‘mush’!!”

Ambyr snarled on last time in their faces, and got off of them. She then walked away, in the direction Drifter disappeared to.

Blitz and Haywire got up.

“Nice going, genius,” scoffed Haywire. “Any more bright ideas?”

Blitz looked at the ground and lowered his ears. “Wow...I-I’ve never seen Ambyr act like that before.”

“Ah, she’ll get over it. So...what do you wanna do now?”

Blitz continued staring at the ground, as if the answer was written on the snow...He had to admit it kind of was.

“I know,” he said. “Follow me.”

Ambyr skulked to the boiler room, ecstatic to see that neither Blitz nor Haywire were there. She slowly lay down on the ground, next to the heater. It was the only thing that was comforting right now. She stared calmly at the glowing coals as a sad, salty tear escaped from her eye.

“No, no, I beg of you, please, NO!!!” Haywire sobbed as he was being dragged by his tail in Blitz’s mouth. He swung his paws around, and fastened them to a pole nearby. “I’m not gonna do it! I won’t!”

Blitz grunted as he pulled on Haywire’s tail harder, trying to pry him off of the pole. “Come on, Haywire. It’s the only way!”

“Uh-uh. If you feel like that, you can do it yourself! I have enough people mad at me already, thanks to you.”

Blitz continued tugging. “Do you want to right what you did or not?”

Haywire sobbed again. “ME?! This whole thing was YOUR idea!”

Blitz rolled his eyes. “So sue me.” His eyes ran to the corner of his mouth, where he caught sight of a familiar figure skulking around a nearby alleyway. “There he is! Come...on!”

Haywire still held on for dear life. “You’re gonna hafta force me!!”

A light bulb lit over Blitz’s head. He spat Haywire’s tail out and cleared his throat. “That’s a great idea, Haywire! Hang on while I go get Ambyr.”

Haywire instantly stopped. “WHAT?!”

Blitz smiled. “I knew something was bound to come through to that tiny cranium of yours.”

Haywire scratched his head. “...What’s a cranium?”

Blitz’s smile faded. “Never mind.” He gestured towards the alleyway. “Drifter’s in there. Come on, just like we rehearsed.”

Haywire growled. “You...owe...me.” He walked over to the dark alleyway. It was darker than all the rest, but he could hear some rustling near the back. Perking his ears, he spoke out to the darkness. “...Drifter? You there?”

More rustling.

“...Drifter?”

“What do you want?” the darkness growled back at him. Drifter materialized in front of him. He didn’t look very happy.

Haywire cleared his throat. “I, uh, well...ermm...”

Nearby, Blitz put his paw to his forehead and shook his head.

“Uuhh...Oh yeah, can you, uh, come here...for a moment? I need to show you something.”

“You’ve shown me enough already.”

“But...Yeah, I know, but, well, I mean, I didn’t want to show you, but, um, Blitz over there –“

Drifter growled louder. “You and Blitz again?

Blitz felt that he should go over to Haywire, and hit him, but he somehow found the energy to stay hidden, and away from sight.

“Well, not me and him, it’s mostly...wait, what?” Haywire thought for a second. He couldn’t remember his lines. Finally, he just decided to skip to the end. “JUST COME WIH ME, OKAY?!”

“Why?”

“Because...I...found a meat stash!! Yeah, it’s right beside the butcher’s!!”

Drifter cocked his head to the side. “...You’re not very smart, are you?” He turned around, and started disappearing into the shadows.

Haywire growled. This wasn’t going according to plan. He picked up a mouthful of snow in his mouth. Swishing it from side to side, he created a perfect snowball, and spat it out. With a swipe of his tail, the snowball went hurling into the darkness. It left Haywire’s view, but he could hear as it exploded, then, a short whimper. He had hit his mark...Now his mark was coming to get him.

“That’s from me,” yelled Haywire. The darkness snarled at him. Haywire immediately turned and started running. Shortly after, a rabid street dog came sprinting out of the alleyway, chasing Haywire down the road.

Blitz came out of his hiding place. “That’s my cue.”

Ambyr was still kind of sobbing when Blitz come up to the door. He pushed it open. “...Ambyr? You there?”

“LEMMIE ALONE!!!” she yelled.

Blitz pushed the door open and walked in. Ambyr got up from the ground and snarled. “Did you hear me?! I said GO!!”

“Just listen to me,” Blitz said. He started pacing the room, not knowing where to start. “Haywire and I...we were...I just...we were worried, okay? You and Drifter? ...Alone in a dark alley? We couldn’t help it.”

Ambyr just glared at him. “You both knew. Why?”

Blitz looked at the ground. “We...we thought something could’ve happened...to you, I mean.” He looked up. “We were worried,” he repeated.

“That doesn’t mean anything. Drifter would never hurt me!”

“No? Well, I barely know him. And he’s part –“

“THAT DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING!!” Ambyr narrowed his eyes at him. “...And it still doesn’t give you the right.”

Blitz thought for a minute, returning his gaze to the ground. “You’re right, it didn’t...We should’ve trusted you.”

“Not me – Drifter.”

“Yeah...Drifter. I mean, he’s a good guy and all...but there’s still too much about him we don’t know.”
“...Must you know everything?” Ambyr asked. “Should it matter?”

“Well...” Blitz hesitated. “No...no, it shouldn’t.” He suddenly looked up at her, Guilt was a volcano inside him that was ready to erupt any second. He looked deep, into Ambyr’s eyes. Through the anger he saw in them, he saw something else. A glimmer, that seemed to shine brighter the more he stared. What was it? He instantly knew the answer; forgiveness.

Blitz’s face lowered to an expression where he, too, felt ready to sob. “I...I’m so sorry,” he said.

Ambyr looked at him, a little shocked. “Hey,” she said calmly. She strode over to him, and was about to put a paw on his shoulder, but a panting Haywire burst through the door, his eyes wide with fear for the second time that day. He looked at the two. “He’s...coming,” he panted. He heard a snarl behind him, and Haywire instantly jumped out of the way as Drifter came tumbling into the room. His growls disappeared as he caught sight of Ambyr’s surprised look.

Ambyr looked at Haywire.

“Hey...it was...the only way,” he panted.

Drifter got to his feet. Blitz got up too, and strode over to Haywire. “Come on,” he said. They left the boiler room, and closed the door behind them.

“Well?” asked Haywire.

Blitz looked at him, confused. “Well, what?”

Haywire rolled his eyes. “Did she eat it up? Y’know...like we rehearsed?”

Blitz thought for a second. “...Rehearsed?”

“Come on, the plan was for you to act all sorry, so she wouldn’t be mad at us anymore, remember?”

Blitz shook his head. “How is it, you can remember MY lines, but never your own?”

Haywire smiled.

Drifter and Ambyr stared at each other for a few seconds. Finally, Ambyr shattered the silence.

“Did they...do anything to you?”

Drifter looked at the ground. “Nothing I didn’t want them to.”

Ambyr chuckled. “Oh? And what’s that?”

Drifter walked closer to Ambyr and sat down next to her, in front of the heater. “...Lead me to you.” He nuzzled her, and Ambyr -- slowly, but surely – nuzzled back.