Hello there, readers! I am so happy to bring to you chapter eighteen of Found! I especially want to thank WastedTimeEE for not only letting me write with their AU but also with their OC's, as well as for answering my constant stream of questions. And I also want to thank my friend Trismegistus Shandy for being such a wonderful proofreader! Now, I initially had a lot planned for this chapter... until I realized that I had WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much going on in one chapter, so I took Wasted's advice, and split it into two. I should have the next chapter finished sometime next week, so yay! Now, please enjoy!

 

 

 

Found (Chapter 18)

by

Elite Shade

 

 

 

"It should be comin' up now," Zach said, the wolf deputy stepping lightly through the trees, the sounds of crashing waves close.

 

"You're sure that this is the way?" Vanna asked, the tigress deputy stepping with surer footing and natural feline grace.

 

"Absolutely, Kitten," Zach said, his tail wagging as the scent of the sea became even stronger, "we all loved coming out here to play in our secret cave when we were pups."

 

"And I imagine sneakin' off to show some girls yer secret cave from time to time," Dorian joked with a snort. The white-furred sheriff had a pretty good idea of what his boys used to get up to when they were teens.

 

"... No?" Zach said, making it sound more like a question, and directed towards his mate. Vanna simply rolled her eyes before they came out from the canopy of trees and onto a black gravel beach. They had taken one of the Sheriff trucks at their disposal up an old and largely unkempt dirt road for as far as it would go before they had to set out on foot. It took around half an hour of hiking, but finally, they made it out of the woods and to the beach, just as Marcus described. The sea was moderately calm, with waves only spraying a smattering of the dark salty water on the large rocks at the shoreline.

 

"Alright, where's the cave, Goofball?" Vanna asked.

 

"Well... it was a while ago since I was last here," Zach said, looking around and sniffing. He paused, and his tail started to wag. "There!" he shouted, pointing to a group of bushes. He scrambled towards them, with Vanna and his father lightly jogging behind him. Zach came to the bushes and pulled them apart, freezing. "Oh wow..."

 

Vanna came to a stop right next to him and caught her breath just as Dorian joined the mates. The three looked on at the very boat as Marcus had described it.

 

"The Aurora Hammer," Dorian read on the side of it, walking into the cave. The writing was in Animanglish, painted in white on the side of the otherwise iron grey boat.

 

"Huh," Zach said as he came up and looked the boat over. "This looks like an antique." It was true that it looked to be of an old-fashioned design, with the motor in the back large and box-like in shape.

 

"An antique in near-brand new condition," Dorian amended, finding the canisters of gas in the boat as he said so.

 

"Not quite," Vanna said. The two wolves looked at where she had her paws, to find that she was running her thumb over some holes in the side, near the top.

 

"That metal around the holes is melted." Dorian observed, "That there's from frag, from an explosion."

 

"Just like Marcus' story..." Vanna said, trailing off as all three felt the weight of that statement.

 

 

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

 

 

Audrey hummed as she set about making the pie crust. Today was a good day. While Dorian and Zach and Vanna were out on their little excursion, Audrey was pupsitting Marcus. Not only that, but the rest of her boys and their mates were all coming for a visit. The older she-wolf lightly patted her stomach, excited about finally getting to share the news to them all at once. She explain to Marcus that he wasn't here to do any chores, but instead was free to explore all he liked. Before that, however, she had asked him what kind of pie he liked, and caught sight of a sparkle of excitement in his eyes when she mentioned fresh baked pumpkin pie. So presently, that's what she was making him as a special treat.

 

She had just finished kneading the dough, when her ears perked up at a strange sound. It was faint, but the older she-wolf could have sworn that it sounded like a piano. Her curiosity piqued, she wiped off her paws and headed towards the basement, the only location of a piano on the ranch. Sure enough, the halting notes wafted up from the stairs. Sniffing, she could tell that it was Marcus who must have found her old piano.

 

Smiling, she crept down the stairs, and came upon the sight of the boy, sitting on the bench, testing out the keys. Then, after a moment's pause, he started to play a song. It was fast, and reminded Audrey of raindrops pattering, but beautiful. Her tail slowly wagged as she listened, waiting for him to finish before making her presence known.

 

"That was wonderful, Darlin'," Audrey said, making Marcus practically jump out of his skin. He stood up, almost falling over the bench. Once he steadied himself, the human boy shrank in on himself a little, guiltily looking at his feet.

 

"I-I'm s-so s-sorry, Mrs. Hunter! I w-w-was going to clean up down here, b-but then I saw the piano a-a-a-and..." he said, sounding fearful. Audrey frowned and walked over to him, her paws out.

