The mutt was sure Zak would beat him totally into the ground, but he felt Zak dragged off him. Through one eye he could see Meph dragging him back by his midsection, Joey with an arm around his neck, and Matt and Duncan holding his arms back. Charlie was pushing him by his chest backward, trying to keep him away from his son, Will helping him.
  Afraid that the Doberman would get loose again, Andrew scrambled up onto his feet and took off through the door he had left open in fear for his life. He ignored his aches and pains, fueled to keep running. He didn’t know where he was going, he just knew he had to get away or he’d be killed.

  “Let me go after him, he… That dirty rat of a son of yours Charlie…!” Zak sputtered, the paw that Duncan was trying to hold back reaching towards the door where Andrew had fled.
  “We don’t need more deaths Zak, calm down!” Joey growled, biting into his ear and pulling back, making Zak yelp and gain focus again. The tan Doberman stopped resisting, his chest heaving. His forepaws felt sore, and he noticed they were cut a bit from where each had caught on Andrew’s fangs.
  They all heard a door open and Swift and his daughter stepped out, looking curious. “What on earth happened here?” The Singing Dog asked in bewilderment, seeing Zak being restrained and panting deeply.
  Charlie looked ashamed as he stepped forward, sighing. “My son… He murdered my granddaughter’s mate…” Sasha stepped up beside him and held his paw, gently squeezing it.
  “Why would he do something like that?” Swift asked, looking shocked. This was the tragedy he had felt coming… But the feeling of chaos lingered in the air, like its business wasn’t done yet.
  “We don’t know why he would.” Sasha said, taking over for her husband, whose shock was setting in hard. “We noticed something was wrong, he was getting thinner, but we couldn’t figure out why he was starving himself…”
  Before another word could be spoken, there was a crack of lightning. Duncan looked out the window, releasing his uncle to wipe tears from his eyes. “Those clouds… They had been hanging around for a while…” He said, too stunned to say much more.
  As the dogs started releasing Zak, Tefa noticed Sam pull away from her mother, whispering reassurances to her that she would be okay. She walked away from her, and her father Joey took her place and hugged his mate close. Duncan finally broke down in tears, catching both Meph and Zak’s attentions, and both walked and started comforting him. Matt sat in his own corner, muttering to himself quickly as if he was having a conversation about what had happened.
  Both Singing Dogs felt like they were intruding on something private, and retreated into their room. Tefa noticed her father’s hollowed look, recognizing it immediately: it was the look he got when inspiration struck, and he swept past her calmly. The instant he reached his desk that calmness was gone as he pulled paper and pen close and began frantically writing, the words coming together, being scratched out, but the main message was coming through.
  Back outside in the main room, nobody noticed Sam leave through the open front door as all of their grief settled…

