Pay The Price For Your Betrayal

[August 17th. Open mainly just to me, Patch, Mooch and Vitani]

She raised her head, sniffing the air, puzzlement writing itself across her maw. Angel could have sworn half a moment ago that she'd detected, of all things, Scamp's scent on the wind, a fact that she couldn't comprehend. Scamp was dead, she'd watched his burial with her own eyes - for that matter, it was the reason she and Patch were living out here in the jungle in the first place, more or less.

No, it had to be her imagination. Or maybe it was one of his sisters' whose scent she'd mistaken for the pup she missed, that sounded plausible enough - and honestly, she wasn't in a hurry to confront Annette, Collette or Danielle again right now. Gathering up the few rats she'd caught for a meal - it wasn't much, but the pair of them were hardly living like a king and queen out here anyway, so they'd make do - Angel hurriedly trotted back towards a spot by a particular waterfall that she and Patch currently called home.

"I think one of Sca- uh, my sisters is nearby," the one-eyed pomeranian quickly informed her spotted boyfriend. She was trying not to use Scamp's name at all around him, given that his murder was still something of a sore point - to put it mildly - between them, but she often refered to the dead pup without even thinking. "You probably want to keep a low profile until she's gone," she added.

---

"It's this way!" Scamp's stage-whisper was loud enough to scatter a pair of birds from a nearby bush as the grey-furred pup stuck so close to the ground his belly practically touched the snow. His scruffy coat was smeared with mud in what he thought of as a decent camoflage - although against the current weather conditions, it did no good whatsoever -, and his stubby tail stuck up in the air behind him in a rather ridiculous fashion due to his current position. The stealthy approach would take Patch by surprise, Scamp was sure, not even realising just how stupid he looked as he waved Mooch forward to join him - and possibly Vitani, too, if she was back there; Scamp wasn't entirely sure if his feline girlfriend had agreed to go along with this or not.

Their mission, in Scamp's mind, was a simple one; to break Patch and Angel up once and for all before the spotted traitor could hurt her again, and maybe even hook Angel up with Mooch into the bargain so they could keep an eye on her (he hadn't told Mooch this last part yet, though). "I saw Patch around here the other day, they can't be far now," he added, still whispering loudly.

"Scamp-pant-slow-pant-down," His tail drooped behind him signalling the already exhausted sheepdog's body into full on sleepy-sleepy mode. Ears flopped at his side as he moved across the jungle floor, finally catching up with his buddy, collapsing onto the floor of the jungle. Tongue lolling out of his mouth, it was quickly swept back in. The teenage hound didn't need much to cool his body back down again, what with all the snow. He peered at Scamp and rolled his big yellow eyes.

"You realize you look stupid," Mooch hissed in a whisper quieter than Scamps-though he didn't understand why they were whispering when they didn't even know if Angel or Patch was nearby-and planted his rear next to the younger dog, waving his thick paw in front of his nose, "And you stink. Are you sure that was mud you rolled in?" He snickered at his own little joke.

Not that he wasn't on board with the plan; anything to break Patch even more after what he did to Scamp was alright with Mooch. Plus he got to see that pretty pom. Now that was a plus. Mooch's crush on Angel had developed slowly over the course of the war. Sure distractions got in his way and he wasn't madly in love with her but he wasn't going to object if she came crying on his shoulder when she and Patch broke up.

He grinned evilly at the thought. He knelt next to Scamp trying carefully not to touch the stinky mix. "Okay so...do we just wait or...what?"

Laying low... it seemed that was all Patch had done in recent times since the encounter with his family in the middlelands. Not that Patch could really complain. He'd brought the situation upon himself by killing Scamp in the first place. Never mind the fact that it was his going to the Pridelands that had resulted in Scamp being brought back. Angel didn't know that much, mainly because he hadn't told her since he thought she might not believe him, so why bring it up? They were together again, and he didn't want to screw things up by making her think he was lying about something.