 

"It's okay, sweetie, I would never be mad at y'all for wantin' to play my old piano. Just in the future, ask first, that's all," she said.

 

Marcus continued to stare at his feet and fidget. "Y-you're... not mad?" he asked, looking up in confusion, which made Audrey want to scoop him up in a big hug right then and there.

 

"O'course not," she said with a smile, taking a seat on the bench, patting the spot on her left. It took Marcus a second before he got the hint, and sat down. "What you were playin' sounded very purdy. Maybe you wouldn't mind if I showed you a few tricks of my own?"

 

"... O-okay," Marcus said, a note of curiosity in his voice.

 

Audrey smiled and started playing one of her favorite tunes from back when she was in high school, Bearthoven's "Melody of Glee". She saw the slow smile spread on Marcus' face as she played.

 

"Care to give it a try?" she asked.

 

Marcus looked nervous, but nodded. He started to play the song, just as she had. She took note of how quickly he had seemed to have picked it up. Then he hit an off key, and his entire attitude changed. His smile disappeared and he held out his paws, backs up, the scars on them made clear by the light overhead.

 

"Marcus, what's the matter?" she asked, concerned.

 

Marcus just looked at her, equal parts confused and worried. He looked down at his hands and hid them under the keys.

 

"I-I messed the song up..." he mumbled.

 

"Sweetheart," Audrey said, a realization forming in the back of her mind, once that made her heart hurt, "are them scars from other times you made a mistake?"

 

Marcus was silent for a moment. "Th-the ones on my hands... they're... incentives... to not play the wrong notes..." he said. Audrey wanted to cry, as well as rip the throat out of whatever savage mammal would do such a thing to a child. But seeing how scared he already was, she choked back her anger and tears, and instead focused on keeping her voice calm and soft.

 

"Marcus," she said, "everyone makes mistakes, and that's just fine. It's certainly not anything someone needs to be punished for. Marcus? Please look me in the eyes, sweetheart."

 

It took Marcus a second, but he was able to work up the courage to meet her gaze and hold it.

 

"No one, and I mean no one, is ever going to hurt you like that again," she said, meaning it, and doing everything in her power to convey that to the human pup sitting next to her. She could see the tears welling up in his eyes, and sense he was fighting them.

 

"B-but what i-if... I deserve it?" he asked, his voice so quiet, and sitting next to her, he looked so small and scared.

 

"You don't deserve it, and you never will, and we'll all be happy to keep telling you that until you start to believe it yerself," she said, opening her arms and leaning forward. At first, he flinched and his eyes went wide. But then, he seemed to recognize that she was trying to hug him, and cautiously leaned forward to accept it. That was all it took for the dam to break. His shoulders started to hitch, and his breath came out in shuddering sobs, and Audrey sat there, holding him and rubbing his back.

 

"It's alright, sweetie, just let it out," she said, quiet tears streaming down the sides other own muzzle. He cried for a few minutes before finally tapering off. Once he was finished and hiccupping, Audrey pulled out a pawkerchief to wipe his face for him, simply out of instinct, before drying her own eyes. "Feel better?" she asked, smiling as he nodded.

 

"Y-yes," Marcus said, reflecting on the hug.

 

"If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to teach you a lot more songs I know," Audrey offered, to which Marcus nodded his head immediately, making her chuckle.

 

"I can't tell you how happy that makes me;" she said, "all my boys love playing instruments, but none of them took to the piano."

 

"Uhm... what does Mr. Zach play?"

 

"Hm? Oh, he plays, and I use that term a bit loosely, a saxophone. It's my understanding that Vanna has currently hidden it from him after all the times he attempted to 'serenade' her," Audrey said with a laugh, her tail wagging at the smile that returned to Marcus' face, brightening it right up.

 

"But how about we discuss that over some fresh-baked pumpkin pie," Audrey offered. She wanted to howl with joy when she saw the smile get bigger. "And if'n you want, y'all can help me make it. Sound good to you?"

 

Marcus nodded, his eyes still red and puffy, but now bright and energetic, like any pup's eyes should be.

 

"Well then, let's head on up and get to it," Audrey said, and she and her grandpup both got up from the piano bench and headed upstairs.

 

 

A Short Time Later...

 

 

"Hey, we're back, and we found the boat! Also, Pa got a call from Vern that they're at the train station, so he dropped me and Vanna off to go pick 'em up," Zach excitedly called out as he opened the front door. His ears perked and his tail wagged as he heard laughter coming from the kitchen.

