Chapter Text
Dawn was such a welcome moment.
Even with coffee, snacks, and energy drinks, most of them were yawning, their feet were hurting, and they all wanted to go to bed.
The melee combatants had an assortment of scuff marks and minor injuries, but they got through the night without anything too painful happening.
Haru looked like she’d crammed a week without sleeping, but was otherwise untouched. She spent the night experimenting with various methods of plant murder, destroying sirens from a distance. Nature magic was mentally exhausting and physically draining, but it certainly got shit done.
After watching her thorns eviscerate her third siren, Legosi passed from ‘terrified to even consider Haru in combat’ to ‘Haru gets to kill the next one. She’s so cool.’ Legosi’s tail started wagging for her and everything.
But dawn had to come around eventually, and with it, the promise of sleep. Time for them to group up and go home. It was easier for them to catch up with Gouhin than the other way around, so the group met in front of the building Gouhin used as a sniper’s nest.
Sagwan was trying to help Gouhin limp along, but Gouhin was a bit brusque about it.
Legosi, carrying a sleepy Haru on his shoulders, was quick to ask, “How were things on your end?”
Sagwan hummed, “We managed.”
Gouhin complained, “The old-timer barely needed me. I don’t know where you unearthed this monster, Legosi, but his chimera is terrifying.”
Legosi said, “Technically, Sagwan found me, not the other way around.”
Sagwan recalled, “I was in the neighborhood. Legosi was delivering food. He needed an interpreter to help with sea-speak.”
Gouhin grumbled, “Ah-huh. Sure. I completely don’t believe you. Bunch of secretive, fishy, fish people, the lot of you.”
Gosha still wondered, “So … what are you all planning now?”
Kyuu shrugged, “Sleep till dark, fight all night, repeat?”
Haru yawned big, “Can’t wait. I’m going to be eating as much as Legosi soon.”
Louis asked San and Kyuu, “Where have you two been sleeping these days anyway? Do you want me to drop you somewhere, or - I have extra rooms at my father’s mansion?”
San stretched his arms, “Same way we always have: squatting wherever we can.”
Louis flinched, “What? I thought you had a place!”
Kyuu stared, “Yeah, and the city tore it down after the riots, like they did most of the back alley. Now it’s just whatever place we can break into.”
Gosha said empathetically, “That sounds like a raw deal.”
Louis argued, “I’m changing that right now. My father’s mansion has more rooms than I even know what to do with. You’re coming back with me. You can have proper beds, air conditioning, and my security team on guard while we sleep. Anyone else can come back with us if they want. In fact, I encourage you to. We’re probably safest together.”
San yawned wide, “A nice big bed sounds great right now.”
Kyuu grumbled, “I don’t like accepting handouts.”
Louis offered, “I also have a chef on staff and a pair of walk-in refrigerators.”
Kyuu grumbled, “I could accept a few handouts.”
Legosi laughed softly, tiredly.
Gosha spoke up again, “I should probably use my own bed at home, so I don’t get any venom on your things - but I’d like to talk with Legosi more, whenever he wakes up.”
Legosi’s tail started wagging slowly. “I think I’d like that, too.”
Louis said, “If you’re sure. I’ll have to handle some business in the afternoon, and see how Ibuki is doing.”
Legosi suddenly looked conflicted, looking at Gosha and Louis as if he had to choose.
Gosha had experience with canid body language though, and he picked up on it right away. He told Legosi, “You can go with your friend if you want. I suppose what I really want is more information about that chimera. It sounds like a bunch of you can make one.”
San nodded, “It’s not easy to do, but I’m sure one of us can try teaching you the theory. After seeing what Haru can do, it might be good for me to give nature magic another try myself…”
Gouhin squinted, “What do you mean, ‘what Haru can do’? I already showed you little shits plenty.”
Kyuu grinned shamelessly, “She can blow your bamboo act out of the water, old man. That’s what she can do.”
The panda glared at them all. “Ungrateful louts. Teach them all magic, how to bend the laws of the universe in your favor - get no respect.”
A small female voice suddenly stated, “No, no! They’re right. She’s amazing.”
Everyone suddenly got on guard, trying to identify where that voice came from.
It took the group a second to pinpoint the small rat, who was now climbing up on a garbage can.
The rat brushed off her hands, “Hi there. Don’t mind me, I spy on everyone. It’s what I do for Yafya.”
Legosi got in closer, bent down eye-level to the rat's new height, “Wait! You work for Yafya?? Where is he? How’s he doing?”
The rat shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Actually… I was hoping one of you might know…”
Louis sighed heavily, Legosi groaned.
Gosha frowned, “One of us? What do you mean by that?”
Kyuu was in the middle of lighting another cigarette, “Yafya’s one of the missing. You didn’t get that message?”
