because he's not a cop... they're just doing their job, and protecting civilians, him included, was top priority as always.

(I'm sorry I cannot allow that.)

(Why not?)

(You weren't even D-rank when you called it quits, we need E-ranked officers here. We cannot allow them to escape again or else they'd be even more cautious.)

(But sir!)

(Turbo, I'm really thankful for what you've done, but you've done enough.)

(...)

(Let us do our job too.)

'Blast it! Makes me wish I was still a-'

He halted, not even finishing that thought. If he was still a cop, maybe he would have never met Ramzy in the first place. He sulked even lower, not knowing what to do now. He can wait and cross his fingers for the best.

But seriously, what kind of mate would he be if that's all he did?

+++

The crooks seemed to be on the move too, the furries were all over the wharf as the preparations for departure were still going. The hyena kept an eye on everyone, handling major matters and giving instructions with the buffalo on his side. But Zephyr kept stealing stares at the only person who doesn't seem to do anything... well, only person other than Amado, of course.

The fox didn't mind him being gloomy or alone for the most part, for what can a weak human with a deadly disease do? The brute herb-eater, however, noticed those serious glares the hyena kept sending towards the human. It didn't comfort him; Zephyr's nature was always the most troubling between the gang. Things about this guy just didn't feel right, not even for the lawbreakers themselves, and he still feels intimidating and powerful enough to shove any trouble off him.

But what was the meaning of those secret peaks at the human up the roof of the ship? It's as if the hyena wanted to tell him something, to draw his attention to something. Or...

Or maybe expecting him to do something.

+++

Flok finally reached his flat, throwing his bag on his bed and got to the shower. After leaving Turbo, he had to return to the hospital to check on Silver and the others. He took Claus with him to drop him to his adopter's home, and left Zed there since Kuma didn't feel like going back home yet... not that the owl moved from his spot near the windows anyway.

He dropped Claus on his way back, and now he felt like his body was finally feeling the fatigue of all those laps he took.

'Damn, I better not exceed the limit of laps per day. But today was kinda frustrating, I had to do this...'

Taking a quick shower just to get rid of the sweat, he got out and wore a pair of green-and-white lined pajamas. He took note of the basket near the sink when he threw his used training suit in it; it was full, and he should be doing some washing soon. He took a quick look at the mirror in his room, and sighed as his form appeared clear under the stretched fabric.

'Wow, I'm growing sexy lately. I'm going to need bigger clothes.'

He thought of flexing just to feel good about himself, but he kicked the idea out; he already wore his clothes and they feel so tight around his torso and stomach, doing so might rip the linen. He smiled at his reflection when that idea crossed his mind, maybe he'll try that once he buys new bigger clothes.

'Heh, I always wanted to do that, wonder how it feels like to rip my own clothes out of sheer awesomeness and muscles, huh? Not that I'm anything near Turbo... that bastard, I doubt he even worked this hard for it, in the first place.'

He got out of his room, and was planning to find himself something quick to eat before retreating to bed. But that's when the door of his apartment got knocked at. Peaking at the door's eye, his head got more puzzled since there was no one at the door. He opened the door quietly and peaked out, turning left and right. No one was in the hallway of this building's second floor. He thought of calling out and see if someone was there, but his mind was tired for any adventures. He was actually thankful that it ended up this way; now he can just drop dead on his bed.

A tiger left the building's main door, walking silently to his car. He wasn't sure why he came here, and for a minute there he thought that talking to Flok would ease him. But this problem was his alone, he wasn't about to trouble someone else with him.

He'll just have to act on his own, a tiger hunts better alone anyway.

+++

The blue colleagues were surprised to see Turbo again, his face was still sulking down when he entered the building.

Some of them felt courageous enough to stop him and ask, but soon they let him pass. The tiger was just coming back to get his late father's bowling bag in the locker room. Turbo passed across the tactical room, making some faint voices wrapped around a lengthy conversation. The police are making their move since there isn't much time before it hit 2am. He sighed in agony, still thinking about Ben and how by-the-book his icy-cold friend is like.

He reached the lockers and slid his father's card in the lock, and opening it was no easy task. Once he did, the photo of him, his parents and his best friends - Marcus and Benjamin - stared him in the face. He was silent, but that photo drove a painful groan out of his closed muzzle.

His father's suit, helmet and visor were still hanged neatly inside, as if waiting for their owner to come back any day and embark on his next mission. Even after his (expectedly) last mission, the department took the liberty to clean his suit from blood, sew the bullet holes and hang it again here in respect for his deeds. The same thing happened with Mrs. Bosconovich's suit.

His eyes dropped lower, eyeing that bowling bag. His father used to be a regular player once the day was finished, and it was thanks to him that Turbo got introduced to this game. And with it he suddenly found himself on a close attachment with his father's friends, shortly joining the blues too.

'God, those memories are still fresh.'

The sad memories stretched a hand to pull the other sad memories he had in store, visions of Ramzy when he was still Yzmar, and how they spent these few short days discovering one another, suddenly lingered in his eyes. The vision of him when he was sick was the strongest, he can remember the way he hugged his back, breathed in his hair and licked at it. That feeling was indescribable, it was something so passionate.

So magical.

But in place of that magic a strange dark hole created itself, and those days stopped, went missing somewhere. He closed his eyes, still standing like a fool in front of an open locker that is not even his. He concentrated more on moving his butt, standing here and remembering the past won't do anything but open his psychological wounds again. He reached down to the bag's grip. His paw returned the locker door slightly before it stopped, his eye staring at that picture some more.

And his mind started to put those gears together to work for a second.

+++

Some time later, Ben was in his office when he heard a lot of movement outside, he didn't bother checking it out; it's the troops who got assigned for the job, and his simply missed this opportunity because of him.

Still, he didn't want to think about it much; Turbo would have done the same thing if they were in each others' shoe, he was sure of it. A smile crossed his beak as he thought about it, and his mind got back at ease, no longer regretting his actions.

He finished up and got out of his office, meeting one of the lower ranks placed as a reception officer in the main hall. The dark raccoon stammered as he saw him coming, standing quickly on his feet and almost dropping the chair back.

"Oh! Officer Ben, Sir!"

"At ease, I'm suspended for now, you don't need to-"

"No, sir. We highly respect you, suspended or not!"

"... heh... anyway, did they move?"

"Yes, sir. They are six troops of E-ranked officers with their leaders. I... umm, sorry for what happened, sir. I'm sure you want to be with them so much for this one mission."

"It's alright, I only wish for justice to triumph."

"Also, your tiger friend was here again."

"Hmm? Turbo?"

"Yes, he took off just before them by five minutes."

Ben suddenly went silent, troubled about Turbo's return.

"Sir?"

"So he left."

"Yes, sir."

"Was he carrying anything?"

"Huh? Er, only a bowling bag."

"Bowling bag? He doesn't have one... *whispering~* unless..."

"No, sir. It's his late father's... sir."

"... Mister Autumn's bowling bag..."

"..."

"Anything else?"

"No, only the bowling bag. It was kinda inflated more than usual, but he said he took some of his mother's stuff too from her locker."

"He didn't do that ever since...?"

"No, sir. And the department was contacting Mr. Bosconovich's old address, his mansion's butler kept answering the calls, saying he doesn't know where his young master is."

"Yeah, he left the mansion too that day."

"His butler said that he has orders from Turbo to look after the mansion until his return, that's why we were unable to tell him until now."

"I see..."

The penguin's thoughts returned to his friend, Turbo appeared so concerned, and really tried something extreme to prevent his suspension. He also kept talking about this Ramzy human being innocent, but that's somewhat normal, given that the human used to be his mate. But he never expected this change in Turbo; the guy hated humans more than bathing, and suddenly has a human mate? And now he tried to convince Ben about his innocence, even though was caught in a secret meeting with them?

(I'm gunna need to speak with him again, just to relieve him. But for now, I think I'll-)

"Sir Benjamin?"

"I'm going to stay for awhile, I still have things undone."

"... ah, no problem at all, sir!"

Ben left the rookie to his work, returning to his office. He made sure everything was tidy and just the way it's supposed to be. He took the emblem in his hand, staring at it and smiled sarcastically. It's only a matter of days and he'll put it back on his shoulder, no big deal. But his head was troubled with something else, and something about Turbo just didn't seem normal.

'I'll remain here for now, and see if this mission goes the way it should.'

+++

The wind got stronger these past few hours.

It was getting very close to 2am, Ramzy was still sitting on the ship's roof, gazing at his phone's clock. He left his head and turned about himself, glaring at the many dark warehouses. It was too quiet, and the preparations to move are almost complete.

(Maybe I should have written 1am ins-)

He paused, his eyes finally catching movements. But the thing moving wasn't what Ramzy expected, he turned forward to the sea again and sighed, hearing the hyena's footsteps getting closer.

"Yo, furless freak."

"... just leave."

"Damn, as hard-headed as ever, aren't you?"

"..."

"It's almost time, you need to return to your room."

"... we're not moving."

"... huh?"

Ramzy finally found his chance to smirk, his eyes making other movements across the warehouses. He stood up and turned to the hyena, his eyes were narrow as he threw his phone at him to catch it, his eyes getting stronger and more confident.

"Zephyr, they've found us."

"They?"

Suddenly, a crook shouted from down below, his alarmed voice sent a strong wave echoing 'cops' in the big boat. Everyone immediately left whatever they were working on, taking cover where they found appropriate and keeping their arms ready.

The hyena looked down the wharf, and found five, six? No, seven, seven police cars stopping near them. The car's open doors worked as a perfect cover shield for the blues, stopping one near the other and creaing a barricade. Zephyr was struck in awe; these guys are the real deal. They picked midnight for an assault, not bad! They didn't activate the police siren yet so they can make their advance unnoticed. The cars didn't open a single light so the watchmen couldn't find them easily.

"*whistles~* Bet it's all thanks to visors, enabling them to drive in the dark. That stuff is really convenient, wish I had one myself."

Ramzy was a little surprised; the hyena didn't look the least worried, or rather... it was the other way around, his smile arched in a crazy way as he flipped the phone close and slipped it inside his suit. There was some good portion of thrill running across his veins, it appeared as if he couldn't ask for anything else better than this. He turned to Ramzy and smiled.

"Made good use of your 'phone', haven't you, Ramzy?"

"I knew it, you were aware of the tracker all along."

"Why else would I give it back?"

"You got me... why did you give it back?"

"Isn't it clear?!"

"Call me a fool."

"For this! Can't you see?"

The hyena stepped a little bit closer to the edge of the big roof and waved both arms outward, marveling the setting of this specific moment in his epic play. He took a peak down, having a closer look at the scene below.

"Daaaaaaamn, they're not kidding. Seven cars, seven freaking police cars filled with E-ranked, I assume... YES! I know those emblems! Hmm, there must be some backup on the way, they shouldn't take us lightly after what we did in the station."

"... you... you're not sane."

Zephyr gave out a crazy laughter befitting his character, and turned to the still puzzled human, looking at him in pure pleasure. Not sane, was it? His eyes were congratulating this guy in understanding this much, took him long, though. He picked up his communicator device and his face turned drastically into a freaked-out person before exploding at it.

"FUCK~! GET COVER! IT'S THE BLUES!"

He tossed his device aside, no longer thinking of any use for it. He smirked again at the human as he went calmly to the stairs, descending from the roof to the top deck of the ship, leaving Ramzy standing there alone. The human was quiet, eyeing this communication device.

'Man, that guy was crackers, huh?'

"... no kidding, but who gives a shit about him?"

The human took out his gun, the gun that was handed to him once he joined, and ejected the clip. He examined the clip once more... it seems to be fully loaded, 12 shots. The muzzle looks fine too. He aimed and pressed the trigger, and the mechanics of the gun worked just fine, only missing a clip to shoot a bullet from. He let out a long sigh as he returned the clip inside, this is finally the last chapter of his story. A story that was short yet so awfully slow.

"That asshole is just a wacko, my target is someone else."

'... Turbo?'

+++

"This is HQ."

"E-ranked Guts here, we've circled around the target from the wharf, where are the reinforcements?"

"They are still lagging behind because of the weather."

"... shit."

Ben stood near the communication room's radios, his mind negated the idea of leaving without knowing what happened in this one mission. His rage and anger to go after the guys who killed his mentors was still strong. He instantly moved to one of the staff and picked his mic.

"Officer Guts."

"... that voice..."

"E-ranked Ray here, talking to you from HQ."

"What the-"

"Listen, try to buy some time."

"... a... affirmative, but how?"

"Do what police always do, give them a chance to give up. Make it sound real."

"... acknowledged!"

"HQ out."

He returned the mic to the mouse, who kept telling him that he can't just blabber what he wants in the mic, and took a couple of steps back, laying his back on a pillar and crossing his hands in front of him. Despite everyone telling him to leave, he stood there until the high chairman entered himself, and with him came the chief inspector. The eagle smiled once he saw Ben standing there, but the kangaroo didn't look amused.

"Officer Ray."

Benjamin turned to the chairman and instantly gave a quick salute.

"Sir!"

"I know I won't like your answer, but... what are you doing here?"

"Supervising, sir."

The eagle stepped forward to stand between them, then he shrugged, turning to the chairman to explain things.

