Chapter Thirteen: Lies.

"lies are roadblocks in the traffic of information, and the truth is a bulldozer that can obliterate these obnoxious little roadblocks in our way, allowing us to obtain our definite facts." >:)

"that makes no sense."

"shut up."

-emperorwolf

-Zenef

-emperorwolf

Collin stared angrilly at the crimson apparition that threatened bailey, drawing his katana.
"you dare bring ANY harm to him... and i'll make you WISH you were never concieved!!"
bailey was in shock "COL?! Col, is that... is that you?!"
collin groaned "yes... it's me, Master Bailerich..."
the apparition sneered, and began to fade
"i will have my host, just you wait!"
and then it was gone.
bailey crouched beside the little wolf "i don't-- why--?! what--?! when--?! how?!"
collin fidgeted "i... look, i'll explain later."
with that, he shimmered and vanished.

---

-the Ghast house-

"you WHAT?!" oriado yelled angrilly, making the domestic white wolf back up a bit.
I- i'm sorry, but he was in danger! what was i supposed to do?!
oriado snarled and clutched his head "DAMMIT!"
collin bowed his head please... i... i just wanted to protect him... i couldn't stop myself when it reached out to grab him like that--
oriado gasped and stared at collin in shock "it did WHAT?!" he barked
reached out to grab him rather brutishly. said something about needing a host body. collin whimpered
oriado fell to his knees, a devastated look on his face "oh almighty fuck..."
collin raised his beastial head, ears perked
Master?
oriado breathed deeply "i'm... sorry, collin."
kevin walked in at that moment "why aren't you laying into him anymore?"
oriado recapped what collin had said, and kevin looked ready to faint.
"oh god... that's awful..."
Masters... if you'll allow it, i'd like to explain all this to him when he returns... collin whined, though he knew only oriado understood him.
oriado nodded "that'd be for the best... we'll all explain."

collin padded out, and lay down at the base of the stairs on the first floor.
he let out a yawn and rested.

---

-meanwhile, inside zenef's subconsious-

Alpha had been paid another visit by his doppelganger.
"i'm waiting just outside the entrance gate, please, make sure to find me."
Alpha nodded "we'll be close, i know it!"

the wolf then reappeared next to zenef, who was currently sitting on Radin's shoulder.
'zenef, zenef, over here.'
(stoppit Alpha.)
'no, really! i... uh... i know a morphic you can interview!'
(liar.)
'trust me! after all, i'm you!'
zenef groaned "Radin, let me down, Alpha's tryin' to lead me somewhere again..."
the snow leopard hummed "why don't i just go over with you?"
"sure."

with Alpha's directions, zenef lead Radin to the entrance gate, where a mysterious, cloaked brown wolf stood.
he looked familiar somehow...
Alpha floated next to the wolf, who smirked and spoke in a familiar voice...
"Excited, isn't he?"
Radin sat down, then examined the wolf curiously, letting out a low groan "who's excited?"
zenef looked back and forth between the spectral and living wolves, and suddenly, he began to see similarities in their appearance.
"are... you two related?"
"to 'alpha'? not exactly... but, close." the wolf said with a growing smirk.
radin gasped "h-hey... he looks like... the ghost from the cave! the golden one!"
the cloaked wolf clapped "well done."
Alpha pumped his fists 'YES!'
"call me Beta." the wolf told them with a short bow.

the wolf began to explain himself, telling them about his reincarnation, and his genetically modified carbon copy called a DSBIWO; Dysonian Surrogate Biotech Interface Warrior Organism, some sort of living weapon.
"... and that's how i found out... wasn't something i liked seeing, but it proved things..."
radin retched "i can't-- (heave) i can't imagine seeing yourself dead..."
"try not to think 'bout it, we don't wanna get drowned." the wolf said nervously, his ears dipping as he spoke while his translucent counterpart laughed, clutching his sides, revelling in the fact that due to his ghostly form, he wouldn't drown.

radin saw zenef groan as he tried to settle himself, the little canine turning his gaze to a spot on the left of the wolf.
"i'm guessing the ghost wolf's being a jerk?"
zenef nodded "he is... and he seems... i dunno, happy..."
"isn't that a good thing, though?"
"not when you hear that annoying laugh."
radin smirked "well, lucky me."
the little canine scoffed "whatever, y'big white spotted blockhead."