There was the tiniest moment where Gosha’s brain had to process that - and then venom poured from his mouth like a waterfall. “What do you mean, he’s missing?! Where’d he go?!”
The rat squeaked back, “I don’t know! I thought he went after you!”
Gosha’s mouth dropped even more venom, “Me?? I haven’t seen him in weeks!!”
Legosi warned, “Grandpa, careful!”
Gosha clapped both hands over his mouth to stem the dangerous tide.
Louis advised, “Start over, from the top. When’s the last time you saw Yafya?”
The rat caught her breath, “Okay. So Yafya has a ton of spies, right? He doesn’t know how to take things lying down. He’s supposed to be ‘retired,’ and that lasted all of like, two days. We’d been keeping watch of the city for him. Weird things happen around Yafya, but in the last month, we started seeing way weirder: carnivores going crazy, our eyes playing tricks on us. Some of us started having blackouts, or forgetting things, even when more than one of us saw the same impossible stuff. We’ve been arguing about it a lot.”
Louis acknowledged, “We’re aware of the phenomena.”
She replied, “Yeah, it looked that way. But, Yafya had been trying to handle it all himself, you know, like he does. There was an old komodo by a hybrid daycare, at night. He was going crazy, too. Yafya got really upset. I think he thought it was you, and told us all to run away before we got killed. We rats aren’t exactly great fighters, even when it’s all 500 of us. We heard shots fired … but Yafya didn’t call us back in. We didn’t even stay away long, and he was just gone, vanished into thin air. Same with the old komodo. Was that not you?”
Gosha shook his head rapidly, then swallowed as much venom as he could. “I only volunteer at the daycare on my days off, and never at night. It’s not open at night.”
Legosi asked the rat, “But you’ve been searching for him, right? Yafya? Do you have any leads?”
The rat shook her head slowly. “No… and without Yafya, we don’t really know what to do anymore. We’re pretty divided right now. We didn’t really have standing orders - our operations have all centered on supporting Yafya for the last ten years.”
Gouhin spoke up, “There’s a hybrid, a male wolf-ram. He's massive. He’s been setting traps for people. He nearly caught me. It’s why I’ve got this busted leg.”
Louis added, “Yeah, Harbor said he tries to learn about a target first. Yafya was with Gosha the night of the turf war. A lot of people saw them together. If Harbor wanted to trick Yafya, he might have, um, ‘drugged’ another old komodo.”
The rat wondered, “You mean he used those monsters, don’t you?”
Louis hesitated, but nodded his head.
Kyuu puffed her cigarette, “They’re called sirens, and we kill them.”
The rat sighed heavily, “I noticed. Okay, listen. I’ve been keeping watch on the back alley, just in case I can find any trace of Yafya, so I’ve been seeing some shit. I've also seen even weirder shit from you lot. I don’t want to say I've been spying on you expressly … but I was spying on you. It’s just what we do, okay? Don’t take it personally.”
Gouhin grumbled, “Gee, I wonder who takes being spied on personally…”
Sagwan stated to the bear, “I am not fond of being spied on.”
San coughed, “Sagwan, he was being sarcastic.”
The spotted seal shrunk. “Oh.”
The rat sighed again, “Point being … Yafya thought Legosi had potential. He brought Legosi in on the hunt for Melon, so with Yafya gone … I feel like Yafya would probably want us to help you.”
The group glanced at each other again.
Legosi readily admitted, “Any help right now would be great.”
Gosha finally managed to ask, “What’s your name?”
The rat saluted. “Esther, #247.”
……
Louis’ bed was way too big.
Just fucking enormous.
No bed had any right being this big, it might have been bigger than Legosi’s whole apartment - but today, that wasn’t so bad.
Louis started drawing the curtains, so the morning light wouldn’t bother them.
Haru was already practically asleep in bed, her eyes more closed than not.
She pushed herself way too hard last night, but she needed to know just how far she could take things. She needed to know how much magic she could put out, in a hurry.
But Legosi was more hesitant about getting in bed. Legosi just stood around, unsure about this, fussing with his hands. He mumbled, “I don’t mind sleeping alone… I know I probably smell after all the fighting…”
Haru joked with her eyes closed, “You both smell.”
Legosi looked embarrassed, Louis looked amused.
Head bowed, Legosi apologized, “I’m sorry…”
Louis approached the large wolf with a playful look on his face, “You know… the bed isn’t the only thing that’s big.”
Legosi glanced aside nervously. “It isn’t?”
Louis smirked and got even closer. He grabbed hold of Legosi’s shirt. “Yes. I also have a big … shower .”
Legosi swallowed hard. “That’s terrible, Louis…”
The red deer was still grinning. “Hey, Haru?”
The sleepy rabbit answered, “Mmhmm?”
Louis asked her, while looking straight at Legosi, “Since we’re both so dirty, can I help Legosi in the shower?”
