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Fear, anger, maybe even a bit of insanity, that had been what Jove had died with. He had been killed by hunters, wiped out just the same as LW had, and surely hundreds of Halloweeners before them. But he had gone with blood on his fangs.

So when he began to wake up from his dreamless sleep, his first instinct was to fight against the weight that was keeping him trapped. He struggled against the blankets, thrashing violently until he freed one arm from it's blanketed bounds. He had to get his foe off of him, get loose so he could once again get his teeth on those hated hunters!

Closing his hand into a fist, he punched at his assailant with all his might.

It was starting to sink in, the softness under him, the familiar scent of mushrooms and foxfires, but his room was still rather dark, and cavelike. Just the same as where he had been killed. And the pup was too far into his rage to realize this was his bed, his home, and his brother whom he had just punched in the nose.

Jove let out a growl as he was pinned down thoroughly, but Ren's voice quickly seeped into his consciousness. No, he had to stop. The growl died in his throat, and he relaxed slowly, as though he was fighting every step of it. There was just so much anger, it ached and burned inside of him without any way to vent it.

The pup let out a little whine, clarity seeping back in his eyes as he looked up at his brother. And the ugly red on his face. Oh, he had been a Bad Dog again... But how had they ended up back here? How did here even exist anymore? Was it part of the trials? It felt so vivid, so real...

As though sensing the change in their owner's mental state, several foxfires came out of hiding and hopped up onto the bed, clustering protectively around the little ghost. They tried to comfort as best they could, pressing against him in a fluffy, writhing hug.

One poor, confused creature pressed itself against the tuft of fluff on Ren's tail, with just as much determination as the others.

Jove growled a little, eyeing the room around him before taking a deep breath, and nodding. He was okay... Not happy, but unharmed at the very least.

One errant little foxfire crawled over his head, and he flicked his ears back. How did he get here after the trials? Had he... actually died? Then a panicked thought struck him, was LW okay?

The pup began struggling anew, whining and making half-hearted pleading growls as he tried to push himself out of bed. With Ren holding his wrists, he got as far as overtop the gryphon's body, and then fell face-first into the sheets. That was when the foxfires swarmed again, this time crawling on both him and Ren with little regard for tender areas and breathing ability.

Jove let out a nearly comical wheeze in reply. He had landed under the gryphon, too tangled up to even make an escape to the dark under-the-bed space nearby. Instead, more little blinky eyes peered out, the foxfires who hadn't been entirely convinced to come out while there was such a commotion going on. The ones who hadn't been pulled over the edge simply blinked down at them.

The little wisp struggled a bit, but Ren was simply too heavy, and the tangle of sheets was taking away his leverage. His ruined side would probably bruise up worse after this tumble too... He writhed a bit more, with no success.

Once Ren's weight was off of him, Jove tentatively explored his bruised side with his fingers. Thankfully it was only more tender than normal. Was that from being landed on, or from the trials? Everything was so confusing, he couldn't quite separate reality from those... dreams.

He looked up at Ren with a confused expression. Was he okay? Were all of them okay? Him and LW and Tybalt, was everyone still here and whole?

The pup's expression twisted into a scowl, and he wanted to punch his brother all over again. What sort of apology is that? Apologizing for getting out of there, so Jove didn't have to watch both his brother and LW die? He pushed himself up to a sitting position against the bed, smacked Ren in the shoulder, and then wrapped his arms around him in a hug. Translation: You're being stupid, but I'll love you anyway.

Ren had to stop beating himself up for these things.

Jove snorted at Ren's words, but it was clear he was relieved. The anger still burned inside him, over the pains they had been put through. It flared up when he thought about it, how they had been pitted against the hunters time and time again, always struggling, always losing. The thought of being driven to such extremes by those monsters in their white coats...

That was when Jove noticed a sheet of parchment sitting on the floor, where it had fluttered off his nightstand during their flailing. It didn't belong to the pup. The hair on the back of his neck bristled, and he began growling low and threatening. That paper hadn't been there before the trials, it was a foreign object in his designated safe place, and served as a bold declaration that things were not right.

Jove's foxfires, sensing the swift change in his mood, all crammed themselves under his bed. All except Fruitloup, who puffed up right alongside it's owner and began to growl at the small coffee table across the room.

Jove did not want to read it, he leaped up when Ren reached for the suspicious piece of paper, stumbling backwards onto the bed as it was waved in his direction. His growl increased in intensity and pitch as he backed himself into the farthest corner. Across the room, Fruitloup continued to growl at the furniture.

He bared his teeth, if Ren continued to wave the page in his direction he would shred it without a second thought.