 

"And just like your uncle Vernon and peanut butter, he ended up with his muzzle stuck in the jar," Audrey's voice floated out for Zach to hear, followed by more laughter. Curious, he made his way to the kitchen where he happened upon Marcus and Audrey sitting at the table. Between them was half of a pumpkin pie, a plate with crumbs on it sitting in front of Marcus, who was the one laughing. Zach smiled at the sight.

 

"Well, you two seem to be getting along," Zach said as Vanna came up behind him.

 

"I was just telling my Pumpkin about the silly things his Pa used to get up to when he was a pup," Audrey said, before she cocked her head and licked her thumb, leaning over to wipe at some whipped cream on Marcus' chin. Marcus turned his head a little and opened his mouth to protest.

 

"Hush now, Pumpkin," Audrey said, using the new pet name she had given her grandpup after seeing how much he enjoyed her pumpkin pie, "you've gone too long without someone to properly fuss over you." Marcus blushed but smiled as she successfully cleaned off his face. Zach, however, was now looking a little dejected.

 

"But I mean... I thought I was yer pumpkin..." Zach mumbled, quietly enough for Marcus to not hear, quickly receiving a tug on his ear from his mate, who shot him a warning glance, as did Audrey.

 

"Really?" the tigress asked in a whisper.

 

"Ma always called me that 'cause of my orange tufts," he whispered back, pointing to the splotches of orange on his headfur and ears, "and, well... I mean it ain't like Vern's losing his nickname to his pups..."

 

Vanna's response was to give another, slightly harder discreet tug on his ear, making him wince while Audrey leaned over the table and kissed Marcus on his forehead.

 

"Alright, alright... it'll soften the blow though if I can at least get a 'Dad' out of the boy," he said, before there was a pinch to his ear and a tug, making him wince and leading the wolf away from the kitchen.

 

It was a few minutes later that Dorian returned, opening the front door, and chuckling as Dawn and Vern's pups darted in, giggling with excitement. All three were wearing some new coats, courtesy of Dawn and her mother, knitted from their combined wool. Alice's coat made her look like a little white sheep, and the hood even had some additional poof to it, much like Dawn's head wool. Beneath her black fur, the wolf had been blushing, yet smiling, happy to put it on. Trevor and Lily's coats were made to look like wolves, complete with tails at the bottom and pointed ears on the hoods. Trevor's was stark white, just like Dorian's fur, which the older law wolf had found quite amusing. And Lily's coat was dyed to match Vernon's fur color, which she was very excited for. Vernon followed them inside, carrying the pet carrier which currently housed an unamused Princess Callibrie, and Dawn followed close behind, filming with her phone.

 

"Daddy? Why is Uncle Zach standing in the corner?" Lily asked once she stopped in the living room to push her hood up, and point, the sleeves of her coat longer than her arms.

 

"I'm guessin' either yer grandma er' aunt gave him a time out..." Vernon said with a chuckle.

 

"It ain't a time out! ... I'm just ... choosin' to spend some time in my cool-down corner..." Zach said, not once turning away from the corner.

 

"Yep, time out," Vernon said, amused, while Zach crossed his arms with a huff. Lily frowned, and walked over to her uncle, wrapping her arms around his leg.

 

"Awww, I'm sorry you got in trouble, Uncle Zach, but I'm sure your time out will end soon," Lily said, making Zach crack a smile and lean down to reciprocate the hug.

 

"Did I hear my grandpuppies?" Audrey asked as she entered the living room, her tail wagging, and cooed. "Oh my goodness, just look at you three!"

 

Lily giggled and stepped away from Zach. "Look, Gramma, I'm a wolf just like Daddy!"

 

"Ya sure are, sweet pea!" Audrey said while scooping Lily up and hugging her. "And I see that yer brother is a wolf just like yer grampy and yer sister's a sheep just like yer momma."

 

"Uh-huh!" Trevor said before being surprised by Dorian who picked him up and set him on his shoulder. Alice simply blushed and smiled, her own tail quickly wagging when Dawn slipped an arm around her to give her a squeeze.

 

"Would you pups like to meet yer new cousin?" Audrey asked, her tail wagging even faster. Alice and Trevor both nodded while Lily hugged Audrey's neck and leaned in to ask, "Is he nice?"

 

 

"He sure is, sweet pea," Audrey said, hugging back, "he's just a little nervous is all."

 

It was then that Audrey waved her free arm towards the kitchen, prompting Vanna and Marcus both to come into the living room. Marcus was standing a little behind Vanna, nervously wringing his hands. Lily was quiet as she stared at him, her eyes wide with wonder, and her mouth agape.

 

 

 

"... Hi," she finally said.

 

Marcus shuffled his feet a little. "H-hello... I'm Marcus."

 

"I'm Lily... and I'm a wolf," she said, pulling up her hood.