Legosi felt his fur stick straight out. He hissed, “Louis! That’s way too soon! We haven’t even - We've barely kissed !”
Haru teased, “Then kiss him more, Legosi.~”
Legosi groaned softly under his breath, and hid his eyes under one of his huge hands.
Louis gently reached up, and took hold of Legosi’s wrist. He wanted Legosi to look at him, and he said seriously, “I know you and Haru have taken things really slow … and Haru said you have a tendency to self-destruct whenever faced with intimacy. I don’t want to push you. And I won’t say I know what I’m doing when it comes to guys either. You can shower alone if you want. But I need to get cleaned up, too, so I figured … why not? And … I would like to kiss you more regardless. So it’s up to you. Can we?”
Legosi was fidgeting in place. His ears stayed low but his tail was wagging faster.
Legosi mumbled, “…You'd actually … want to kiss me more?”
Louis stood even closer still. With a little mischief in his eyes, he said honestly, “I think I want to do all sorts of things with you.”
Nervous as he was, Legosi’s tail was practically vibrating against his will.
Haru whispered playfully, “ Do the things . Do all the things .”
Haru didn’t see whatever happened next.
With a final yawn, the white rabbit fell asleep, with fresh fuel for yaoi dreams.
……
Her dreams were interrupted by someone gasping.
Haru pried her eyes open, looking around the dark room.
Louis was up again - or still? She wasn’t sure. He was on the other side of the sleeping wolf, trying to wake Legosi up.
But Legosi was fretful and unconscious, tossing and turning, making unhappy noises.
Louis was trying not to wake her up, to be quiet, but now she was, so… “Legosi!”
The red deer shook him again harder, and Legosi woke up in shock, still gasping, hands now grasping the bed, then his own chest.
Louis and Haru were both looking concerned.
Legosi saw them, laid back and promptly covered his eyes with his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, it’s nothing. I’m sorry. Go back to sleep.”
Haru asked, “Another nightmare?”
Legosi kept one arm across his eyes. “Yes.”
Haru was starting to get more worried. “Did you used to have them this much?”
Legosi shook his head.
Louis wondered, “What kind of nightmares are they anyway?”
Legosi was hesitant about saying it. “I don’t … remember…”
Haru’s eyes slowly started to narrow. “Legosi,” she said his name warningly, a demand for honesty.
The wolf’s ears were drooping all the lower. “The sirens… I keep dreaming of the sirens, and me fighting people, and … drowning. I can’t tell. Sometimes it’s just dark and black and I feel like I can’t breathe…”
Louis rubbed carefully at the wolf’s chest. “Can you breathe now? Should we get Gouhin?”
Legosi was breathing slower, and he insisted, “I’m fine. I’ll be fine, it’s just … just a nightmare…”
Haru was clearly thinking of something though.
She tapped her lips a moment, then nodded once she made up her mind. “Okay. This is at least two nights in a row, and we’re fighting monsters. We need to be at a 100%.”
Technically, he’d been having nightmares a lot longer than that.
Legosi looked guilty. “I can sleep in a different room. I don’t want to keep waking you.”
“Nope,” Haru crawled over on her knees, right next to his head. “We’re fixing it right now.”
Louis was a little suspicious. “Fixing it how?”
Haru began rubbing at the sides of Legosi’s head. “We’re going to give him good dreams instead.”
Louis actually snorted at that. “Oh, we are, are we?”
Legosi still laid there, confused and self-conscious. “I know you knocked out Gouhin, but is that something you can do?”
Haru kept rubbing his head, eyes scrunched shut, as she tried to focus. “I don’t know yet. But I am convincing myself it is. Only one way for me to find out.”
Then she looked at Louis, a little smirk on her features. Haru started rubbing her hands together in front of her and said, “Well, don’t make me do all the work. Sleeping Beauty needs a kiss.”
Louis and Legosi both gave a small laugh.
Louis insisted, “I’m pretty sure Prince Charming helps to wake Sleeping Beauty, not put them to sleep.”
Legosi had just enough confidence to joke, “I thought you wanted to kiss me more.”
Louis sighed in playful resignation. “I suppose I’ll just have to suffer through it.”
Legosi and Louis both smiled as Louis leaned down, to give Legosi a gentle kiss.
Haru blew across her hands gently, and a few flower petals drifted over the wolf.
Legosi was asleep before Louis even pulled back.
Legosi slept with a smile now.
Louis smiled, too, for just a moment more.
Then the red deer’s expression turned to concern again. He whispered to Haru, “It’s not - You don’t think it’s Levi, do you? Sagwan said … Levi tries to reach some carnivores.”
Haru was grimacing. “I don’t know yet. I really don’t…”
She looked down at Legosi, and the wolf who hadn’t slept well in days. She stroked his head just once, love and affection in her fingertips.
