until it formed a small knot. He smiled and slipped this makeshift bandana over his neck and admired it proudly.

“Always thinking of you,” he whispered.

The husky grabbed up his piece of goose and sauntered farther into the depths of the alley. He stopped when he reached a section of the alley that had a roof of sorts over it, and he laid down. As he ate his meal peacefully, he glanced to his left and saw a pile of soot. He stuck his paw into the black powdery mess and when he pulled his paw back out, it came out just as black. Douglas chuckled softly while the sun climbed up to the mid-section of the sky.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

“Did you hear?”

“I heard alright. Three more gone missing in the last two days. What’s next?… Who‘s next?”

These were the common conversation starters around Nome with the dogs. Everyone was wandering around, trying to tell anyone that would listen. If they didn’t have a reason to be afraid before, now they definitely had one, or three for that matter. Even the dogs that tended to stay from the rumor mill found themselves getting sucked into the twisting tales. Some claimed they had actually seen one of the dogs being aggressively dragged out of his home by rabid dogs. Others swore that there was some kind of conspiracy, the main theory being spread was that Doc was trying to hide or get revenge on those dogs who were speaking out against him. But no one could really prove the validity of these claims, and just fell victim to these crafty story weavers. And soon, they started to put faces on these characters, making their tales seem that more believable. And this was a win-win situation. They could slip in whichever dog they didn’t particularly like and paint them up as the culprit, even though they gave them some of the most outrageous reasons for doing something so wicked.

And sometimes they gave no reasons of any sort. They gave claims of evidence that was whipped out of thing air, yet the majority ate it like they were starving for this news. What was worse was when a dog would hear one of these stories made to blame one of their own friends, and they would do nothing to stand up for him or her, and would actually go behind their backs and spread on the tale instead of confronting their friend. Yet, if they were confronted by said friend, they would put on a façade to make it seem like they really believed them, and as soon as this friend finished confiding in them and turned their back, they would spread what had just been said, but in a much more menacing light.

Doc watched this all unfold from the sanctity of his window seat and shook his head dejectedly. He saw how the dogs raced to and fro, frantically whispering in each other’s ears before rushing away quickly. This was his exact fear, and now it was becoming a reality. He sat in silence as he saw an occasional dog glance at his home with a sad, disappointed, or angry expression upon their face. He had noticed that a dog had passed his home more than any other. It was the same dog from before that had accused him of hiding the information so he could intentionally cause panic, only to save the day. He knew deep down that he had intended nothing of the sort, or even thought of doing something like that, but he also knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Everyone was lettྱg their emotions run wild, and so he didn’t even have the slightest hope of proving his innocence. And now he even felt like he was under house arrest with all the eyes that sent negative signals. But all he had to do was wait. Eventually this whole thing would either implode, or explode, and they’d need his help and guidance once more.

“Hey old boy, you alright there?”

Doc lifted his ears and turned away from the window and saw his owner ease up from a heavy armchair. His owner waddled over to him and patted him on the head, and Doc laid down, enjoying the attention. Well, positive attention. Doc’s owner looked out the window in time to see another dog shoot a glare towards them.

“Did you have a falling out with them dogs?”

Doc just groaned quietly and rolled onto his back, making his master scratch his belly. He was hoping to avoid bringing that up while being petted, but oh well.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then,” said his owner, “you only want a tummy rub when you’re really upset.”

Too bad he couldn’t really know how upset Doc felt. His reputation would never be fixed to the state it was before this whole mess, and he questioned how many dogs would actually trust him after this ordeal. Doc rolled again and stood up before walking away from his owner.

“Well… Good luck!” his owner called after him.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

By the time the three dog sled team arrived in Nome, the sun had already set far beyond the horizon, and the full moon was already making its appearance. Some of the clouds had fallen from the sky, leaving a mist that distorted the view of the town.

“Alright Boys and Girls, here we are in Nome!” Burt shouted proudly before looking back at Lilith, “So Sister, where did you say our brother’s crashing place was located?”

Lilith bit her lip as she had tried to remember. It seemed like her whole stay had been blurred together, but she pointed down the lane towards the opposite side of town.