 

"Uhm... th-that's nice... I-I'm a h-human..." Marcus said, awkwardly. Vanna reached around and gave him a squeeze of reassurance.

 

"Where are the rest of us... I mean them?" Lily asks, having to push her hood up over her eyes.

 

Marcus looked uncomfortable and shuffled his feet. "H-hiding..."

 

"Like hide-and-seek?" Lily asked. Dawn and Vernon were both starting to get a little worried, having never seen Lily this serious before.

 

"Uhm... k-kinda... b-but... th-they don't want to be f-found..." Marcus said, looking back down at his feet. The tension palpable, everyone was caught off guard when Lily hopped down from Vernon's shoulders and walked right up to Marcus, and hugged his legs. At first, Marcus' breathing started to come in rapid breaths, but he quickly calmed down... and even smiled. He reached down and returned the hug, earning a coo from the females minus Alice, who just looked on warily, holding her mother's hoof.

 

"I'm happy our family found you," Lily said, looking up with her usual bright and chipper smile, "they're the bestest family ever!" Everyone laughed at that, and like a flick of a switch, the tension and awkward air was gone.

 

It was a little while later, after Vanna had decided that her mate had spent long enough in his "Cool-Down Corner", that the pups, including Marcus, were playing in the yard, with Vernon and Zach to supervise of course. Audrey had finally gotten to meet Princess Callibrie, always loving lizards, and the adoration was clearly mutual. However, much to Dorian's chagrin, it seemed that the lizard took a liking to him. He found himself on the porch swing, watching his boys play with his grandpups, with Princess Callibrie in his lap. She had already grown large enough to occupy his lap, and she refused to budge. While Audrey had found this cute, Dorian had huffed and tried to get her to move, until she hissed at him. He decided to just let her be for the time being instead.

 

"Nice to see the little-'uns gettin' along," the white law wolf said as Dawn came out onto the porch. She giggled at the sight of a content Princess Callibrie sitting on her father-in-law's lap, and turned to watch Marcus participating in a game of tag.

 

"It really is," Dawn said. Having come from a physically abusive childhood, she felt sympathetic to her new nephew.

 

"I don't suppose y'all have a trick fer gettin' this lizard to go somewhere else... preferably far away, do ya?" Dorian asked just as said lizard let out a rumble of contentment. Dawn giggled at that.

 

"Sorry, Dad," it still felt strange for her to call the sheriff that, but all nice, "but unless someone's opening a can of wet food, she pretty much stays where she wants to, until she gets bored... or if Lily calls her."

 

"Not much of a chance of that it seems," Dorian said with an eyeroll, but also with a smile, as Lily ran from Alice, her large wolf coat flapping in the wind.

 

"Ya made those coats a few sizes bigger'n the pups," he commented, not unkindly.

 

Dawn nodded at this. "Mmhmm, so that they can grow into them, instead of quickly growing out of them, like most lambs do."

 

"Smart... oh yeah, Dawn, I've been meanin' ta talk to ya about somethin'," Dorian said, shifting a little uncomfortably in the porch swing. Dawn turned to regard her father-in-law.

 

"Yes?"

 

Dorian, still looking uncomfortable, scratched the back of his head, much like Vernon did when he was uncomfortable about something. "Well... it's about yer grandpappy's old place..."

 

"Bellwether Manor," Dawn said, almost shivering, it drudging up some painful memories. "What about it?"

 

"Well... someone bought it..." Dorian said.

 

Dawn was stunned. "... But... who would want to buy such a place... no one with good intentions, I presume?"

 

"I don't know," Dorian said with a shrug, "it was just outta the blue. Some mammal came along with a large pile of cash and bought it on the spot."

 

"How... odd..." Dawn rubbed her hoof to her chin. "Did you at least find out the name?"

 

"That's all I found out, aside from the fact that they're a foreigner... and that they're planning on renovating the old place... and so apparently have a lot of money to do it," Dorian said. "Although I plan on keeping my eyes and ears open and if I find out when they start skulkin' around the place, I'll personally pay them a visit, if nothing else than to get a feel for them."

 

"I don't see any good mammal buying that place, other than to tear it down, like it should be," Dawn said, shivering once again, before looking Dorian square in the eye. "What's their name?"

 

"Kirin Dice... and that's all I know. As fer species, that's anyone's bet. Literally, folks around town are placin' bets as to what this Mr. Kirin Dice actually is. I don't know why, but fer some reason, kangaroo has got the highest bid so far."

YAY! Thank you for reading the new chapter! And please feel free to leave a review! I can't tell you how much of a pick-me-up a review can be for writers. The next chapter will be coming soon, count on it!