At the present moment, he was laying in front of the little spot by the waterfall they called home and contemplating what they ought to do. Angel couldn't go back to the heroes, he couldn't go anywhere without being branded as a traitor... overall it just seemed like a thorny situation to be in. A while back he'd had the idea to try asking Angel to run away with him and go back to his home. Roger and Anita would never have to know about what had gone down and they would be happy together. The idea had been shot down by himself as he'd thought about it, though. Sooner or later the other dalmatians would come home, and then things would get messy very quickly. All those thoughts seemed to vanish when he heard Angel's voice, and so he lifted his head from the ground and listened. One of her sisters was there?

"Okay... but what are you going to do? Your sisters don't know you're here, much less even alive anymore." Patch pointed out. The fact that Angel had been in the jungle for so long must have meant the other heroes thought her dead or just missing and didn't care about the latter. If it really was one of Angel's sisters coming into the jungle, how would they react? More importantly, what would Angel do when she saw whoever it was?

"I was hoping to avoid them as well, but I might have to head them off if they get too close," Angel replied, glancing back over her shoulder, her snout still sniffing at the air to see if the 'intruder' was getting closer - sure enough, she could still catch a hint of the familiar scent, which smelled more like Scamp than she cared to admit. "None of them would take well to seeing you, but I could probably explain it if it looked like I was out here alone." The blonde female dropped most of her catch, meagre as it was, in front of Patch, and began to gnaw of the single rodent carcass she'd kept hold of for herself while she thought. They didn't have many other options, anyway, short of hiding or fleeing - neither of which seemed very likely to produce better results if the cocker-mix out there was looking for her in particular.

"'Though I don't really fancy explaining this to them," she added in afterthought, one paw indicating her missing eye before returning to the task of holding her meal in place while she quickly devoured the flesh.

---

"'Course not," Scamp was quick to return, forgetting to whisper now, and not bothering to respond to the sheepdog's assessment of his appearance. What did Mooch know about the art of stealth, anyway? ...then again, Scamp himself knew next-to-nothing on the matter either, but he could guess, at least. "If they're around here, we can just sniff them out." He lowered his muzzle to the ground, sniffed hard, and got a nose full of snow for his trouble. "O-o-okay, n-not quite like th-that," he shivered, pawing at his cold nose.

"I mean, how hard can it be to find them?" he asked, once his schnozzle had got over its cold shock, gesturing around the clearing as he spoke. "Remember where we are? You took us this way when I was teaching 'Tani to swim... and you were dating Dolly," he added with a sideways glance at his friend, half wondering what had even happened to that particular pretty girl anyway. "The waterfall was just through there... we should see if Angel's anywhere near it," he decided, starting towards the gap in the trees that, if he remembered correctly, led to the clearing and falls in question.

"I wasn't dating her! I was..." Mooch's ears perked slightly. "The waterfall? I remember where that is. This way, come on!" He lept over Scamp (long legs helping with that) and started off towards the water. He paused slightly between the trees and sniffed the air with his large nose. He turned over his shoulder and hushed Scamp with a paw in front of his mouth. Creeping out of the trees into the clearing, he lifted his head and poking it between the bushes.

Aha. There she was in all her fluffy glory. Waiting for Scamp to catch up, the sheepdog took in Angel's appearance. Scruffy and covered in scars. His ears drooped. Poor girl; she must have been through hell and back. And now she's with that traitor? Bah. She'll drop him in a heartbeat when she sees how mature and hot I've gotten. Cocky dog grinned and placed a paw on his chest.

"Pssst. Scamp. I see her!"

Vitani padded forward slowly, unlike Mooch and Scamp she was moving silently through the jungle, only the snow cruching under her paws kept her from being totally silent. Her head snapped up when she heard Mooch's call and she slunk forwards until she was beside the grey sheepdog.

She hadn't seen Angel in months, she believed that the pom had either rescued Patch and escaped the war or had died in the Outlands. She was relieved that it hadn't been the latter. Despite what had past between her and Angel in the past, she didn't want Angel to die.