“I think it’s the last house on the right,” she said meekly.

“Alright then, let’s get-” Burt suddenly stopped.

Before them he started to see dogs exiting and entering houses and walking up and down the street. He motioned to his left and they ran to the side of the nearest house, just barely avoiding any eyes seeing them. Hal saw that Star was starting to look most conflicted.

“Uh-uh, I wouldn’t make any drastic moves Friend. I know that there are dogs here that wish to eradicate us as well,” he tutted, wagging a digit.

Any plans that Star had been thinking of were shut down right then. The padded through alleyway after alleyway to the other side of town, the reins of the sled jingling softly as the snow crunched under their touch. The moon was rising much slower than the sun had earlier, and Star could tell as he gazed into it that every inch of it was lit up, a successful full moon. They entered the mouth of an alley and Burt held a paw up, stopping them. They pushed themselves against the wall tightly as two dogs walked past. Hal lifted his ear.

“-heard it was really Doc, just using this whole thing to his advantage. Why do you think he didn’t want anyone to know?”

“Exactly. I say we get another candidate and have a vote to get him out of here. If he did this once, he’s bound to do it again-”

And the rest of the conversation cut off as they proceeded past the alley. Burt saw their destination directly kitty-corner to their position. He leaned his head out into the main street cautiously and smiled. He pulled ahead slowly, the sled creaking behind them as they made their way across the lane. They walked around to the back of the building and saw a hole in the fenced in backyard, which they entered through. Lilith walked besides Burt and tugged on a series of straps, soon releasing him. Burt stepped onto the back porch and pushed his head through a pet flap.

“Brother Greg? Are you present?”

“Burt? That you?” a voice called back.

“Sure is.”

“Oh! Then come in, come in!”

Burt waved a paw behind him and pushed himself the rest of the way through. He came into a kitchen and another black and white husky walked up to him. Steele gave a wide smile and then noogied Burt.

“So, for what reason have you decided to visit me?”

Burt broke free from his grip and sighed. “I’m afraid that we’re being followed by them. They should be only a few hours behind us.”

“Hm, I suppose that does cause a problem. But I already know exactly what to do.”

As he finished, a purple head poked in through the door, before being shoved in by an impatient Hal. Star rubbed his head as he stood up quickly and saw a husky staring him right in the face.

“St-Steele!” Star stuttered.

He had been expecting to see him again, but he was still shocked nonetheless. Steele smirked at his surprise and just patted Star on the head, causing him to flinch.

“Nice to see you again Old Friend.”

Star gulped quietly as Lilith entered after Hal. Steele looked them over and nodded his head, leading them into the living room. Star saw three small pups by an old set of armchairs. Steele saw then too and spoke.

“Alright you three. I want you where we planned, and I don’t want any dilly-dallying.”

They all jumped up and took up a brisk place as they exited the house in a single file march. Lilith peered around and saw another dog walking towards them.

“Isn’t he supposed to be locked up?” she whispered to Steele.

Steele just grinned at her, “Nonsense, he’s being a good dog now.” He then focused on the other dog. “Alright Nikki, I want to introduce you to the others. This is Hal, Lilith, Burt, and I know you already know Star,” he said as he pointed out each dog.

Nikki seemed rather uninterested until he heard the mention of Star’s name. Star walked up to him quietly and studied him.

“Nikki, is… is that you?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing there.”

Steele quickly interrupted them. “New rule Nikki!” he commanded, “From now on, you are also commanded to listen to my three siblings. No matter what happens tonight, you still have a obligation to them, and will do whatever they say, no matter what, or else they have full permission to do with you as they see fit.”

Nikki nodded, “Yes sir. You’s can count on me.”

Star gave a somewhat shocked look to Nikki. “Are you sure that it’s really you?” he asked with concern.

Nikki tried to smile. “Yeah Star. ‘t’s me.”

“The Nikki I know wouldn’t take orders from someone like him.”

Nikki leaned down and whispered into Star’s ear. “Well, the Nikki you knew had to start behaving to save his own

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