Haru looked to Louis with absolute confidence, “But if it is, he’s not getting Legosi without a fight.”
The red deer got his smile back gradually. “I don’t know what we’d do without you, Haru.”
Haru grinned, “Oh, probably start a riot that levels a few city blocks.”
Louis joked, “One time. I started a riot one time .”
Haru teased, “Really not helping your case, Prince Charming…”
……
Louis had never once actually used the big dining room for anything like this.
He’d never had so many guests, much less a reason for the mansion chef to flex their culinary skills like this.
Legosi was munching away on an amazing egg salad, Haru was chowing down on a ton of carrot cake, and Gosha had even brought along his own utensils to eat with them. Sagwan wasn’t eating much, but enough.
Louis brought some fish sandwiches along when he brought Ibuki home.
Legosi had spent practically the whole day asleep, but that was okay. He needed it. He’d been having nightmares all week.
Legosi asked his grandfather, “How did chimera training go?”
Gosha grumbled, “No luck so far. Sagwan’s helping, but …”
Sagwan acknowledged, “It is a difficult skill. He is getting closer.”
Louis asked the alpaca, “San, what about you? Manage any nature?”
San groaned, “I’m trying . But it’s just like before: I feel like I know how to do it, it’s just not taking shape for me.”
Haru swallowed a big bite, “You helped me get it.”
San complained, “Yeah, but that was for you, not me! You had potential. Honestly, I didn’t have a clue how far you’d be able to take it, or how fast.”
Sagwan hummed, “Haru has good mind for magic.”
Gouhin asked the lion, “And how are you feeling? You're 24 hours out of a coma.”
Ibuki wasn’t certain. “Better than I have any right to feel, if I’ve been unconscious a year. I feel strong already. Louis attempted to explain some of this to me. Life and nature… It feels strange, but hearing it from him … it makes sense. We cats were always more attuned to the supernatural.”
Louis added, “Don’t let the glasses fool you: Ibuki carries a lot of passion inside. He’s a fighter. The sooner we start training him on the chimera, the better.”
San stared at Ibuki more, “Don't take this the wrong way, but when I look at you… I get the same sort of feeling as when I look at Kyuu.”
Legosi choked. He had to hit his chest.
Haru laughed, “San, those are fighting words!”
Ibuki frowned and looked around. “Which one is Kyuu?”
At the other end of the table, the homicidal rabbit raised a piece of her dinner on one of her very large knives. “Yo.”
Ibuki raised an eyebrow at San, “Yes, I can’t imagine how I would take that wrong.”
San complained, “I don’t know what that means, it’s just what I feel! Kyuu took to the chimera really fast. Maybe it’s that.”
Louis tried to joke, “Or it’s the trauma.”
Ibuki groaned, “Great! It’s the trauma.”
Esther the rat was only vaguely nibbling on her own food, sitting in between Gosha and Legosi. She spoke up eventually, “So, I get that you’re all going to go out for another night of fighting those things, but … what’s your end goal here?”
That made the table a little quieter.
San answered, “Run out the clock. That’s the big thing right now. We keep killing these things long enough, and they’ll stop showing up in these numbers.”
Gosha added, “I’ve been wondering about that myself. You can’t fight them on your own forever. You’re kids. You all have lives to get back to.”
Kyuu scoffed, “Fighting has always been my life. The sirens are just the latest in a long string of killable enemies.”
Louis gave them a half-truth, “It won’t be forever. These things have been around a very long time, but it’s only widespread violence that makes them appear in these numbers. The violence of the black market and the riots triggered them. But so did the Carni-Herbi War, and the sirens nearly vanished after that ended.”
San clarified for their new members, “After the war, they weakened, diminished, and nearly vanished. We can’t make the sirens extinct, but we can stop them from hurting people. Right, Sagwan?”
The seal nodded slowly, “Yes - if we are lucky. We must do our part now to keep them hungry. But there will always be some sirens. There will always be people like the horned hybrid.”
Legosi commented, “I’d feel a lot better if Harbor wasn’t hunting Louis anymore…”
Haru agreed, “So at some point … we can’t just be fighting sirens. We need to take the fight to Harbor, too.”
Esther perked up, “Well, my people might not agree about a lot, but they’ll care about Yafya’s kidnapper. A giant horned carnivore is something that we can work on. That’s the best lead I’ve heard yet. Finding Harbor won’t be easy, but Yafya had 500 rats. 500 rats can cover a lot of the city in a short time.”
Gosha growled, “And when you find him, I’ll personally give him hell for whatever he’s done to Yafya.”
“And Louis,” Legosi added.
“And Laramie,” Louis finished.
Kyuu pretended to sniffle, “It’s so nice, bonding over revenge. This is a good day. I like this day. Let’s plot more.”