"I'm sorry, but I asked him to do so."

"... chief inspector, I assume you have a valid reason for this; Officer Ray was to be suspended."

"I know, but I allowed him to be here for just this mission, given his feelings."

"..."

"I know we all felt the loss when both Officer Autumn and Aya Bosconovitch left this world, but Officer Ray took a greater blow by those bad news... maybe as bad as Turbo."

The kangaroo shifted his sight to the penguin, and Ben instantly gave a respectful bow. He was silent, but his closed eyes begged the high chairman to allow his chief's decision. With a shake of his head in defeat, the roo moved inside the room, placing both hands behind his back.

"Fine, he can stay for this mission only."

The eagle smiled, giving another secret wink to the penguin as he began following after the high chairman.

+++

"Everyone inside the ship, you are under arrest! Lay down your weapons and come out quietly, this is the police! You only have 30 minutes!"

A lion took a big speaker and was giving instructions, but the crooks didn't seem to move much, they couldn't make anyone in the open either. The bastards are sewing something. Zephyr finally met the fox who kept walking hastily with his brute bodyguard. Amado turned to the hyena and mumbled in anger, still walking fast with his cane.

"How did they even find this place?"

"I don't know, master. Some info must have leaked out."

"Leaked out?!"

"I can't think of any other possibility; they came with their sirens and lights closed, they knew our exact location and planned a surprise attack."

"... you don't think it's the human, do you?"

"Possible, master. But our priority now is your safety. We need to act fast."

The buffalo was silent, catching up behind them. The hyena's analysis was predictable, until the part of suspecting Ramzy. Anyone could leak info and blame it on someone else... in fact, the one who makes such an analysis is also suspected just as much as the rest, but gains the positive trust automatically for bringing up the point. Amado stopped and turned to the buffalo.

"I want you to take everyone's lead here."

"?!"

The fox turned again to the hyena, motioning for him to follow. But the buffalo quickly screamed out, objecting.

"Master!"

"Boy, you're the only one I can count on right now."

"..."

"Don't worry about your master, my boy."

The fox went on, and Zephyr turned back at the buffalo, looking long in his eyes. Suddenly, the brute found himself surprised at him; there was no smirk on the hyena, his eyes weren't devious or crazy, his eyes were serious, firm. Almost as if the hyena was counting on him too, a small slow nod was all the hyena has given out before he ran after his master. And with that, the buffalo found himself a little more trusting towards Zephyr. He sure is bothersome and loud, but in crisis situations such as this one he appeared totally different.

The horned herbivore came close to the ship's entrance, meeting many crooks taking cover there. He took out his communication device, glaring out at the police cars.

"Preparations complete yet?"

"Soon... really soon."

"Sooner than 30 minutes?"

"I believe so."

The buffalo looked again at the cops, they didn't move much, only blocking their way out of the ship as their cars surrounded the other end of the wooden bridge. He sighed out in thought, if they will remain like this for 30 minutes, then that's all they need to make their escape.

Amado kept walking his way across the 5-floored vessel, passing across many thugs and giving them orders to remain their positions and prepare for the worst. The hyena looked quiet, so caught up in his thoughts as he kept glancing at the cops whenever their view was possible.

"Zephyr, boy, don't tell me you're growing restless."

"Huh? No, master."

"What is it then? You look troubled."

"This situation is troubling, yes."

"Zephyr, for someone such as yourself, I'd assume there's something else."

The fox stopped and turned to the light-brownish hyena, his eyes narrowing and demanding a clear answer. The messy-haired feline sighed, then looked again at the police gathering down.

"The attack they did eight or so years ago was..."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, they're... fewer, this time."

"Fewer?"

"A full platoon seems more appropriate if they discovered our location, since it's only natural to try and end us for good this time. But-"

"Oh stop jinxing us, we should be grateful for their few numbers; they'll have a harder time catching us."

"... true... but still..."

"... enough with your worries already, let's move, boy."

The hyena smirked as the fox gave him his back and began walking again in a hurry, this ugly ancient sport is losing his cool already? And to think that he was their brain all these years. Cowards always think of safety whenever a threat makes itself visible.

(That poor buffalo, now I know how painful it is to babysit a jerk.)

+++

"Your 30 minutes are almost up! I repeat, we will use force if you don't surrender!"

The lion took his speaker down and stared at the ship more closely, no movements whatsoever, they clearly are planning something. He reached to his helmet and toggled his visor to night vision, ordering everyone to do the same, then sent another call... but this time, it was through his eyeshade.

"This is HQ."

"E-ranked Guts here, they still have 4 minutes to surrender, yet no one showed up. It's becoming too quiet, requesting an update."

"Reinforcements should be in position right now-"

"Come in HQ."

"... this is HQ."

"E-ranked Biller here, all units are ready, awaiting further orders."

(Dear lord, finally...)

"Officer Guts, it seems that reinforcements are indeed in position. Both of you will get the permission to begin shortly, Group B will give the signal."

"Acknowledged."

"Roger that."

"HQ out."

+++

The big senseless buffalo narrowed his eyes at the police cars, noticing finally the same thing the hyena did before him. Only seven police cars for this big ship? Despite them being E-ranked, it still looked rather fishy, and the police didn't seem to be moving much. They should expect them to run away soon since they didn't get out of the ship so far, but they are motionless.

'... waiting for backup?!'

It soon hit his head; this was a trap. Even though they couldn't run away for preparation reasons, the police wanted them to remain there until they are ready to attack. He turned around himself and noticed that most thugs are getting relaxed, some of them already left their spots. Resisting the blues was no longer in their little heads, only running away.

"Everyone! Hold your..."

His voice soon died inside a twirling sound that became louder and louder, it was coming from up... up? He glanced up and his eyes didn't believe what they saw.

"... damn them, how can they fly in this strong wind?"

The muggers were partially paralyzed by the sudden shock, there was a chopper coming, a chopper with blinding lights aimed down at the ship. The buffalo grunted in disturbance; these guys down there are trouble enough, and now they should also worry about aerial strikes. It wouldn't surprise him now if they...

"... hold on!"

The police down there still seem awfully calm, the ship can turn its engines on and leave the docks anytime, but they still didn't move, waiting on these 3 short minutes to pass before the whole half-hour-thing is over. He rushed to the opposite side of the boat, placing both his hands on the fence's cold iron bar and glared at the restless sea. His mind stopped functioning for a second, almost realizing that this could really prove to be a lost cause.

"Oh, you've gutta be shitting me..."

It wasn't clear much since the wind made the water dance endlessly, and the dark world of midnight made it even harder to spot the two submarines in wait for any suspicious reactions. The police were simply playing it safe, making sure to block every possible reaction other than surrendering.

The lion smirked at the sight of the chopper, and called out inside his helmet.

"Come in, Officer Biller."

"This is Officer Biller."

"E-ranked Guts here, seems our chopper is here."

"Yeah, Group B is here, we're finally in position."

"Took your sweet time, didn't you?"

"Heh, try diving this thing in the raging seas before opening your trap, officer. But alas, good job on stalling the situation for us a bit."

"No problems, just following the chief's plan."

"All we're waiting for now is Group B's signal."

+++

"What?!"

The hyena was on the lead by now, Amado slowed down a bit while talking in his phone. His voice didn't seem very promising.

"If that's the case, then we have no choice, now do we?"

He closed the phone and didn't return it in his inner suit pocket, gripping on it in his paw. Zephyr opened a room with his key ring as he inquired about the call, but the fox didn't say a thing, rushing inside. The slinky hyena smirked yet again as he followed him, turning to close the door and lock it. Once he turned back again at Amado, the old blue fox was stoned in his place, horrified for a moment by Ramzy's presence.

"Ramzy... why are you here?"

"... hiding cowardly again behind your men, Amado Ambrosio?"

"... hmm, you look calm, human. Like you've been anticipating this."

"..."

"It would go without saying... you leaked something."

"You're one to talk!"

"Pardon?"

"I think I know now how Turbo found me back then, it was you."

"What are you getting at, human?"

Ramzy didn't reply, thinking of maybe letting his actions do that for him. He raised his gun straight, aiming at the calm fox. His eyes got wider in surprise to find Zephyr actually stepping in front of his master, opening his arms wide and glaring at the human, blocking his aim.

"Zephyr..."

"... hey there."

"Step aside."

"Not a chance, man."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I'm loyal to my master, after all..."

The human's glare grew more intense, anger is filling his head. Seeing as the situation was safe a bit, the fox smiled, teasing the human.

"I believe we were talking about something, Ramzy?"

"..."

"Ah, yes, how the tiger found you... ok, yes I confess, it was me."

"... Bastards."

"And what are you hoping to gain by this now?"

"Myself."

"*Muffled chuckle~* don't make me laugh, human. You'll get that by sticking with us. Do you know that we're working on a cure for your Grim?"

"..."

"Shocked? Of course, you'd be. Zephyr, be so kind and show him the-"

Zephyr smiled, turning to the fox and destroying the smile quickly to wear a smirk now. Amado paused for a moment, not sure why his subordinate is acting like this, but a hunch made him open his eyes in shock at the hyena, working that strange behavior in context.

"You told him?"

"Oh yes, long before joining us, in fact."

"!?"

"I'm afraid it won't work on him now. After all, we discovered that we really can't help him at this point, remember?"

The fox's surprise grew bigger, and Zephyr suddenly brought one hand to his muzzle in shock, then turned to the human and shrugged.

"Wops, guess I let that one slip out too... what a shame, eh?"

Ramzy's face didn't change, his eyes were still focused, narrow and hatful. None of this mattered anymore; a cure or not, he wasn't thinking about that when he reactivated the tracker in his phone. He gave a quick slight jerk at the gun to the side, hinting for the hyena to move away, but Zephyr just smiled back and remained his ground.

"Zephyr, if you won't move, I'll kill you with him."

"You can't."

"You want to bet-"

"It's not that you won't, Ramzy, you can't. There's only one bullet in that gun."

"Nice try, but I examined the gun before showing up here, many times. The clip is fully loaded with bullets-"

"You mean fully loaded with... bullet caps."

"... caps?"

"You're not that smart, are you, human? You checked the clip, but did you check the bullets inside the clip?"

"..."

"I kept only the first bullet real, thought maybe you'll try to shoot with the gun to check if it works properly. You have only one shot."

The hyena took a couple of steps forward, slow but firm and confident ones. He stopped as soon as the pistol's muzzle got fixed in its aim at his head, a clear warning loud enough to stop him.

"You're gunna shoot me?"

"If you ask for it, yes."

"You won't be able to shoot Amado if you do."

"..."

"He's an old fool, yes, and can't run shit since he needs to rely on that golden stick of his to move his ass around..."

The fox narrowed his eyes in disturbance, sensing some hints of back-crossing in his words, but remained silent for the time being.

"... but he could still beat a weak human such as yourself. Even if he can't, should you waste that bullet on me, he'll succeed to escape and call for help."

"Damn you Zephyr, why are you protecting him?"

"I believe I answered that a minute ago?"

Zephyr smiled, placing both his hands in his suit pockets, trying to look dramatic.

"I'm loyal to my master."

He thought about doing it, but his heart didn't allow him, for how different will he be from them if he killed the obstacles in his way to reach the target? Zephyr was a fucking ass, and he wouldn't miss him should he press the trigger, but his good-natured half refused killing someone who helped him several times. Zephyr was clearly playing his cards in both fields, it's one of the weakest tactics...

But it's the only trick that insures his safety as well, given Ramzy's way of thinking. The fucker was a hyena in every sense of the word.

"What will you do, Ramzy?"

"..."

"Will you shoot and gamble with the info I just gave you?"

"You'll try to catch me if I don't."

"Naturally."

Standing like that in a mental combat, Ramzy tried his best to calculate his options. He can shoot, kill Zephyr, discover there are no more bullets and escape (or maybe fail to do so). Or, he can shoot, kill Zephyr, discover there are more bullets and kill Amado. Or he could simply start thinking about his escape right about now, and keep watching for another chance to kill the foxy bastard.

But this might be his only chance, Amado will surely take more cautious measures should Ramzy run away now.

Suddenly, a lot of hollers and movements can be heard outside, and some sounds of gun fire as well. Things are getting rather hefty outside, maybe the policemen had enough waiting and finally thought about killing this dreadful silence.

Amado turned back at the door, making the mistake of getting distracted in the current events, but Zephyr kept his stares solid on Ramzy, knowing that this is the best ideal timing for him to try something. Seeing as Zephyr was still alarmed, the human didn't think twice about it, he aimed backward quickly, shooting one of the windows behind him, shattering the glass to bits. He covered his face with both arms quickly as he knelt down, protecting himself from the glass shards flying inside the room because of the strong gust blowing inside the room.

Zephyr got down too, astonished by his plan. Shortly, though, the hyena stood up and ran after him, trying to catch up with him before he jump out the window. But he ended up getting his head smacked with a flying pistol, stopping his dash a couple of seconds. It was enough for the human to disappear, leaving behind his gun with a hyena and a fox.

Amado sighed in effort, he was successful in hiding his fear until just a second ago, but it was thanks to Zephyr being here that he survived this encounter. For a second there, he thought the human would take the gamble and kill Zephyr. He looked at the hyena as the later rubbed his forehead from the blunt hit, bowing down to reach for the human's gun.