She couldn't help the low growl that past by her lips at the sight of Patch. He may have brought Scamp back to life but he had also killed him to begin with. She hadn't forgiven him completely, although she wasn't going to kill him...only maim or seriously injure. That would suffice.

"How do you two want to do this?" Vitani asked, keeping her voice as low as possible to avoid detection.

Patch could hardly think of anything to say in response anymore. If Angel's sisters really were there, how were they going to explain his being there? Her eye was going to be difficult to explain as well, he realized, but probably wouldn't be as big a concern as his being there. After all, he was a traitor. Traitors took priority over a missing eye, right? Well, whether they did or not he decided not to think about it. Instead he nodded gratefully and began to eat the meager food Angel had brought. He had no right to complain about what they had to eat anymore; what they had there was better than in the Outlands, so he'd take it.

Suddenly, Patch was alerted to a familiar scent in the air. He lifted his head from the little body he'd been tearing in to and sniffed tentatively. Brown eyes grew wide with recognition. He'd have been an idiot not to recognize the scent of Mooch. If he was there...

"Maybe... maybe I shouldn't be out in the open." Patch said. He was hoping Angel would catch on so that he wouldn't have to explain his sudden caution. Surely she would recognize Mooch's scent and realize that if it had been the cocker sisters she had scented before, they had brought a friend. Wordlessly, Patch dropped back a couple of paces and did his best to hide behind some nearby foliage. It was the best he could do when his mind was entering panic mode.

Angel did, indeed, recognise the even more unwelcome scent of Scamp's former best friend, and thought she caught a hint of a particular lioness on top of that too. The only reason Mooch, Vitani and one or more of her half-sisters would be out here together would be if they'd decided it was time to get some sort of revenge on Patch - and quite frankly, Angel wouldn't allow that. "You're right," she replied quickly, keeping her voice low and glancing around, not sure just how close the group was. If the waterfall hadn't been frozen from the cold, Angel would have reccomended Patch hide under the water, but as it stood...

"Maybe you ought to run for it while I keep them busy?" she suggested. She was sure she'd be safe enough around them, and even if she would have an explanation to give, that would be preferable to letting them see Patch. "I'll find you again once they've gone."

---

Scamp squeezed himself into the gap between Mooch and Vitani, the mud adorning his coat rubbing off onto their fur in the process, and peering through the gap in the snow-covered bushes. He could only see Angel's back-view from this angle, and he could just about make out Patch's form, too, mostly eclipsed by Angel's own shape. Chocolate eyes narrowed as he watched them, straining his ears to hear what they were saying, and not quite managing to make it out since Angel had lowered her voice. A single claw idly tapped against the frozen ground as the scruffy mutt thought on Vitani's question.

"We need Patch to confess that he's only using Angel, and doesn't care about her," he decided, watching for any sign that they'd been noticed. The way Angel kept turning her head to cast what he knew to be her good eye around the clearing was proof that she knew something was amiss, but he didn't think she'd actually seen them yet. "I'm not sure she'll believe us otherwise." He frowned for a moment, alomst audibly thinking hard. "Mooch, you and me'll distract Angel. Talk to her, tell her how pretty she looks, that sort of thing." Pretty might be debatable - Scamp knew Angel's eye had been injured, but had no idea how bad it looked - but he hadn't mentioned the damage to either of his friends, deciding that it surely couldn't look that bad.

"'Tani, you go for Patch - cut him off if he tries to run, pin him or something, and we'll make him talk once you've done that." He glanced at his two close friends, allowing his posture to sink into a crouch. "You've got that? On my signal..."

That was all the scruffy teen needed to hear. Talk to her, tell her how pretty she looks, that sort of thing. echoed in his ears as he lifted his paw. Licking his paw pad and swiping back his hair, he stared at his reflection in a frozen puddle nearby Scamp's feet. He flashed a grin Thunderbolt would envy, almost seeing a shine glaring off his teeth. "Step aside, Scamparoo," Mooch said, puffing out his chest and rustling his shoulder fur, "You are about to watch a master."