  Andrew was hiding in an alley by the docks, cleaning his wounds and washing his blood away with the falling rainwater. When he was all cleaned up he took shelter in an abandoned building, panting heavily. His sanity had cracked feeling that Sam hated him, that his family didn’t love him anymore, and that he would be alone for good.
  He looked out the cracked window to the sea, watching it churn and spray high and heavy. The storm had come out of nowhere and violently, making the waves thrash like some angry beast. He was hoping that he wasn’t being followed by anyone in the family, knowing they would tear him apart.
  Andrew soon noticed a shadow out of the corner and he scurried back, hiding in the building’s shadows as much as possible as he watched. Lightning flashed above, and he saw that it was just Sam. He sighed lowly in relief, but noticed her sort of blank expression as she looked around. When Sam seemed to notice where she was going, she started walking again, and the older mutt noticed she was heading for the docks.
  He wondered why she was going there, and slowly went to the doorway and tried to call for her. “Sam!” He barked, but his voice was swallowed up by the wind, and she kept walking. In his panicked state from his earlier fight, it took him a few moments to notice that she didn’t stop walking even after she passed the halfway point on the docks, which was unsafe in a storm like this, and she didn’t seem bothered by the wind battering her about as she walked.
  Realization set in that she wasn’t going to stop, and, eyes widening, Andrew started running. He knew in the back of his head he wouldn’t reach her in time, he knew she wouldn’t hear him. But he ran and called her name anyway, he wanted to say he was sorry; he wanted to make her understand. But he knew that it would never happen as she reached the end of the docks and she jumped into the raging sea as he called for her again. “Sam!”
  As he saw her sink below the waves, his mind snapped. He was standing on the sidewalk, paw outreached like he had hoped to catch her, and he stared at where she had been moments before. The weight of what he had caused finally settled in, the grief he had caused his family, the rage he had brought upon himself. How he would be all alone…
  Though he was horrified inside, a cracked sort of grin appeared on his muzzle. He started chuckling at first, letting his paw lower on the ground and still staring at the docks. His chuckle started to rise higher and higher into a laugh, a horrible sound that was thankfully drowned out in the storm for any passerby, his body slowly sliding down into lying on the wet concrete. “No one to love me, all alone, poor little Andrew with nobody to call his own! Hahahahaha!” The young mutt threw his head back as he kept laughing, his mind completely shot.
  “Goodbye you punk purebreed! Goodbye family! I don’t need any of you, I can be all by myself just fine, you’ll see, you’ll see!” Still giggling like a demented child, the mutt stumbled off, bumping into the walls and crates around in his mad dash to get to the place he felt he should live: the city dump.

  The families inside the apartment didn’t know where Sam had gone when they had checked her room, thinking that she had gone up there to be alone. They hunted around, splitting up into teams to try and find her in the city. When Swift heard the news that she was missing he had a feeling about what had happened and began writing another song, his completed first song set aside to be a part of the performance tonight.
  The family looked everywhere, Zak and Duncan finding Abyssus and bringing him to the home he rightfully deserved before going out to hunt for the younger hound’s sister. The search went on a few days, during which they buried Abyssus at the park in the night. Swift had since finished his next song, but out of respect for the family he wouldn’t perform until he helped them find Sam.
  While Charlie and Sasha searched the beach, they saw a dark shape on the sand. It didn’t take them long to guess that it was Sam while they approached. Sasha ran off to get the family to help them get her to the park with her lover while Charlie stayed to make sure she wouldn’t be swept away.
  After they had her joined with her lover, they went to go see Swift’s first ever performance. They were special guests for him, and he told them that he understood their sadness. He dedicated his performance to Abyssus and Sam, saying he wrote songs for the occasion. When the time came, he motioned for the band to start playing, and he introduced his songs, Destroying my Halo and Losing Sister Fate.

As my tale begins, my eyes are blinded
By the jealous mask on my face
The world around me has no meaning
The only desire I have is Sister Fate

I walked the path of shadows, by myself
I hunted for the cause of my hate
As soon as I found it, I took its life
Though the cause was a love of my Sister

Destroying my Halo, forfeit the right
Heaven's light is not in my stars
So for the one I love and desire
I shall destroy my Halo for you

As blood dripped from my claws
My Sister stared at me with horror
She called upon the curse of Heaven
Punishment for my self-righteous deed

And so the lonely shadows I passed
They clung to me like knives in my skin
They hurt my body deeply with my own pain
They snapped my mind completely in two

Destroying my Halo, forfeit the right
Heaven's light is not in my stars
So for the one I love and desire
I shall destroy my Halo for you

And now as I sit alone in my home
The place where I was meant to be
Clutching my broken pieces of gold
The Halo I gave up for you

All alone, no one to call my own
The light of the Halo is dimming
The shattered pieces leaving
Fading away to Heaven's dawn

I destroyed my Halo
Destroyed it just for you
Destroyed my Halo

~

On that cold dark night I watched her
Standing in the shadows I deserved
She looked to Heaven's light silently
On the shining sand of the night

Sister Fate took her first lonely step
On the starlit water of her tears
In her tragic heart she called to him
And he came and embraced her

He begged her to join