"Is it really loaded with empty caps?"

"Yeah, I sensed a strange feeling from him, like he joined us but isn't really on our side... so I replaced all the bullets with empty caps, and kept only the first one untouched."

Realizing that he - time and time again - did things without his master's knowledge, the hyena turned to the fox, his face was stern and concerned. He sat down, bending his legs under him and kept them slightly apart while lowering his head all the way to the floor, closing his eyes and speaking with a low voice full of obedience.

"I'm sorry, I admit hiding it from you; I told him about the project."

"..."

"I apologize for what I said about you earlier as well, but it was part of my plan. I needed him to get confused about my allegiance so he won't maybe decide to shoot me."

"But now we lost him."

"We already lost him from the day he joined, I believe he was just trying to kill you before he dies."

The feeble old fox hummed in thought, those words made sense a bit. After all, the third stage of the disease doesn't take long.

"Fine, Zephyr boy... you may carry a gun."

"... r... really?!"

"Don't get the wrong idea; you still have a lot to do in order to win my trust. But dire situations call for dire measures."

The fox stepped further inside the room, giving the hyena his back, not noticing the almost insane face Zephyr was putting. He also pulled out a bullet from his suit, secretly putting it at the top of the clip before cocking it back to the pistol.

"I need you to be able to kill that human should he show up again."

"Hmm... tempting."

The fox turned to the hyena, taking out a clip from his stylish suit. Although Amado only carries a unique small 1-bullet golden gun, he always carries a clip that he keeps in his suit for emergency situation.

"One bullet should be enough to kill a human, yes?"

The hyena looked back at the fox, his eyes wide and daring, and his jaws moved with the words, spilling huffs of thrill and pleasure. His voice was chewed perfectly before being allowed to travel through the air and into the fox's ears.

"One bullet is just about enough to kill... anyone..."

+++

The lion called out for that one hasty policeman dashing inside, but he couldn't recognize him, maybe someone from another troop. He turned quickly to the two E-ranked leaders with him, and both looked stunned just as much as he was. The look on their faces didn't suggest to be familiar with him too.

"Who the...?"

He looked up, the chopper was still flying there, it didn't give any kind of... Wait! There it was, the signal! A small black bomb fell silently from the chopper's open door, and blasted midair, radiating an electric field all over the place. The crooks suddenly found their guns useless, zapping in their hands like toy guns whenever they pressed the trigger in aim at that one dashing policeman. They quickly panicked, unable to think of anything to stop him, he began to cross the wooden bridge into the ship, and a brawling fight seemed to be the only way.

The officer named Guts quickly took out his baton and ordered everyone to march forward. There was no time to think about how risky that stupid policeman was, they should quickly follow after him and carry out the plan.

The stubborn policeman was cutting his way through skillfully, making do with delivering only one blow to whomever happened to be in his way as he dashed about the place. There seemed to be a target in his mind, ignoring his fellow officers and leaders behind him.

+++

"What?! Is this really true?!"

"Sir, I saw it clearly from up here; one of them darted inside before the signal by 4 seconds."

"Damn this, we don't need any heroes tonight, move out in groups!"

"S-Sir, yes sir!"

The eagle returned the mic down on the table, huffing in frustration. It's because of people like him that some fall in mistakes... and in battle, sometimes. Would it kill them if they carry the plan strictly? They only have one shot, they should make it count big time. The kangaroo drew near, patting on his shoulder and shaking his head slightly.

"Calm down, chief."

"High chairman."

"They have nowhere to run; there are two units on standby in the wharf right in front of the ship, and the submarines will make sure that the ship won't escape far as the rest will storm inside. They are as good as caught."

"..."

"Remember that we have aerial support outside the bomb's radius; we planned this to avoid all possible casualties."

"... yeah, I know."

Ben was silent all the while, listening to the whole thing while still laying his back on a wall and crossing his arms. If only he was there... damn it, this was not the time to be suspended, but he couldn't say a thing about it. He remembered how Turbo was so furious about those news, the fucker even dragged him inside the meeting hall again and tried to push it further, snatching the chairman's suit like that. Ben was seriously ready to kick his ass at that moment, but that wouldn't be the best outcome.

He left the room quietly, wondering about the recent sudden incident. A policeman running inside before his fellow companions is just like suicide. Either that, or this very person has hatred big enough to let his sanity break loose in there. Other than him and Turbo, Benjamin found himself unable to think of anyone else...

"Marcus?"

He pfft as he shook his head; Marcus can't even walk straight now. Then... Turbo? But the guy was wearing a police uniform, Turbo handed back his when he left (they didn't know where his LCP went, but Ben can see the connection between that and the LCP currently in Turbo's possession.)

Then who was that?

All E-ranked officers are supposed to be the elites of the elites, such acts are highly degrading; Ben would be surprised if this officer made it back without punishment. He returned to his office, going about the files of the troops who got assigned in the operation. His eyes kept skimming those pages, looking for someone that 'could' be carrying enough malice inside him against The Unseen. He knew that Turbo would be on top of the suspects' list, but - as a friend - he wanted to believe that was not the case.

"... who could you be?"

+++

"Who the fuck is this guy?!"

The thugs didn't believe this one policeman who didn't seem like he plans to slow down. His footing was impressive, his blows were greatly calculated; high swipes and punches to those who seem to have their worries about his legs, and between the balls - usually - to those who plan to strike.

His effort was mainly focusing on cutting through their numbers, he was making do with one-hit-each and couldn't be bothered to slow down and finish the job. His advance soon halted, facing the buffalo who stood firmly in his face, narrowing his eyes. The brute tried to stare at him in the face, but the policeman had his head covered with a helmet, and his eyes glassed with a green visor.

"What's the hurry?"

"..."

"Play with me."

The buffalo sensed a bit of hesitation; the bastard in front of him must know who he is from somewhere. He was suddenly too careful, taking a more defensive stance this time.

"Too big for you, kiddo?"

The buffalo sighed in boredom, he hated being forced to get rid of small fries, but it seems like even the police's elites get their tails between their legs when faced with a giant. Before he decides to end it all, a fully leather-geared reptilian came to the brute, patting his left elbow.

"Hmm?"

The reptilian said nothing, having his mask and leather-skin disguise all over his body. There was a small spot near his right hip that got ruined in his outfit, clearly due to a gunshot. His mask was pinned to the policeman, breathing calmly in soft hisses, and his silence reached the buffalo since he himself was a man of few words. The big vegetarian turned around, nodding to him.

"I'll check on the master, he's yours."

The big mask didn't even nod up and down, still glaring back at that police helmet while the policeman stood there, alerted and anticipating his attack any moment. The policeman didn't drop his guard down even for a tiny bit, it gave the impression that he's familiar with this guy too. He took a quick analyzing look at him; he's thin, flexible, those were signs of a skillful acrobat. His tail was wide and big near the base, but it goes off thin quickly and is very long, standing behind his figure as it rolled around itself vertically like a big standing disc.

The next minute confused the cop, and made him more alarmed and doubtful; the reptilian made way, standing aside and pointing to the nearest staircase.

"Hurry."

His voice got squeezed out behind a muffled muzzle by his mask, it was clear yet puzzling. The policeman took a couple of small slow steps forward, not breaking his stance so far. But the leathered reptilian didn't move a muscle, his arm still pointing at the steps just a couple of meters behind him. The policeman circled around him cautiously, then started to get moving quicker as he dashed to the steps, not fathoming his strange behavior but somewhat thankful for it.

The reptilian took out a small black phone and pressed on redial, bringing it to the side of his mask calmly, not bothering to remove it.

"Zephyr here."

"Yo, I'm done."

"Already? Damn, you're fast."

"What about you?"

"All done here, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah... why so surprised?"

"... I thought they used a lock bomb thingy."

"They did? Guess I was lucky to shoot before they do."

"By the way, that _buffalo_dozer said he'll go check on the master."

"I see, thanks for the heads-up, I'd hate to kill him by mistake."

"Maybe you will anyway."

He quickly moved the phone away, making a faint sound of the hyena's ear-blasting, earth-shaking, mother-fucking, volcano-erupting and mind-shattering laughter through the phone. He sighed as he waited for it to end, tempted to time it with a watch to see if he'll break his record of 20secs full of hysteria, and then brought the phone back to his ear, cursing him secretly in his thoughts.

"You know? You're right, maybe I will."

"Like I care."

"Heheh, I'm kidding; that thick layer of meat is impossible to deal with."

"Well, you have the switch, I'm out."

"Why not stick around? You'll miss 'em fireworks."

"If I don't show up this morning, my boss will get all bitchy at me."

"Heh, fine then. Good job out there."

The masked reptilian smirked a smile under his mask, and started to walk away as he noticed the police slowly over-drowning the place.

"Right'o!"

+++

Standing on the roof again, Ramzy sighed and stared up, looking at the dark cloudy sky as it began raining again. It puzzled him a bit how a chopper can fly when it's so freaking windy tonight, it requires more than skills to fly a chopper, not mentioning natural difficulties.

"Guess E-ranked are no joke."

'RaMzY...'

He didn't turn around, bored already from all the times he sees him. His appearance isn't all that pleasing, anyway.

"Is it my time yet?"

'Soon, Ramzy... very soon.'

"Will you at least wait for me until I kill someone?"

'Kill someone?'

"I need to pay someone back."

'Ask your body that, dweller of the living.'

"..."

'How ready are yOu To DiE, mOrTaL?'

His head dropped down, looking at both open hands staring at him back. His gaze was long, checking his hands as some dots dropped down on them. His mind couldn't still explain Zephyr's reaction. He could swear he wasn't that loyal to the fox, but that moment proved the other way around. It shocked him how the hyena can be loyal yet act so suspicious.

Amado clearly arranged for Turbo to find out about him, he uncovered the human's secret and made it look like he was betraying Turbo. And right after doing what he wanted, stepping down from FEVA, Amado went this far and destroyed his life... he need to return the favor.

"Yzmar!!"

The human's mind went blank, silent, triggering his body to start acting. A policeman was at the stairs, breathing hard from all the trouble he faced to get up here. His suit got ripped in a lot of places, marking the fights he endured to reach him, and the blood faintly washed down his body as it got mixed with the rain. He still had his helmet and visor on, but his disguise didn't change his voice.

Turbo walked slowly away from the steps, looking at the back of the human as Ramzy stared at the raging sea getting more and more disturbed with the wind. His huffs reverted back to normal, catching his breath.

"Mate... it's me."

The human immediately ran so dangerously to the edge, ignoring the tiger's shouts. He got down, and quickly jumped to the lower deck. The fall was painful a bit, but there was no time for him to curl on the floor. He stood up again rather fast, and turned to the steps but his feet halted once he saw Turbo descending them, blocking his way.

"Stop, don't run away... you can't run away from me."

Ramzy stood silent, still not a single voice met the tiger. Turbo walked away from the stairs slowly, looking at that strange human. He didn't look like him at all, Yzmar was never like this. He was wearing old attire, dark and unpleasant, a great contrast with his white hair and... eyes. Turbo almost shed a tear when he saw his eyes, they were cold, no feelings in there at all. They were still strong, giving up was not yet in his mind, but they were somehow... dead.

"Yzmar, just what the hell happened to you?"

The human smirked as he closed his eyes, those words felt so embarrassingly irresponsible; as if this damned tiger forgot how he pointed the gun to his face and showered him with the guilt. But tonight, it will be different.

"Yzmar-"

"Stop calling me that."

"Huh?!"

"You know by now, right? Yzmar is just a counterfeit. He was a mask covering the ominous me."

He slowly reached inside his pocket, taking out a small sheathed white dagger. His eyes dropped down to the clean blade as he drew the dagger out of its white leathered scabbard.

"Life sure is strange, don't you think?"

"..."

"When I didn't want it, it kept going and going. When I want it, it slips away..."

"Y... Yzmar, what are you... doing with that knife?"

"... I told you Yzmar is not my name."

"Hey... drop that thing from your hand."

The tiger stepped a bit closer, scared to make sudden moves, afraid that his reflexes will move just as quick and hurt someone... his own self included. His eyes kept staring in disbelief, his mate was someone else entirely, his once-green emeralds were half-closed, drunk in his own words. It reminded him of his state when they first met.

"Turbo... my life before, it used to have one color. Blue... only blue wherever I look. People were blue, buildings, plants, animal... even this fucking scar I have was bleeding blue."

"R... Ram..."

"Now it has no colors, none at all. I look at everything and it's gray... the world, I can see the world's true face, Turbo."

The human raised his head to stare back at the tiger, his eyes strong yet weak, unyielding yet confused, and angry yet crying.

"Turbo... there are no colors in my world, it's so ugly."

"Wh... Ramzy, you're... c... colorblind?"

"Depression was all I can see, but now... now I can literally see nothing but gray, weak and dying colors."

"Ramzy... just... just come back to-"

"Back? I _am_back, don't you see?"

"No, Ramzy-"

"I'm right where I started, right where I belong. I took it upon myself to change, but I can't. You sent me back; I'm a murderer, man. I'm a blood-thirsty outlaw that used to plan thievery, kidnapping, murdering... what? No I don't think he cares, anyway."

"Huh?"