Alpha snorted in laughter 'i think our new self has very interesting friends.'
Beta nodded absently "maybe..."
'are you-- er... are we.... alright?'
Beta's ears drooped and his tail tucked "no..."
'why?'
he eyed the revenant with a serious expression "what exactly happens if Zenef and i come into physical contact?" he asked uncertainly, his ruby-red eyes full of worry and distress.
Alpha opened his mouth to answer, but said nothing, a confused expression on his translucent lupine face.
'what happens...? hmmm...' he tapped his muzzle thoughtfully 'I.... I really have no clue....' he trailed off with curiousity.
Beta turned back to the canine and giant snow leopard, and whistled to get their attention.
"hey, Zenef, since we're one and the same, whadda you think'd happen if we touch?"
this seemed to intrigue him, his ears perking, and then his tail began to wag as he grinned "I wanna find out! I wanna find out!"
he energetically stood and slid down radin's arm, the snow leopard offering a smile and letting the little canine slide down to the ground.

Beta put out his paw as if to offer a handshake "ever really been social with yourself?"
Zenef beamed "since Alpha doesn't count--"
'I DO SO!'
"no you don't, you're a spirit." beta retorted
"since he doesn't count, i guess not."

they shook paws, and a fluttering sensation started in their chests.
"woah..." zenef gasped
"woah is right..." the wolf remarked, a pleasant tingling travelling up from his footpaws all the way to the tips of his ears "... it tingles, who'd've thought?"

they stepped back from each other, smiling as ruby met sapphire yet again, then looking at their handpaws, which still tingled from the contact.
"that actually... felt pretty good, didn't it?" Beta sighed contentedly
"can't complain," zenef chuckled "i kinda feel stronger, too."
Beta nodded slowly, and stroked at his brown-furred chin "that actually makes a lot of sense, you've got the soul, i've got... well, the body, i guess."
Radin prodded the wolf with a careful claw, making him yelp in surprise, not pain.
"don't do that!"
radin pulled his paw back "i'm sorry... why?"
"a claw is still a weapon." Beta pointed out.
radin rubbed absently at his white head fur "right... good point."
the brown wolf offered a reassuring smile "no trouble, kid, just remember next time." he jokingly scolded him, making it clear he wasn't angry.
he then turned to Zenef "where're you living these days?"
"nowhere. i used an alias just to enroll..."
the wolf slapped his shoulder and whispered something, just as the other students began to return to the bus, and the panicking staff member rushed over to where radin sat with the wolf and canine.
"wh- who're you?! what buissiness do you have with our students?!"
he just smiled calmly up at her "it's okay, i'm.... a family member of Zenef's, i'm his legal guardian."
"an... earth-person? you're his guardian?"
he nodded "my name's Beta," the wolf chuckled with a wide, lupine grin "Beta Fiest, at your service, madam."
Alpha rolled his eyes and blew at his fringe 'lame... couldn't you use a better name?'
Beta meerly chuckled quietly and thought at his counterpart (shut up.)

---

on the bus ride back, zenef reclined casually in radin's paws, copying down all the information on ciril's notepad, to a tablet, so that it could be submitted for their group.
"nearly done... phew," the canine blew out a breath of air "this is harder than it looks."
bailey looked confusedly at him "why's that?"
"well, it's all in Gentikan, so i gotta read it all first, then, it's gotta be translated, then i've gotta rewrite it all." he sighed "difficulty being, i can't understand Gentikan."
everyone peered at the tablet, the words manually typed and translated perfectly.
"but..." ciril muttered "you did everything right..."
zenef smiled "Alpha's eyes can read it, automatic translation, he's just... being an information funnel."
his left ear moved as if it had been flicked by someone.
"okay, okay, stoppit Alpha."
malcom, now perched on his sister's shoulder, snickered "you realise you're arguing with yourself right?"
everyone laughed and zenef facepalmed "okay, yeah, good point!"

the jovial atmosphere didn't last long, however, as bailey voiced something concerning him.
"what was that... red thing, though...?"
felicia groaned "yeah... freaky..."
zenef's brow creased "earlier, Alpha said something about it being a ghost... or something..."
radin tapped his head in thought "didn't it say it needed a 'host' ... what's that mean, anyway?"
Virlan, once again in Ciril's breast pocket, piped up "it means he needs to steal someone else's body..."
Bailey cringed "he... he reached for me..."