Without wondering whether Scamp even wanted him to reveal himself, the sheepdog made his way towards Angel and Patch, head held high with a haughty air on his face. He wasn't about to let Scamp and Tani make the call about when to go, besides he was more a get up and go guy anyway. Ears flopping at his side, he trotted between Patch and Angel, sliding his body between the two. Eyes closed her upturned his head over Angel's.

"Oh, hey Ang-AH! WHAT THE-?!" His teeth ground shut, eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and his paw moved in front of his mouth. The empty socket of the once lovely pom's eye stared him in the face. He looked back at Scamp, then plastered a slick grin back on his face.

"Uh, I mean, hey, 'sup. Do something with your hair?" He stuck his nose close to her's. "You look simply beautiful." He flashed that charming grin and blinked his big yellow eyes into her one good blue one trying not to pay any attention to the eye socket which was looking him right in the face.

(Yo, Angel, if it's not okay that Mooch just pushed his way into the clearing, let me know ^^)

Vitani wanted to tell them to wait, Angel and Patch were too nervous, too on edge, if they charged they'd scatter and then they'd have no hope of tracking them. They had to wait until their guards were lowered before they struck, a surprise attack would mean that they would have little time to comprehend the situation and react.

It didn't matter, Mooch broke cover before has could open her mouth to stop him. With a roll of her sapphire eyes, she charged after him. If she got Patch then maybe that would convince Angel not to run or, if she did, to return to try and rescue the dalmatian.

She raced across the snow, throwing herself between Patch and his not likely escape route. She barred her teeth at him and unsheathed her claws, hoping that her appearance would frighten him enough that he wouldn't attempt to get around her. Maybe her threat of death still held some weight.

Mooch's loud exclamation caused Vitani to look up towards where he and Angel stood, momentarily taking her attention her her own quarry, and she felt her snarl melt away to be replaced by shock. Angel's eye...nothing remained but an empty socket. She felt bile rising in her throat but forced it down. Angel had known what she was getting herself into when she went to the Outlands...still it made the lioness think of her own scar.

"GO, Patch!" She could tell even without looking that Mooch was approaching her, could hear his pawsteps on the snow, and Angel despreately shoved Patch, who still didn't seem to have moved. She wanted to tell him that it was okay, that she'd be safe, and that she'd find him again afterwards, but before she could voice anything else, the sheepdog cut in between them - and promptly freaked out at the sight of her empty socket.

"You're an awful liar," she stated bluntly, stepping back from him with a look similar to mild disgust on her face. She was missing an eye, had numerous other injuries that she doubted Mooch would have known of until today, and her fluffy fure was nothing short of a total mess. Under other circumstances, she might have flirted regardless, just to mess with him, but right now his and Vitani's unexpected intrusion was putting her under too much stress to consider something like that right now.

She turned enough to take in Vitani with her remaning eye, presenting Mooch with a full view of the empty hole where the missing one had used to reside, her brows lowering. There was only one reason, so far as she could see, for those two to be here, and although Angel didn't have a clue how they could have found out, she didn't stop to ask. "I know you're here for revenge on Patch, and I'm not going to let you hurt him."

For a moment, the pomeranian thought she saw a flash of grey fur moving in the bushes, but quickly dismissed it as probably just a rabbit hiding there. There was no way it could have been who she had initially thought it looked like, of course.

---

Still 'camoflaged' in the bushes, Scamp watched the proceedings with a growing sense of irritation. He didn't much care that Mooch hadn't waited for his signal - he would have done much the same had their roles been reversed - but Angel wasn't reacting as he'd expected. Or more accurately, as he'd hoped; he'd had to admit a while ago that he didn't known Angel as well as he'd thought. Still, her lack of inclination to go along with Mooch's distraction was annoying. Not to mention that 'Tani seemed to be waiting until Patch actually tried to run to do anything instead of just pinning him now.