"Why bother? He'd just say he can't hear you."

"Hear who?!"

"No, I told you, it's not like... do you mind? I'm talking to this tiger right now."

Turbo's heart began drumming faster, the man lost it, and he started to talk to himself. There was no one there but the two of them, and the human was talking with someone other than the tiger, an imaginary being, even his face was looking a little to the right, no longer at Turbo.

"Who are you talking to? There's no one here but you and me!"

"See? I told you he'd deny hearing you, they all do."

"Ramzy, come back to your senses... come on."

Turbo took a couple of steps forward, but stopped as soon as the human pointed the knife up, threatening him.

"I have something dangerous here, buddy. You sure you wanna get close?"

"... stop this."

"Stop what? I didn't even begin yet."

"Ramzy, please, you can stop all this."

"NO, TURBO, IT WILL NEVER STOP UNTIL THAT FUCKING FOX DIE!"

"Fox?"

"Now move aside, I'll have to kill you if you don't."

"R-Ramzy wait, no-"

"I can't be stopped here, not even by you. I'll make him pay, he ruined me, so it's only fair that I get to ruin him too."

"..."

"Step aside, asshole. MOVE!"

Turbo stood there in shock, he can't communicate with him by words, the human standing in front of him was a stranger, someone that he didn't meet before in his life. Yzmar had only a slight resemblance; his voice was Yzmar's, so goes to his body and face. But aside from that, everything else was odd.

(He didn't love you because of his heart, he loved you because of yours.)

Turbo's soul felt a piercing spear thrust right through his chest when he began threatening him. He held no special place for him anymore, the human in front of him was ready at that very moment to detach any attachments he had with Turbo. Just that statement was almost tearing Turbo apart.

"... no... no, I won't move."

Ramzy opened his eyes a little bit wider, not believing his ears. The tiger appeared tired, his wounds and injuries spoke for themselves. But the words that got out of his muzzle had another piece of mind. He stood there, not moving an inch away from the stairs.

"Acting tough, aren't you?"

"Yzmar, open your eyes, what you're trying-"

The human suddenly ran forward, anger in his voice almost blew his own head.

"I WARNED YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

"MATE, NO!"

The tiger took a quick step back just in time to dodge a dangerous dagger, the human was already hysteric. His teeth were visible, anger almost shattered them off as he huffed in irritation.

"I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING MATE!!"

"YES, YOU ARE!"

"ENOUGH!"

He slashed away again, aiming to really hit him, to prove that he was right and the tiger was wrong. As much as it was shocking and scary, it wasn't enough to freeze Turbo's body in place. He kept dodging him carefully, not wanting to strike back. The human kept shouting at him to fight back, angered more that he's only avoiding him, but the tiger didn't let those provokes fuel him. His efforts will lose all meaning if he did. For his sake, he'll have to stand in front of anything, even if it was his mate, the very same person he wants to protect.

"FIGHT BACK!"

"*Pant~* No!"

"STOP DISDAINING ME!"

"Mate-"

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME, TURBO?"

"*Grunt~* STOP!"

"ALL OF YOU!! WHY MUST EVERYONE LOOK DOWN ON ME?"

The human suddenly lost his balance for a bit, dashing rather too forcefully at him when the tiger stepped to his side. A paw quickly held the knife-gripping hand from its wrist as his right arm circled around the human's neck, standing behind him. His hold almost imitated Ben's move when he was in his house.

"FUCK YOU!"

"Yzmar... *pant~* calm down, damn it! What the fuck happened to y-"

"FUCK YOU ALL, FURRY ASSHOLES!"

"DAMN YOU MAN, LISTEN TO ME!"

The human reached with his right hand to his left, wanting to take the dagger in his free limb, but Turbo saw through his effort and dragged his left wrist away, pulling it further outward quickly and ending up hurting his arm a little.

"Argh... rrrRAAAARGH! YOU BASTARD!"

"Fuck!...damn, Yzmar, stop struggling!"

"KILL ME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

"HEY, STOP IT!"

"KILL ME AND I WILL STOP!"

In a quick move, even for the tiger's eyes, the human's left hand juggled lightly at the dagger a couple of times, holding it from the handle's tip. It then threw the blade quickly to the right hand, catching it with its cutting edge up right like a sword. His hand didn't give the tiger much time other than to realize that holding him further like this was a bad idea. The blade of the knife dug down deep in Turbo's right forearm.

A terrible growl escaped him as his grip lost all strength it had, and the human broke away from him, twisting and pulling the dagger out. He turned to face him in hysteric glares and gasps, but the tiger took a step back, holding his readily-bleeding wound, grunting in pain.

"I warned you... I fucking warned you."

(Shit... shit, my arm. Damn it, it burns! Shit!)

The human turned his attention to the knife's blade in his shaky hand, dripping dark liquid... it was bloody, but his eyes saw black. Black, just like oil. His eyes were confused by now, for the last couple of seconds in Turbo's hold, it felt like his eyes could distinguish colors again. It must have been from the bastard's scent, anything that had his DNA made the effects of The Grim weaker once it enters his body.

He shook his head in anger, trying to focus and turned his attention back to the tiger. Turbo's eyes were tall and thin, his rage and fury were driven out because of the sharp pain but his visor covered that fact from the human. He suddenly stuck his tongue out and bit hard, grunting even more from the pain.

"RRRRRTH!"

"!?"

His jaws opened up again slowly, and more dark liquid slipped out from his opened muzzle. He needed that extra sting to get back in control of his body. His pants were heavy and tired, and his hurt forearm kept bleeding more but held with his other paw, blocking his injury. He looked back at the human, still his hope in him didn't die. Ramzy's scar was bleeding nonstop, the tension was unbearable for both sides.

"Mate..."

"..."

"I believe in you, mate..."

"I'm not Yzmar, not anymore. You killed him, remember!?"

"That's not true."

"You shot Yzmar right up that building, Yzmar died ever since. You've forgotten that already? Even a week didn't pass."

"If he's dead, then who the fuck are you?"

"I'm Ramzy! I'm a criminal!"

"NO, YOU'RE MY MATE!"

"... look, I'm really going to kill you if you keep this up."

"Mate-"

"Step, away, from the stairs."

"... No."

"DAMN YOU, I WON'T SAY IT AGAIN!"

"THEN DON'T."

The human charged forward again, but this time the tiger didn't move whatsoever. He let the human jump him, tackle his chest and drop him off his balance to fall on his back. His arms flung sideways, and he quickly felt his uniform's collar grabbed, tugged up uncomfortably by the human as the other hand went up, preparing for a stab.

The tiger's vision turned darker than before somehow, and he didn't need anyone to tell him that his mind was slipping away. He was starting to black out, he can feel it as his heart hinted it out to him, breathing with difficulty. Thinking became tough now, it looked like he already bled too much.

"If you want to die here, just say so."

"... no... I want to... protect you."

"Why aren't protecting yourself?"

"... my heart-*cough~*... Yzmar."

"I'm not your fucking Yzmar, ok? I'm no one's slut anymore!"

"... Yzmar, my heart... give it back..."

"I don't even have a heart of my own!"

"..."

"... Hey, this is no time for you... to..."

Turbo closed his eyes slowly, losing consciousness, leaving an angry and confused human sitting over his torso and pointing a dagger at his face. The threatening stab had no meaning now, and so his hand relaxed, getting back down.

"... why? *sob~* I don't get it... why does it hurt?"

There was no clutch, yet his organs trembled inside him. He threw the knife away, crying out a scream he himself didn't understand. He brought both hands to the furry's torso, hitting him with weak fists together many times, ordering him to make things clear.

"WHY?! TELL ME, YOU FUCKER!! DIDN'T YOU WANT ME DEAD!? DIDN'T I KILL YOUR FATHER? WHY NOW!?"

His mind couldn't do anything anymore, it wanted so much to pull out the plug, to shutdown and be done with it. Nothing began to make sense, it was so scary, the world around him discarded the word 'reason' and things started happening randomly when looking at it from his scope.

"Why do you want me now? I just don't get it."

His mind entered one storm after another, trying to decode the past 15 minutes or so of this horrifying encounter.

"I'm sorry for being pathetic."

His hands weakened a bit, his eyes got attached to that visor. Turbo's eyes were closed, and he was clearly in no state of replying.

"I never wanted to be a bad guy, but I was so young and poor, and had a trash for an old man. I truly saw my demise should I refused them. Or are you telling me I should have died back then?"

His eyes kept crying tears that were not answered, and his heart was shattering to pieces just looking at him so messed up like that. His eyes began to make colors again, looking at his slightly-opened bloody muzzle. He turned to the bleeding arm to his side, and the dagger wound appeared clearly in his eyes, seeing that blood pooling a bit under his lifeless arm.

Was he dead?

He couldn't tell, his mind wasn't in a state that enabled him to make out that much. The continuous sound of the rain was all he can hear, the world was crying. He looked back at his face, he never wanted him to get hurt. He said what he said to scare him, to help him delete all those feelings he still have in his system's main data base. He needed to disappear in order for this living being to live normally again.

"Maybe I should have died, eh Turbo? I was so foolish to think that I can have a decent life. The guilt is still in me, I can't shake it off. And I'm a dead man anyway, just waiting for his death sentence, but I dragged many good people with me."

His head bowed down, until his forehead rested on his chest right under his chin. His eyes opened a bit in confusion, there was something under his shirt, something that his forehead laid itself over, it was hard and solid, the shape was so familiar to his mind when he pressed around it from over his clothes. His eyes noticed that chain around the tiger's neck too.

"... T shaped..."

His hands went alone in there, unconsciousness took over his body to check this one thing out on its own. They fished out the trinket so his teary eyes can stare at it for awhile. Turbo was wearing the necklace Yzmar left behind, why was he wearing it? What does this mean?

"Why do you still... love me?"

(As long as you live, Yzmar.)

"I'm no Yzmar, you idiot... Yzmar was a lie, *sob~* you loved a lie."

It was painful, just the first glance of it made all those memories emerge back. Even after discovering his disease, this one person was so ready to live with him. Him, of all other more worthy creatures in this world. This brutal but kind-hearted tiger wanted that sick human and no one else. The reason was unknown, beyond recognition for the human's mind, it was so illogical to him.

But the thing he didn't know was... when was Love ever logical?

His tears drove louder sobs now, wanting a partner to slip out with. The human bowed down at Turbo's chest again, sobbing quietly.

"He doesn't deserve this, I screwed him all over."

'Hell-oooo?! That's what I was trying to tell you all along, buddy.'

"I... *sob~* I don't want this for him."

'Heart-shattering, really.'

Suddenly, his ears caught the sounds of people getting closer to him. From the way they talked, they sounded like the police.

'Shit... Ramzy, you need to get out of here!'

"..."

'Damn it, Ramzy! If you get caught here-'

"I won't."

He quickly got off of Turbo and pulled up his unharmed left arm, placing it behind his neck. He grunted in effort, standing up carefully and helping the tiger up with him, huffing in fatigue just by making him stand.

'What the fuck are you doing? Leave him be!'

"No, *sniff~* he's my ticket out."

'What are you pl-'

"Shut it, let me focus."

The police suddenly stormed the area, emerging from the stairs. Once they saw the human they ordered him to freeze.

+++

"Captive?"

"Yes, sir. He was helping the tiger policeman who rushed inside, they looked in a bad shape."

"Where are they now?"

"Sir, I sent one of my teammates to escort them down to the police cars out the ship. The standby unit will be there to keep them safe."

"Alright, proceed with the mission."

"Sir!"

The eagle hummed thoughtfully, crossing his wingy arms and closing his eyes. The kangaroo smiled at him, stating that he always gets troubled when monitoring operations such as this one.

"You need to lighten up more, chief."

"It's not that, I'm... somewhat glad."

"Hmm?"

"The policeman who dashed inside, he found a hostage. I don't know where he got such information, but we should have expected that at least."

"That's why you ordered them to thoroughly search every room."

"It's the common thing to do, now that the possibility of holding captives was proved."

Meanwhile, Ben was still going through the identity of this policeman. He entered the locker room, taking out his LCP and carrier, along with his baton, and placing them neatly inside his locker. He had a picture in his locker too, but looking at it made him feel more awful. It was his wife, him and his two kids. The family that disappeared so suddenly from his life. He can now make out the size of that simple life in his heart, but what does it matter now? She went for someone else, and he loved her so much he didn't want to make things harder on her. He loved her to the point of letting her go... his only wish was her happiness.

He unbuttoned his uniform shirt, and his eyes fell on his tutor's locker; Autumn Bosconovitch. So Turbo finally came to take his parent's stuff.

'... wait a minute... unidentified policeman...'

He tried to open Mr. Autumn's locker, but found it locked. He turned quickly to Turbo's locker, but remembered soon that his locker got emptied long ago. Still, they didn't touch Autumn's locker because they wanted Turbo to attend to it.

"What if..."

The penguin buttoned his uniform back and snatched his visor, leaving his helmet in there. He dashed across the reception hall, passing near the raccoon as the electric automated door opened for him.

"Sir Ben! You can't leave with your uniform; you're supposed to be-"

The snare penguin didn't give a care in the world to his recent suspension orders, he ran to the parking slots, mounted his police bike and toggled the visor on, showing him the fastest route to Turbo's apartment.