"who reached fah wot, dorks?" came a carribean accent from behind radin.

they turned to see the smug face of a badger from the seats behind them.
"none of your buisiness, Andros." Ciril growled "go annoy someone else."
"Nah, i dun 'tink ah will," he retorted with an annoying smirk "you gotta tell me, or i'll be tellin' on ya fah keepin' secrets."
zenef stood and the badger met his gaze.
"look, I might be new, but even I can tell that everyone already knows you're brainless, so you don't have to prove it!" he quipped, making Andros recoil visibly, and slink off back to his own side of the seats.
"bullies," the triumphant canine sighed "they're all the same, all idiots thinking they have to prove just how stupid they are."
everyone lughed "good one!"

---

at the end of the day, everyone was picked up by their parents, syrus having come with carl due to having lost his car, benson had come for his sons, patrick for Malcom and Felicia, and Oriado had come for Bailey.
but this time, there was another, a cloaked figure waiting in the collections point inside the raised traversal paths.
zenef greeted him with a smile "hi!"
benson eyed the cloaked figure suspiciously "who's he? and isn't that the kid who reversed the flood?"
ciril nodded "he's called Beta... i think, and the other one's Zenef, he's in our KG class."
the adult fox nodded slowly "i see... are you friends?"
"guess so."
"i'd like to meet them."
ciril looked back to see the duo walking away in the pipeline.
"i think they're leaving."
benson sighed "alright. just ask 'em tomorrow, could you?"
"can do."

bailey began walking with his lupine father, but they both kept silent the entire way.
having seen the red ghostly canine reach for him had horrified him, and had brought up the sense that he'd seen it before, and he now realised he in fact had seen it somewhere else.
his nightmares.
the crimson beast that brought death and destruction.
but at the same time, it had seemed different... almost familiar in his nightmares, as if he knew it, but he had felt no such connection to the phantom earlier that day.
what was the reason for that?
also weighing on his mind was the appearance his beloved pet wolf had made as a Buki, instead of his usual Giant domestic one. how did that work?
these questions bugged the wolfdog all the way on the walk back home.

as they entered the forest, a strange scent caught in their noses.
a greasy, dirty vulpine scent, mixed with that of blood, and ominously, that bloody scent contained a mix of many different blood samples, the stench of long since dead victims.
Oriado snarled "bailerich, stay close..."
he didn't object.
the undergrowth nearby rustled, and bailey could feel his father's grip tightening.
the wind seemed to stop, there was no sound.
the scent drew nearer.
a sense of forboding pervaded the area.

and a little, dingy yellow-furred fennec fox strode arrogantly onto the path, his left arm stained a dreary crimson shade, which radin guessed to be a bloodstain.
the fennec's piercing white eyes were brought out by the sheer blackness of his sclerae.
"Filthy mongrels!" he snarled, drawing a grenadegun from his belt.
bailey whimpered "dad, who is this guy?!"
Oriado felt his blood boil, and a red haze engulfed his vision.
"Kori Kobaquloth, Benson's Stepbrother... his EVIL stepbrother."
as the fennec aimed at them, oriado's blood practically burned in his veins, and he was forced to resist charging forward to destroy the fennec...

the gun was suddenly snapped from Kori's paws in a flash, cleaved to pieces in miliseconds.
a low, menacing, vengeful snarl entered the air, followed by a single, threatening sentance, spoken by two seperate voices.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH THEM!!"

(Next Chapter: It's Not Wise To Anger A Predator)