"Please, let him be there. Mother Nature, please prove me wrong."

+++

The buffalo's steps grew longer and bigger, his running speed increased as he held the ringing phone to his ear under the clean white horn.

"... shit, he's not picking up."

He grunted as he slipped the phone back in his pocket. Master Amado's phone just keeps ringing and ringing, that was so unlike him, especially when it's the buffalo making the call. He made his way across the goons who still tried to fight the police back with anything they got.

He reached the door and tried to open it, but found it locked, typical. Banging at the door didn't work, so he shouted inside, calling his master and the hyena. No reply. That was odd, Amado and Zephyr should be inside this room. His mind began to really worry now, he kicked a couple of times at the door, and the third time was the charm, crushing the lock out of its duty.

He stepped inside, not believing his eyes.

One window was shattered, glass shards filled that side of the room. Zephyr was standing there, holding a gun, giving his back to the door. And Amado was inside too, but not standing. He was lying on the ground, with eyes shocked, open and dead. Dead. His chest was covered in blood that ruined his suit, and his hand was still holding the staff that received its first scratch when the fox fell on the ground.

"... Master Amado?"

Zephyr turned back, glancing at the confused buffalo. He took a couple of steps inside the room, scared. He feared for something like this to happen, the damned hyena was too shady, why did he even place his trust in him not long ago? All this was an act?!

He turned to where Zephyr was standing, but the hyena long vanished. Whether he left from the door or the broken window, the brute didn't know. His mind and eyes were too focused on the melancholy that suddenly engulfed him. He turned back to the fox, taking more steps towards him and kneeling down, placing both hands on the wooden ground.

"Master... Amado..."

His eyes began crying, the only source of pain he got left got activated, and his heart couldn't believe how things turned up. Not couldn't, rather... it didn't want to believe. His hands hesitated, they wanted to reach for him, to touch him, but scared that the coldness of death can still be sensed by him even after losing the ability to feel physically.

(My boy, you don't really like words, do you?)

(...)

(You're so quiet, to the point I sometimes forget you being there.)

(Words only hurt people.)

(Oh? You poor little boy, what makes you think that?)

(...)

His hand reached feebly to the dead fox's face, brushing lightly at his cheek. He didn't feel it, he can't feel him in his hand. It only made his tears drop faster than before.

(So what's your name, boy?)

(...)

(Goodness, you won't even tell me your name, my boy?)

(...)

(Of course, where are my manners? I should tell you mine first, I'm called Amado Ambrosio. Just call me Amado.)

(...)

(What about you, boy?)

(I don't have one.)

(Is that right?)

(...)

(Aww, that's a shame...)

(...)

(How about I give you one?)

(... you'll give me... a name?)

The door of the room exploded open, four or maybe five policemen came inside and readied their guns, looks like the bomb's field effect ended and the rest of the conflict will have to be somewhat bloody. The buffalo turned towards them, looking at those guns pointed at him.

"Freeze!"

"... he's dead."

"Don't move!"

The herbivore stood up slowly, agony and pain squeezed his heart so much he actually wondered if this was still mental pain or physical.

(Hmm, what to name you? What to name you?)

(...)

(You're smart, strong and quiet. You're just like a silent force, like the sea when it's calm and peaceful one minute, just to become a raging storm in the next minute.)

(...)

(You don't have a bark or shout that intimidates your opponent, your unusual solid silence is your bark.)

(...)

The buffalo's eyes cried so much, his heart kept feeling more and more pain, his hand turned to fists as hard as rocks, challenging the strongest metals in its density, and his eyes turned a bit red in color, as being hemorrhaged. His mind ignored the warnings the police sent his way, his body said screw them all when it stood slowly up.

The pain was immense, mental or not, he needed to do something about it.

(As quiet as your storm suddenly emerges, so will it pass. You are a storm in its first quiet stage. I know just the name for you, my boy.)

He dashed at them, roaring a battlecry that made lions shiver in their own pants. All he ever wanted was to be recognized, and he never asked for anything else after this one old fox did exactly that. But now, Amado was taken from him, the pain of losing what he have was nothing compared to his current state, he didn't mind The Grim taking his sense of touching others and feeling their friction with his body, but Amado was a different case altogether. One of the policemen, Guts, quickly gave the order to shoot, and it only took two to three seconds before the buffalo's black suit turned to dark crimson.

(From now on, your name will be...)

His beastly body dropped down, shaking the ground of this entire floor. His life being snatched from him was the only way to stop his crazy disorientation. And his eyes closed slowly, his vision turned darker as his lungs got filled up with his own blood instead of oxygen. He wanted to say something, but blood was all that splattered out. It was strange, there was no pain, his mind was perfectly fine and functional when his life left his body gradually, leaving behind a corpse that never knew pain. His body never itched, he never grunted or shouted from injury. There was no pain, he never knew pain... or did he?

(...Serene.)

+++

"Come in, HQ."

"This is HQ, officer. The Chief is speaking."

"Chief, sir, this is the standby unit, the police officer and hostage..."

"Are they alright?"

"Sir, they... err, escaped, sir."

"... Officer, you'll have to define 'escaped' for me here."

"Sir, we kept them behind the police cars for cover. But the hostage took the injured officer with him, got inside a red car and ran away."

"Damit, why wasn't anyone with them?!"

"Sir... I'm so sorry, sir. I've already sent for two to trail them down. My apologies, sir."

"Ugh... What's the officer's race? Contact his visor."

"A tiger, sir."

"Tiger?"

"Yes, his tail was thin and-"

"Officer, there are no tigers in the troops we sent!"

"... no, I'm quite sure he was a tiger."

"What's the captive like?"

"Huh? Umm, he was a human."

"Human?!"

"Yes, si-"

"White-haired?"

"... Yes, white-haired."

"YOU IDIOTS! That's no captive, he's the escapee from the station!"

"?!"

Suddenly, the officer's ears caught a strange exploding sound, he turned to the ship and his eyes widened in horror.

"Officer, are you there? What was that sound?"

"..."

"What the bloody hell is going on there, officer? I asked you a question!"

"The ship... it's in flames!"

"What?! The chopper doesn't have a permission to st-"

"No, sir. The chopper didn't strike, the explosion was inside!"

"... tch... give the order to clear the place, retreat to the wharf."

"Sir?"

"Pull back! They can't escape by the sea, wait for them on the shores!"

"Y-Yes sir!"

The officer instantly programmed his visor, contacting the unit inside the vessel. Occupied by the ugly turn of events, the cops in the docks didn't notice this one stealthy hyena. He was hiding behind a big container when the explosion happened, and began walking away slowly with a smirk on his face as he tossed the remote button in the sea. He glanced at the feminine phone in his hand, almost laughing at the silly tiger posing in the phone's theme.

"Dude, I expected this to be harder. What lame E-ranks."

+++

The weather just kept getting worse.

The wolf parked his bike in the shaded slots near the factory, removing his safety helmet and glanced upward in irritation.

"Hello there, my least favored season... *sigh~*."

He placed the helmet on the seat, but then took it up and placed it on his head again. The rain looked like it won't stop anytime soon, and there's always the possibility of it getting heavier at the end of the day, he'll be having free showers without his helmet.

He passed across the yard to the mechanics shutter door, shaking the rain off his fur as he walked inside. The rest of his fellow work buddies greeted him with a smirk; he looked funny with his wet leather clothes. Silver didn't give their bullies much thought, going silently to his locker and getting his gear out, still the doctor's concern about his health troubled him.

"What?! No, he's just a doofus, over-emotional doofus."

"He seems to place you quite close, and you seem exceptionally-"

"Doctor, can we cut this out?"

"... fine. You still plan to work today?"

"Of course, no biggy."

"Why?"

"... well, because of recent ...unexpected events, I'm being placed as the mentor in my department instead of a friend."

"... I see, just give your body a break more often."

"As always."

That's right. The boss contacted him personally to ask him for that, Silver wasn't the brightest in his career between the rest in the department, but the boss trusted him to have some 'hereditary' skills by befriending the human. He wasn't wrong, but he's not necessarily right either; Silver - for one - didn't think of himself that high.

The day was slow, and the absence of Yzmar at work changed the mood drastically lately. He turned at his engine that was now left alone, he was placed at the main engine in the middle of the rest, giving instructions as he saw fit and based on the latest test-runs they did.

He'll have to cover for his friend, hoping for his safe return.

+++

"A cop!?"

The doberman kept walking quickly, followed by his giraffe assistant who flipped over the pages, filling him up with the sudden visitor's condition.

"Yes, he's really messed up, there's a deep wound in his right forearm."

"How deep?"

"The _ugly_deep; there's a fracture too and the shattered bones were still inside, but Kyle took care of it since he's an Orthopedic."

"How's the wound?"

"Stable, still fierce but nothing that a good rest can't handle."

"Shit... what else?"

"Black out from blood loss."

"Damit, this isn't a blood bank!"

"..."

"What type?"

"He's O but-"

"Grr, of all types that need blood-"

"O Negative."

(... crap, it just got worse, too.)

He took many different turns, making his way to room 41. He entered to find the said cop lying on the bed, unconscious with a normal heart beat rate and... Ix paused a bit, looking at the cop's face again in shock.

"Oh no. No no no, NOW it got worse! Damn you, Lady Luck!"

"... doctor?"

"This guy... shit, this guy isn't even a cop. Man, what the fuck?"

"You know him, doctor?"

Ix turned around in anger, facing the giraffe.

"Who brought this guy here?"

"A human, doctor."

"... and where is he?"

"Actually, that's the reason why I came looking for you."

"Huh?"

At the receptionist desk, the mentioned human was surrounded by four nurses and one cleaner, they all kept their distance from him as he stood calmly in the middle, holding a surgeon scalpel. They tried to talk him into staying and getting checked himself too, but he refused strongly, threatening them to walk out. Seeing as he brought a cop in, and a badly injured one at that, it was required to be handled carefully.

But Ramzy, on the other hand, couldn't afford to waste more time here, it will be a matter of time before the police get here. Those bastards can track one another through their visors, and he so idiotically brought Turbo here with his visor and helmet still on. He'll be caught shortly if he stays here any longer.

Ix soon emerged behind them, clearly curious in a bad mood what the problem was. He wasn't all that surprised when he saw Ramzy, but his surprise was more directed at his hair and eye color.

"Last phase!"

"..."

Ramzy looked back at the doctor with one eye, his hand still gripped tightly at the small knife. Ix told him that his Grim got quicker, he knew it himself, he just didn't expect it to be THAT fast. His scar wasn't bleeding anymore, but there are signs on his face, marks of blood that got swept away. After a few seconds, the doberman took a long breather, and stepped closer, motioning for the cleaner to make way. He was just two feet away when the human turned in a blink and raised his scalpel to the dog's neck, driving a gasp from everyone around him, everyone but the dog.

"I'd mind the spacing if I were you, doc."

Ix was still calm, looking back at him with troubled gazes.

"Yzmar, you don't have much time, do you?"

"I'd agree with you, doctor, but our definition defers a little."

"... what's going on? Why is Turbo dressed as a policeman?"

"Long story."

"I have time."

"I don't."

The human pressed lightly at the doberman's neck, trying to sound and appear more dominant to control the situation in his favor.

"Tell them to make way."

"Or?"

"I don't see the need to tell you; you're smart enough."

"Kill me? You won't make it alive if you do."

"Neither will you."

"*Sigh~* they'll let you leave in one condition, Yzmar."

The doberman raised his hand slowly, stopping at his abdomen level, open. Ramzy glanced down at it, alarmed, but his eyes returned to the doctor in silence, waiting for details.

"You're going to have to return that to me."

"Nice try, though old."

"I'm honest-"

"Or I could just take you as a hostage."

"Don't you trust me?"

"..."

"You're not yourself. I don't know what's going on, and you clearly don't have the time to explain yourself at the moment."

"... true."

"But there's one thing that I can't forgive anyone for, and that is killing or hurting others by using tools meant to do the opposite."

"Like this little toothpick here?"

"You have my word; once you give me the scalpel back, you walk out."

"..."

"I ask you, Yzmar, will you please trust me for this last time?"

"Then, while I'm at it..."

In front of everyone's shocked eyes, he lowered the knife down, placing it in the doctor's hand and turned under it, holding it still and open. His other hand fished in his pocket, taking out the T pendant, placing it with the small knife.

"... I might as well return this too."

"... so I'm right, you're not planning to come back."

"No... I believe it's for the best."

"Is it the best for Turbo too?"

"... even for Turbo."

"You lost all hope in a cure? I'm really close, you know."

An empty smile arched his lips' edges upward a little, but his head shook slowly. Ix was still not ready to tell him what kind of cure he is working on, no details at all. His words almost felt like an empty promise.

"Even so, it's bigger than that now, doc. Just a cure won't do anymore."

"What do you mean? Is there something else?"

"Let that 'police officer' tell you when he wakes up, I gutta run."

The doberman sighed, hinting for everyone to seriously make way for him to leave. He looked at that human's back until he was no longer visible, returning outside in this storm of weather. His eyes were puzzled, but Ramzy didn't need to explain it word by word.

"Doctor!"

He turned back to the giraffe, the young new nurse pointed back at the hallway he just appeared from and called, out of breath.

"He's awake, but he insists on leaving."

+++

By the time they distinguished the flames, the chopper was already sending backup by ropes. A thorough search for the rest quickly took place, arresting every single bastard inside, actually resulting to violence (and sometimes shooting down) when it comes to those who... wanted it so much. After all, most of them discarded their guns by now, and it gave high advantage to the blues to take this encounter to a dead end.

Somehow, the crooks themselves looked so surprised and taken off guard by the explosions, but that didn't matter much at this point.

Two troops took the responsibility of taking them to the Police Main Office, while the rest received new orders to search for the missing unknown police officer and the so-called captive. The roads of the city got quickly stormed with police sirens and flashlights, beaming for anyone in the way, examining every human to see their hair color.

Meanwhile, Ben was standing in front of the building that his friend lived in, where it all began... or maybe 8 years ago was the beginning. He was troubled; the apartment's door was open when he got there, and was left the way it was for the past 3 or 4 days. Turbo didn't come back here, of course, his wolf friend volunteered to look after him. But Turbo came to take his father's bag, and there was no sign of the bag in his apartment. Surely he wouldn't remain in his friend's place if he was calm enough to talk to him again.

Benjamin left the building, remembering the rookie policeman's words when Turbo left the station. He was holding a bowling bag that looked overloaded.

(Shit, just as I feared; there was something else in that bag.)

The penguin mounted his bike again, thinking of how he could reach him. It was too clear for him of all people now; Turbo came to get something from his father's lockers, the bag had something other than bowling tools, the mysterious policeman, Turbo was overly buggy even with the high chairman, and there's no sign of him or the bag in the apartment.

(It all adds up... that fucking bastard! Can you be any more stupid?!)

+++

The tiger opened his eyes slowly, finding himself staring at a white roof. Strange, there was a lot of rain yet he can't hear it... only barely from the closed windows.

'Windows? Wait, bed? Where am I?'

He tried to sit up, moving his hurt arm. But, because of that, he let out a painful cry instead, crashing again to the pillow. He turned his face to the arm that didn't want to move, the wound was attended to, and his arm was held in place with a piece of cloth that circled behind his neck and back to his arm.

"Where the fuck?!"

He turned to his left, hearing this regular beep sound. It was coming from the heart beat reader thingy near him, near it was a red plastic bag, hanged by its tail and sending him dot after dot of blood across the tube and into the needle that rested on his left arm.

He must have passed out a bit.

His head hurt him so much just by moving it around, but this was no time for him to lie down and get comfy. He swayed his legs left, sitting up using his left side since his right arm can't do much. Just sitting right felt like a challenge to his balance reflexes, but he managed to do it with one arm.

"Ugh, no! You can't move just yet."

The tiger looked back, a rat in long white robes just entered the small room. He came closer, and felt it was necessary to repeat himself.

"Sir, you must lie back down, you lost quite a lot of-"

"Where's Yzmar?"

"... sir, I don't know who you're looking for, but-"

"There was a human, where is he? Who brought me here?!"

"Sir, calm down-"

"ANSWER MY GODDAMN QUESTIONS!"

"S-Sir! I told you to get back... Sir!"

The tiger moved his left up to his fangs, biting lightly but securely around it. A grunt escaped his closed muzzle as he pulled it out with the tape, resulting in a small needle wound and a light itching burn sensation around his fur in that area. He reached for those wires on his chest too and pulled them out just like the needle, getting a cry out this time since the tape pulled on his fur rather hard before getting off, and the beeping sound turned into one long beep indicating no heart beats at all.

The rat stepped closer after seeing this, trying to force him back, but found himself being pushed by the tiger. Turbo didn't need to push him away either, he was simply walking to the door, and bumping a puny rat who kept trying to get in his way.

"Sir, you mustn't leave! Get back here!"

"You're starting to annoy me."

The tiger snagged at his long coat, shoving him aside. But before he goes on his way again, a couple of nurses entered. They were alarmed by the heart-failure beep, but soon blocked the room's door, trying to keep him inside after realizing the situation quickly.

"Get out of my way."

"Sir, we'll need to force you back to bed if you don't coop-"

"I SAID MOVE AWAY!"

"Turbo."

The tiger looked back at the door, making out a black doberman with eyes as piercing as swords. He walked in and motioned for the rest of the nurses, with the rat doctor, to keep their distance, and lingered at the heart reading monitor to be shut down by someone. Everyone seemed to follow orders exactly as they were given; a doberman is wise and kind, but when it counts, it's better that no one else get caught in a conflict with him. It was a good thing, however, that the situation didn't take that nature yet.

"Doc, don't you dare stop me too."

"I won't, it's always up to the patients themselves. But mind your voice-"

"Where's Yzmar?"

"He left."

"What?! You let him go?"

"..."

"Doc, you don't get it! Yzmar's confused, he's... damn it, I need to find him."

"... that deep bleeding in your right arm, was it his doing?"

"Shit, I can't waste time talking here, doc!"

The dog hummed calmly, but he soon stepped aside, still looking at him with strong eyes. The tiger didn't believe how easy that was, but he didn't care; he took his visor and helmet with him as he walked forward now that his way got cleared out, but he heard the dog's voice before he take a step out the room.

"Turbo, just a second."

The tiger turned back to the doctor, and the doberman soon turned back, walking towards him and placed both his paws in his pockets.

"You lost a lot of blood, you still have open wounds, your arm has a fracture that got put together just recently and there's a high chance of another black-out to occur. Know that once you walk out this room like this, I will never accept treating you again."

"..."

"I don't force it on anyone since it's my job to save lives and it's their call to leave the hospital. But if you're hard-headed like that, I don't want to waste my time on you when I can use it for treating other patients."

"Fine."

"One more thing: right now, there are millions of questions about you and Yzmar, but you need to know that he... wants to leave you with his own free will."

Turbo's ears instantly caught that sudden pause and change in the doctor's eyes, as if there was something else that he wanted to say but made do with light words.

"... he's... dying... is that what you tried to say?"

"Ever wondered why he brought you here and ran away?"

"Shit, all the more reason why I need to move my ass!"

"Turbo, he doesn't want you to find him, he wants it like this."

Turbo felt anger fueling his rage again, those has to be lies too. Even if Ramzy said those words, he knew damn well that he didn't mean them. It's just like the cruise that night, the human thinks he can't face the tiger after knowing that he killed Turbo's father.

"What about me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did he think of what I want? I was really, deeply in love with him."

"..."

"Only one fool move from me, and even I blame myself now, saying 'what have I done?' I did all this to him, I gave him hope just to destroy it myself and throw him in the dark again."

The tiger turned forward again, looking at the hallway.

"I thought... no, I know we have something going, I never felt like this before, I feel like I want to put everything I have on the line for him."

"... Turbo-"

"He never said 'I love you' to me... can you believe it? Never! He just replied 'me too' whenever I said it. I was ok with it, I could hear it in his voice, in his body."

His thoughts went on and on, despite the shocked looks and faces on the nurses and rat doctor, he didn't care; his words will chock him if he didn't allow them out. He slowly raised his helmet back to his head, putting the visor too in place.

"But now, I want to hear them from his lips. I don't want to hear his heart beating with it; I want to hear him say it. Just once, once is all I ask. I want it more than anything right now."

"..."

"We'll make it, you promised me that. You told me in the lab that my DNA is nearly strong enough."

"Nearly, Turbo. It still needs time. Why else do you think it failed with that wolf? As long as you still have The Grim in you, you're not ready-"

"I know! Fuck, I know! But if I can't get him back, then what's the point?!"

+++

"Sylvie?"

Silver realized immediately that he was spacing out, he looked down at his open hand, and found his water bottle no longer there, slipping through his fingers and lying on the ground. Kuma came closer, sitting near him and looking long in his face.

"Is Silver alright?"

"... I'm fine."

"Silver should rest at home, why must Silver come to work?"

"I'm totally fine, man. Just drop this subje... hold on."

Suddenly, Silver's expression changed, his nose was starting to pick something foul and unpleasant... more like...

"Smoke?!"

"Smoke? Kuma doesn't smell smoke."

"It's... coming from the warehouse... the Mechanics Departm-Shit!"

Suddenly, the fire alarm began to ring all over the factory. In no time to explain himself to his friends, Silver sprang up and ran to the big warehouse's open shutter door, ignoring Kuma's concerned calls. If his fears are correct, if someone forgot to shut off his engine's power supply and the engine overheated to the point of...

"Everyone, stay out!"

Silver entered the warehouse, finding the chameleon trying his best with other furries in red suits in helping the engineers away. Some of them were staring at the big fire in terror, so shaken they couldn't move without a violent shake to bring them back to themselves. Gemik quickly spotted Silver, and shook his head at him.

"Silver, you too, man. Get out of here, quickly."

"What happened?"

"Are you blind?! There's a fire-"

"I really meant how it happened?"

"Does this look like the best time to you?! Hey, you! Stop pushing, damn it. Get out of here, it's called Safety Regulations, you dumbasses!"

Silver, seeing that the chameleon moved his attention from him to someone else, took a quick look up. Something was odd, the fire sprayers aren't active though they should react to fire. His eyes suddenly caught the windows in the upper floors, watching other employees from the Information Department evacuating the whole floor, one of them was Zed. He looked pale, it was the wolf's first time to see his awfully gay friend like this. He was just there with them outside, but as soon as something was wrong he didn't think twice to do his job. Being one of the Information Department's seniors, he had to go up there to help out... or was he simply there for another reason? He looked so awfully out of his character.

He looked again at those engines, burning and looking extremely red in heat. If this continues further, every last engine in the warehouse will explode. If only...

(Wait, if only we can cut the power source from the main engine...)

He looked again at Gemik, the poor kid was still having a hard time with the rest of the engineers. Even Kuma was inside now, getting stopped by the furries in red uniform. The bear's eyes were fixed on Silver, he was clearly worried, Silver was behind them all, he was - somehow - overlooked by Gemik and the others.

"Silver!"

"Kuma, you're not even an engineer, get out of here! All of you, this place is dangerous now, move out-"

"Silver! SILVER!"

"Damn it, Kuma, stop pushing and get the fuck out!"

The wolf stood there long, looking at the sad sight of all those engines burn. Yzmar was here once, his friend worked in this very spot, his ill and misfortunate Grim-diseased crush had high hopes for this very factory. And now it was burning down in flames, and he wasn't around to stop it.

(What would you do if you were me, Ramzy?)

His hands turned to fists, shivering in realization of his duty toward his friend. Flok was right, they are friends, they are very close even if it was 10 days, or let it be one week, or a freaking day. This wolf decided that the green-haired human was, indeed, his friend. That was the only explanation he can think of, that was why his heart ached so much at the sight in front of him. He wants to protect his friend's dream.

His feet moved slowly, turning around, going at the back of the warehouse in the opposite direction of the engines. He took one water hose and opened it on full, spraying his entire body and clothes to get completely drenched in water. The water was meant to clean the tools that the engineers regularly used, but now it will have to be a substitute for a quick bath, considering the time and place. All the while, the scared bear had his eyes attached on him. Despite his nature of being a slow and lazy thinker, he quickly made out his friend's intentions. He struggled harder, and his shouts began sounding more and more incoherent, just loads of jumbled-up utterances.

Gemik, however, was the only one who finally took notice of the wolf's strange behavior. But as soon as Silver swung that opened hose aside and dashed towards the engines leaking down with water, the chameleon had a simple idea of his sacrificial plan, and extended his tongue quickly. The red rope of a tongue flew fast in the distance, having its tip twirling around Silver's left arm, but it ended up slipping off his wet fur and return to his maw again. He then quickly tried to run after him, but his hip was hurt lately and didn't allow him to run three steps forward without grunting in pain.

"SILVER, WHAT IN THE NAME OF NATURE ARE YOU DOING?!"

Kuma's struggles suddenly ceased, eyeing in horror that silver-furred wolf disappearing in the middle of the burning iron. His eyes flashed for a moment, reminding him of bitter memories he alone knew of, and simply got down on his knees, not moving anything in his body but his eyeballs, searching for his friend's figure inside the flames.

The fire was intense, and - as if the heat wasn't enough - the crackles and sizzles appeared way louder than before, resulting in his pointy ears to lie back all the way over his head to block the most possible sound waves from reaching his ear drums. His clothes quickly smoked inside, and he grunted as he took his shirt and pants off quickly, feeling them tightening around him as they grew dry. If he let those fabrics burn while still wearing them, he's finished.

He kicked his pants off in a hurry as he galloped again, making his way to the core of the flames, just near the main engine. His body sent signs to his mind that something was seriously wrong in the atmosphere around him, and begged his feet to move away from this danger it so idiotically threw his body into. But Silver didn't waver in his resolve even for a second. He didn't care for the blood starting to spill from his clutching jaws from the heat, nor from the burn marks that started to paint dark coal-like spots in his beautiful silver fur, the fur he personally cared for. Not even that sudden hiss that splattered near his face as he ran past it, letting his dashing head thrash through it with his eyes closed.

(Shit!)

And just like an emblem of war, his forehead earned a new distinctive feature about it; a strange burn mark that reached from his forehead to almost all the way to the back of his head between his ears. But that didn't stop him from going, oh no it would take much more than that to stop him. He finally reached the main engine, and - just as he thought - the power source was functional and supplying all the rest of the engines with power, driving them to overheat and finally burn, soon to explode if he doesn't do something.

And fast.

He looked around for the power valve, and one grip at it made him yelp in shock. Only then did the plan appear in its real form; the valve was steaming hot, red in color and - surely - expansive from the heat. In other words, it will take more than stubbornness and guts to turn this thing clockwise. He rubbed his body quickly, realizing that his fur was starting to get too dry it actually began to burn black. He can't rely on moistures now other than his spit, it seems... or what's left of it. He brought his hands up quickly, spitting on both as best he could and clammed them together.

(I need to do it from the first go, or the second will be quite hellish.)

He took a quick second to prepare himself, and then he howled in pain as his hands gripped tightly at the valve, burning his skin slowly.

"FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

His cry was so strong the people at the warehouse's shutter door were able to hear it. His teeth gritted more and more, making him aware of the blood in his mouth as he gulped and grunted. The valve turned a bit, but it didn't budge much, the mechanism didn't run properly just when he most needed it to.

"Come on, come on! OH BLOODY HELL, TURN!"

Suddenly, the fire sprayers got activated again, spraying the warehouse in artificial rain, calming the heat though just a bit. The hissing sound in his hands disappeared gradually as the valve started to cool off somewhat, and with a mighty grunt the wolf was finally able to move it, shutting down the power from all engines.

His body relaxed, the rush of adrenalin finally found it meaningless to keep it up. His face looked up at those sprayers doing their thing, exhaling in respite. The valve seemed so strangely easy to turn, though, it surprised him that he didn't put much effort to close it. His head dropped down to his hands still holding the valve in tension, and shivered to find a third hand there, a big, purple, scaly clawed hand was holding the valve from its side.

"Are you alright?"

Silver shivered even more at the voice that came from behind him over his shoulder, the realization of the voice's owner made his body tense and alarmed once again. He didn't sense anyone with him up until now, and it frightened him a little. He looked back in disbelief, finding Zed unconscious in his other arm.

"I'm... fine... boss."

"Good, I want you in my office... first thing after cleaning up."

"*Gulp~* Y... yes, boss..."

+++

"RAMZY!! *pant~*... Ramzy, where are you?!"

Every last furry/human turned in shock at that psycho. He wore a police uniform, had his right arm immobilized with plaster and held up to his stomach, his wounds were fresh with some still bleeding and his gasps were of someone that was about to drown.

His face jerked in every direction available, staying no longer than one second in every corner. His mind didn't feel it necessary to stare any longer if his eyes didn't send his mate's shape up to his brain. He suddenly found his phone ringing inside his pocket, and his paw automatically reached for it despite his agitated condition.

"Yeah?"

"Turbo!"

"Ben? What do you-"

"Where the hell are you man? What's going on?!"

"... Ben, listen, I don't have time to-"

"Shit, man! You 'are' the mysterious policeman, aren't you?"

"..."

"Shit... what were you thinking... Turbo, where are you now?"

"I'm sorry, I can't answer that."

"Turbo, don't be a fucking idiot, you hear me? Do not make the police your enemy, you fucking hear me!?"

Turbo soon stood still, gathering his cool to think of something.

"Ben, I know this might sound strange right now-"

"You fucking bet it does! And you're going to tell me exactly where you are."

"Don't bother, I won't."

"Turbo, just be thankful that it was 'me' who found that out. What do you think they'll do to you once they-"

"I'm hanging up."

"What?! Are you insane-"

"Bye, Ben. I'll explain everything later, just not now."

"Hey-"

He flipped his phone close as he returned it to his pocket, breathing out slowly. His right arm still itches from that stab, did Ramzy really want to hurt him like this? Was he trying to kill him? The mate he once knew?

(No... fucking no, he didn't! Stop thinking like this and find him!)

His phone suddenly rang again, it was Ben. He simply rejected the call, and started running again. The phone rang again, Ben. He rejected for the second time, but as soon as he did, another number was ringing. This number... it made his heart squeeze hard, the number was one of his contact list, and the word Mate flashed on the screen. He didn't wait long, picking that one particular call.

"Mate!"

"Mate?! Hah! I would never~"

"!?"

The voice on the other side wasn't Ramzy, but it was still familiar...

"Who the fuck is this?!"

"Uhh... I'm your mate?"

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

"No? Hmm, wrong answer, I guess..."

"Hold on! You're that hyena fuck!"

And next second, although the situation was already dire and critical, his pelt instantly shuddered off when the blast of a crackle blew from the phone. The bastard was laughing, for whatever reason it was 'that' funny to him.

"BEHINGO!"

"The fuck are you doing with his phone?!"

"Relax, dude. Don't you want to find him?"

"Ramzy?"

"Who else, dork?"

"... where?"

"Wow, just like that? No 'why' or 'is it a trap' or 'I do not trust y-"

"I SWEAR TO MOTHER FUCKING NATURE, I'LL PLUG YOUR EYES WITH MY OWN FUCKING CLAWS AND-"

"Wow, wow! Language, dude, watch your language."

"Where... is... he?"

"Come to the Northern Graveyard."

"?!"

"That's where your parents are resting, after all."

"How the bloody hell do you..."

"Just come there, ok?"

"Why there? Is he there?"

"..."

"FUCKING ANSWER ME!"

Suddenly, the line got cut off, leaving the tiger with that question unanswered. He gripped harder on his phone and roared in rage, facing the heavens. The world turned upside down on him, things were really, really out of hand. He soon fell in silence, his mind functioning again. There was no time for him to catch his breath, and here he is, wasting time doing nothing but screaming. He slipped the phone inside his pocket and began to run again.

Heading towards the only lead he had.

+++

'A graveyard?!'

"... *huff~*... *pant~*..."

'Heh, you like bad jokes, don't you?'

"Shut up, it just happens to be here. It's a good place to hide, too."

The human dragged his body in the middle a grassy area within the walls of the old cemetery, his body wasn't bleeding, only fatigued with bruises and abrasions from continuous blues encounters. He even managed to pick one of their guns, this should give him extra protection if he needed.

He crashed his butt down, laying his back on one tree as it offered a little bit of cover from the rain. He didn't mind the moist mud, he needed rest more than anything.

But his eyes and mind began messing around with him again, showing him that black figure again with its horrific clean scythe. As always, the shadows of his cloak made looking at his face impossible; only two blue glow dots for eyes under the place it supposed to be his head. His bony hand was down while the other held the scythe's rod gently, and his old ripped-off fabric swayed with the wild wind. Strangely, though, rain seems to hit his figure, slipping around and down his form.

"*Grunt~* Is it finally time?"

'AsK YoUr bOdY, mOrTaL.'

"Heh, your voice is starting to get more demonic and clear in my head."

'YoU DoN'T LoOk sCaReD By Me AnYmOrE.'

"..."

'ArE YoU ReAdY ThEn, RaMzY?'

"Can't I get a little more time here?"

'It yEaRnS To FeEd... It GrOwS ReStLeSs wItH EvErY BrEaTh yOu tAkE.'

Ramzy smirked as he dropped his head down, he can't move, his legs feel like they were beaten up by a sludge hammer for hours. So this is the ending? Quite an ugly ending for his story, if his opinion meant anything for anyone, and he couldn't get Amado with him.

After enduring all this hardship, his death will be for nothing.

His hand holding the gun instantly reacted to some sound radiating from his right, and his right arm aimed with the last bundle of strength it saved for an emergency procedure. His head turned slowly to the right, looking with weak eyes at some hyena in black, drenched in rain water and doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Hey there, how have you been?"

"... Zephyr..."

"Woah, you look out of shape, for real this time, too."

"Give me one fucked-up reason for not killing you right now."

"Same reason why you didn't the first time you could?"

"... there was none."

"So what? You didn't kill me because you didn't wish to?"

"It doesn't matter now, not even your goals that I kept wondering about all this time."

"I already did half of those goals you speak of."

"Making my life a living hell? Yeah, you pass with an S mark."

"Erm, no, but I won't deny how fun that was. My first objective was Amado."

Ramzy's mind stopped, rearranged those words again and again inside it's own banks quickly but soon gave up. He looked at the hyena, confusion and disbelief was only part of it, but Zephyr smirked again at him anyway.

"Amado was... what... what do you mean? What did you do to him?"

"Killed him, of course."

"!!"

"Dahh!"

"You're... you're truly insane, aren't you? You're not just _acting_insane."

"You think so? Wow, I'm flattered."

"You killed your own master-"

"I'm loyal to my master, human. But I don't ever remember stating that Amado was my master."

"... who... WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?"

"The Unseen, human. Amado thought he and his men were The Unseen, but he doesn't know the first rule in it: What was seen, cannot be Unseen."

"Who the fuck is The Unseen? Why are you guys doing all this?"

"Only the second objective remains now."

"You! It was you who pulled the strings all this time! Amado was another puppet!"

"I simply followed orders, I told you I'm loyal to my... *chuckle~* master."

"Then... I'm the second objective you speak of?"

The hyena's glare turned a bit serious, looking at him in boredom.

"You? A pathetic already-dead piece of shit? Don't flatter yourself so much, human, it doesn't even qualify as a bad joke."

"Then what are you after?"

"..."

"Money?"

"*Smile~*"

"FEVA?"

"*pfft~*"

"THEN WHAT?!"

The hyena shook his head, clearly not planning to answer him back.

"I'll tell you one thing about your dear FEVA, just because I pity you."

The hyena removed his hands from his pockets, receiving a quick firm nudge from the human's gun, alarmed for any smart ideas. Zephyr smiled, closing his eyes and nodding for him to relax as he came a bit closer, kneeling down and looking at his face in delight.

"Isn't it kind of ironic to have you working for FEVA?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Shit, man, you don't even know, do you?"

+++

Silver stood in the high manager's office, having both his paws behind him with his tale extremely tense and stone-like. Zed was put on the couch near him, he was up but still giddy. His head was wrapped in bandages since it was bleeding, something might have fallen over him and knocked him out. Silver didn't know why his friend was with him too inside the office, but could guess that Zed also thought about a crazy heroic act to save the day, it'd explain how the fire-extinguishing sprayers got activated again.

If he knew better, Zed actually saved his life.

He took a slow peak at the office's open door; Lernar was getting rather late dealing with the rest of the employees down at the warehouse, but he was sure to come back here and give them hell. Just waiting for his fated speech felt torturous enough.

The wolf turned his attention from his friend, looking at his boss' office, there was an open folder on his desk, but other than that everything else was neatly placed and well-kept. He drifted his gaze to his hands, looking at those burns in them as they got treated with some kind of medical ointment before coming here.

'Tch, it makes me wonder if this dragon does anything other than sitting on his ass here all day, makes me angry.'

He moved closer, a bored but curious gaze danced on that open folder took him over while his friend kept breathing slowly and steadily from his nearly-shut beak.

'I mean, shit, dude! I risked my hide down there, you could at least show some appreciation or encouraging words. It won't hurt, will i-'

His thoughts got cut, instantly. There was no spare split of a second for the T in 'it' to ring in his mind. His eyes couldn't read most of the overturned words on the open folder on Lernar's desk, but there was a set of bold letters written together in some paragraph that caught his attention. He circled around the table, looking at those letters, and soon his eyes dashed left and right quickly, reading along the lines.

"Wait, what does all this mean?!"

Lernar suddenly walked inside, catching the wolf in the act. He coughed loudly to get his attention, expecting a stammered reaction from him. But the wolf looked back at the dragon from behind angry scopes, his muzzle's lips parted to reveal his closed fangs and how every pointy tooth perfectly rested between two others.

"Silver?"

The purple dragon didn't like what he saw, walking inside his office slowly and stopping in front of the small table near the couches. His growls were almost silent, but they didn't escape the dragon's sharp hearing abilities. Lernar sighed almost instantly, this wolf's sudden anger means one thing: he discovered the thing he kept hidden from his human friend. Zed didn't seem to be catching everything around him, simply putting one feathery hand up to his forehead and continued his calm breather.

"Boss, is this... true?"

"..."

"Boss!"

"Silver Moonbeam, it's bad to poke your nose-"

"So it's true? EVA?! This company was the notorious EVA?!"

The wolf walked around the table slowly, locking his eyes on the dragon's as he walked closer. The chameleon made it after his boss and - only after one second - quickly rushed to Silver's face, holding him back and shaking his head to calm him down. The burned-silver-furred furry kept fuming in anger, and his irritation only increased as he saw his boss looking away in annoyance. Silver knew that he'll be done for should he pick a fight against a dragon, but his anger almost allowed him to do anything right now.

"This company, Boss?!"

"..."

"It was this company that created... DAMNIT, BOSS!!"

+++

"No... no way."

Zephyr's smile widened, the human was starting to get petrified.

"It can't be... it just simply cannot-"

"FEVA was once named EVA, managed by humans mostly, and the chairman was a human too."

"... you lie."

"EVA was a laboratory that exploded on the far outskirts of this city around 50 years ago. And, timed with it, a strange new disease appeared, guess which one?"

"It's a lie."

"The company saw that the best type of action was to eliminate the chemical clouds formed in the burning building, and so the site was bombard to nothingness... but only a small portion of those gases escaped, getting mixed in the air."

"It _has_to be a lie!"

"The disease was weak because most of the chemicals burned in the bombing, but it's still faintly in the air, even now. It's too weak to create any threat to adults and matured bodies, but they can still get infected by those who carry it, and there's still a fraction under one percent of a possibility to infect infants who are newly born. One of them was you, unfortunately."

"Why are you lying?"

"I'm not, it's you who can't accept this."

"YOU LIE!"

"And guess what else? Lernard already knows."

"!?"

"Yes, human, your factory's manager didn't see any reason to tell you. FEVA was careful about employing, and strictly didn't want any humans in it because of what happened in EVA, only the best of the best humans were given the 'chance' to apply. Furries began hating humans on a whole new level ever since, and EVA went broke quickly. It was then that it got bought by a furry. The former company name changed ever since Feronica Flander got control of things."

"FEVA... did this?"

A silent moment filled with the rain and wind broke in, and a slight thunder glimmered in the distance, making the human's body shiver a little in reaction.

"Lernar was using you, Ramzy. He never told you because he knew you'd leave the moment you know the truth."

"He... used me too?"

"Just as Amado wanted to use you."

"In what?"

"Amado wanted to create a cure, but not for you or anyone that is infected. Amado wanted a cure so he can evoke War again, the word that life nowadays almost forgot for the past couple of centuries."

"War?"

"Wars and conflicts are still the best economical income to some black markets. But, as soon as The Unseen discovered his intentions, they saw fit that he... well, leaves this world secretly."

"..."

"Don't get me wrong, The Unseen are badasses alright, but we don't want any idiots raising riot between Velencia and Earth... not yet anyway."

"Then where do I..."

"You? Man, you're one poor unlucky bastard, you just happened to be hated by all sides, cursed by the most destructive scientific aftermath, loathed with the worst of childhoods... and are now simply waiting for death to come free you. You're just caught in the crossfire, that's all."

"... *sniff~*... shit..."

"Life isn't fair, bro. You're a grown-up, you should understand that not every Juliet finds her Romeo."

Finally done speaking, he stood up again, carefully checking his shoes as he was squatting near him on the muddy grass under the tree. The wind whistles took turns in blowing around the epitaphs, as if the dead were screaming in agony with this human. He looked at Ramzy again, and the later didn't seem conscious though he had his eyes opened fully. The shock was terrifying, it was the killing blow of his bad luck story.

The hyena began walking away, not having any business with him anymore, not that he had any with him from the start. Damn that hyena, it's as if he didn't think it was right for the human to die without knowing about FEVA, it would be so sad for him to die without realizing how ironic his whole ambition was.

He stood up slowly, calling for the hyena to wait, his mind didn't want to accept it like this. He raised his gun, pointing at the furry's back, but the hyena kept walking away, not even turning or glancing at him. His feet didn't allow him to go after Zephyr, planting themselves on the muddy walkway between the trees. His hand went back down, realizing how pointless it was to try and escape reality.

"Is everyone... like this? Do you all enjoy trashing me like this?"

First it was his father, and then it was the damned bad guys giving him only hell to get raised in. And now even Lernar was... hold on! What about Ix, then? Does he also have something up his sleeves? Surely, he's a doctor, but discovering a cure for this disease would have been a plus in his records. Was he the damn doberman's guinea pig? And those blasted cops, why wouldn't they help him when he needed it way back? Why must they wait for him to become an outlaw and run after his skin? And Turbo...

Turbo... that one damned asshole that he let himself to fall for.

The human suddenly began to laugh, he started to lose the grasp of everything. It was too painful and bothersome to give a damn, and letting go of everything all at once as he laughed crazily in between the graves felt a bit relaxing; reality isn't needed when you're crazy. That's it, all he should do now is laugh it out. It was a game, and he simply lost, he lost to the whole world as everyone looked back at him and smirked devilishly, basking in their victory.

The Grim suddenly emerged again in front of him, it started to appear more frequently and clearly. The being's scythe shivered in its owner's white bony hand, begging for him let loose so it can slice Ramzy up and bathe in the middle. But the time was yet to come, The Grim pulled the sand-watch out again, and the blue eyes under the shadow dark cape stared at it. The upper part barely had any sand left.

'MoRtAl, PrEpArE YoUrSeLf-'

"Hey there, you son of a bitch!"

'...'

"What will happen if I die now, eh? What if I die before you take me?"

'...'

"I'm dying either way, I won't give you my life, you won't take it!"

'YoU'Ll kIlL YoUrSeLf, ChIlD Of tHe lIvInG?'

Ramzy raised the gun to his head, pointing the muzzle directly in the face of his open scar. One bullet up there should be fatal, it will render him lifeless, at least it will be him who gets the last laugh. He smiled, liking the idea, he'll get to beat someone at least, and beating his own disease was one fucking hell of an achievement to him.

But The Grim didn't seem to care much, he gradually faded in front of his puzzled eyes, denying him even the pleasure of watching him getting panicked or afraid.

'CaN YoU Do iT, mOrSeL?'

"..."

'HoW MaNy dO YoU ThInK HaVe tRiEd aNd fAiLeD BeFoRe yOu?'

"I'm... different! I'll do it!"

'YoU LiViNg iNsEcTs aRe mOsT InTrIgUiNg! YoU KnOw yOuR LiVeS ArE AlMoSt oVeR BuT StIlL ToO ScArEd tO Do iT YoUrSeLvEs, ClInGiNg oN EvErY SeCoNd oF LiFe yOu hAvE.'

The figure finally disappeared, waiting for the right time to come and snatch the portion of life that this human owes him. But with that cold and calm attitude, it made Ramzy scared again, the blasted devil knew that he can't do it, or maybe his remaining life was too pathetic for him to worry about it this much.

Even The Grim dares to win in his face.

+++

Meanwhile, the tiger kept running between the graves, looking around every pile of bushes, trees, stones, graves and walkways. His right arm began to hurt really bad now, all this running with it not being allowed to rest in one place made it feel as if it was really broken. He panted for air, calling again and again in the loud winds of the night, calling for his lost heart in between many dead bodies in their resting place. The only replies to his calls were the occasional thunder strikes.

His aimless and troubled search led him to his parents' grave, his eyes anchored there for a bit, reading their name aloud. He came closer and dropped himself down on two tired knees in front of the epitaph, tears filled his eyes and joined the rain on his wet face. He placed his forehead on the stone slab, a strange hiccup caught him.

His left paw slowly reached for the cold wet letters, tracing them in his touch and mind. He was almost down himself, he can barely stay awake. Ix warned him about leaving, but he had to, he feared the worst to come to his mate should the police find him first.

"Mom, dad... I've done many terrible things to my mate, I've realized it now but... damn, I'm such an idiot. I don't want to lose him. I've had enough loved ones being snatched from me, and I don't want him to go as well. Help me, I don't want to lose what's important to me anymore."

Why did things turn up this way? Why? It was a question that he directed to Fate, to God and to any superior being that may be living and observing right now. He opened his eyes so close to the rock, feeling the rain bathing him with his arrogance and foolishness towards Yzmar.

"Mother Nature, please, if you do really exist... I never asked for anything with all my heart before, but please. If you can hear me, I'm begging you on my parents' grave, please lead me to him. Lead me back to him."

A lightning flash struck the skies again, blinking wildly over the clouds as the thunderous roar radiated across the city. But it didn't distract the tiger, his attention returned to him, his nose tingled a bit at this familiar smell.

"This is... oh shit, thank you!"

He stood up again, turning around quickly in search for his presence nearby. This smell that reached his triangular runny nose, he can never mistake this one aroma for anything else. His feet started to walk again, dragging his body and begging it to hold on, following the way that had stronger smells in it. He kept walking and stopping, just to check if he was at the right direction. The wind was a bitch, toying with the flow of air in many courses and confusing him on a number of times.

He never wondered how this aroma found its way to his nose; the dampness of the soil and stones almost filled his brain. His mind didn't even stop for a moment to wonder if this was just hallucination, or if there was any type of it that has to do with smells. But, shortly, there he stood, not believing that he actually was given another chance. Nature still smiled down on him, extending a helping hand.

Yzmar, or Ramzy... Fuck, his mate! His mate was standing there, he gave him his back as he stood there idly, not moving at all. The tiger's mouth found difficulty in speaking, all he wanted was to shout, just to call his name and run to him. But he didn't want to scare him again, the way he thrashed at him with a knife would be better avoided at this point.

He walked closer, slowly, not because he wanted it to be gradual, but because of all the fatigue his body was feeling. He spoke calmly, with a low voice, and the name picked up by his lips was Yzmar.

Yzmar, the human that he first met at work.

The human turned back suddenly, shocked by that voice. Why? Why didn't this tiger let go yet? He went through all the trouble of stabbing him, damn it! There was no logic here, this guy is nuts too, he must be!

"The fuck!?"

"Yzmar..."

"YOU BASTARD!"

Turbo's slow advance stopped at the sight of a pistol threatening his skull from afar. He opened his eyes wider in disbelief, it's not a knife now, it's a fucking firearm. He stood long there, almost seeing himself holding the gun instead of Yzmar, and Yzmar standing in his place facing that iron muzzle. Did the poor guy feel this heavy atmosphere when Turbo almost shot his head three days ago?

Yzmar brought the other hand to his face, hiding his eyes in defeat.

"Of all places... God, why are you here?"

Turbo didn't reply, a bit burdened by his body for exceeding its limits already.

"Damn you, Turbo. You are really begging me to... What? I told you, I'm not his slut anymo... what are you... Oh just shut it, ok?"

The tiger almost cried out at the look of his mate like this again, he still had that gun pointed at him but he was turning to his left and right, talking to thin air. The human noticed the tiger's confused yet miserable looks, and smiled at him helplessly.

"Heh, now you'll tell me there's no one here?"

"..."

"You know what, Turbo? You're right, there's no one here, only me and you. But I can hear them, alright? THEY TALK TO ME, I'M NOT FUCKING INSANE! I CAN HEAR THEM, OK?! I'M NOT CRAZY!!"

Turbo soon realized that just standing there afraid of a bullet won't make things better, he needs to stop him, but he doesn't know how. A quick flash of Benjamin ringed at his mind's door, that's exactly what Ben had in mind when he got himself suspended. But here, they're talking about someone's sanity and life, and Turbo was ready to walk through burning magma if his mate was on the other side.

"Hey, I said stop."

"..."

"You too? You think I'm unable to shoot, too?!"

"..."

"TURBO STOP, YOU IDIOT!"

The tiger kept walking slowly, hauling his body in amazing balance given his half-assed state, in front of Yzmar's obscurity. The human kept ordering him to stop, but the orders were targeting deaf ears at the moment. His hand on the pistol started to shake, and the idea to run away crossed his mind, but he was so tired for playing hide-and-seek with the police so much. Even if Turbo appeared in a sorry state too, Yzmar didn't feel that much better than him either.

"I'M GUNNA SHOOT, TURBO, I SWEAR IT!"

"..."

Suddenly, the graveyard changed in his eyes, replaced by a big old building. And the tiger in front of him, he looked so familiar, his memories evoked a scene of this happening before. There was a tiger with a cop uniform that scared him like this before. The tiger facing him was now carrying a gun, he pointed his gun at him as soon as he saw him, but didn't shoot, quickly shouting at him. The human finally freaked out after seeing his past again. He held the gun with both hands, aimed, shivered, shut his eyes close firmly and...

(Kid, get down!! What the... wait, DON'T SHOOT!)

... and, despite his mind shouting at him not to do so, he...

The next thing his ears caught was some sound so dangerously close to the thunder strike. An echo of gunfire, a wild bullet that flew away from the pistol by a spank of its hammer. He opened his eyes again slowly seeing that cop freezing in shock, falling on one knee, looking back at him with surprised and confused glares, then finally falling down completely, a bloody puddle forming slowly under his chest.

"No..."

The human looked again at his hands, freaking out at the pistol and dropping it quickly on the muddy ground. He was holding a gun again, he promised himself not to do it, never ever. But there it was, a gun in his hand, and a bullet that he shot, and...

"I didn't mean... I-I didn't kill him! I... I... don't want to..."

His voice slowly turned to crying, and his eyes kept looking at the pistol on the ground, he feared to look forward again. He didn't want to see where that bullet went, he wasn't sure where he fired but he dared not confirm it. His ears didn't hear anything beside the wind, no shout of pain, no thud of a body falling, no wailing, no coughs... the tiger he saw falling down was in his mind, that was many years ago.

"He pointed that gun at me... I... I just wanted to..."

But he still didn't dare to look, his eyes began getting hazy more and more. Was it grief? Or was he losing consciousness again? Or was it because of the tears in his eyes?

...

No, he still felt the pain in his whole body, his body was still alert. Then this haziness in his eyes, there was no doubt about it: his sight, he was starting to lose his sight for good. Not just Protanopia and Tritanopia (which together created color-blindness) but Deuteranopia was starting to get into his eyes too, losing the ability to see Red, Blue and Green all at once; becoming blind. But it wasn't that important for him right now.

"I just wanted to live my life... like anyone else."

_________________________________________________________________