The mutt held back on emerging from the bushes yet, instead keeping to their shelter as he circled the small clearing, trying to put himself as close as he could to Angel before making any further move. He clumsily brushed against branches, shaking snow from them as he crawled awkwardly through the bushes, but aside from one short glance, he didn't think the blonde pom realised anything was amiss.

Mooch made a disgusted face before swallowing and moving himself to the other side of Angel so he could peer at her good eye. Tail wagging the slick sheepdog, poised himself beside her and placed his paw around her shoulder. "Okay, so here's what I'm seeing," he barked, "You and me in the heroes camp. Louis blowing that trumpet in the background to set the mood." He let his eyebrows raise and fall as his half-closed yellow orbs gave-what he thought was-a seductive look.

"And there we are," he said raising a paw to the sky, "Under the moonlight. Stars shining brightly, twinkling off those gorgeous...ehhhh....that gorgeous Blue eye." A sheepish grin passed his features before he continued. "A dinner for two, in the center of the training camp. Whatever you prefer but there's candle light."

"Doesn't that sound romantic?" He said with a slick smile, "And how could you say I'm only here for Patch. I was sooo worried about you, Angel-baby. And I'm only here for one thing." He paused.

"That didn't exactly come out properly..."

"But, Angel, Vitani's right-"

Too late. She'd already shoved him in that direction and right toward the lioness blocking his escape route. Patch wished he could just shrink down and hide so he wouldn't be noticed, but with Vitani right in front of him that was definitely not going to happen. He felt his tail go between his legs, fear enveloping him as he looked right at Vitani, and dropped submissively into a crouch. He didn't want to fight, but running wasn't an option. Not while Angel was still there.

Hang on. Why are Vitani and Mooch here if Angel thought she smelled her sisters?

That did raise a good point. Angel had either been mistaken or lying, and he didn't want to think it was the latter, so why were Vitani and Mooch there? Patch thought it over, but slowly the reason seemed to become clear. If they were there, then chances are Scamp wasn't too far behind them. They were his friends, after all. It only seemed logical that he would get them together to come after him.

Mooch's attempt at flirting hadn't gotten past Patch. He cast a glance over his shoulder, looking utterly dumbfounded, and just sort of stared at the sheepdog for a moment before properly turning around to look at him. It probably was a bad idea to turn his back to Vitani, but he had to get his own thoughts on the matter out in the open. "What makes you think Angel wants to go back with you at all? For that matter, what are you two even doing out here in the first place? Though... I guess the better question would be how you knew where to find us." Patch said. A wiser pup would have taken the opportunity to run while Vitani let her guard down, but he wasn't even sure if she had lowered her guard at all. So Patch stayed put.

The look on Angel's face was about equal to the one she'd worn when putting up with Buster. Alomst instantly shrugging his paw off her shoulders, Angel stepped away from Mooch, a very unimpressed scowl on her maw, to stand firmly beside Patch instead. Protectively shielding him from Vitani's potential line of attack. No matter why Mooch might say he was there, Angel wasn't sure she trusted Vitani not to go for Patch while their backs were turned, and she was making clear that she wouldn't let that happen. "Keep dreaming," she scoffed at Mooch, still glancing around in order to keep a wary eye on Vitani and try and pinpoint why she could still smell Scamp's - no, it had to be his sister's - scent.

Glancing down at Patch as he spoke, Angel realised that the dalmatian had a point. How did Mooch and Vitani even know they were together in the jungle in the first place, let alone actually find them. "No-one but Peg knew we were in the jungle at all," she mused with a frown.

---

Seeing his Angel - he really ought to stop thinking of her like that, but she still was, kind of - standing over the pup who'd caused her so much heartbreak - and killed him - as though she were prepared to defend him with her life was too much for Scamp to keep silent through. He had made a valient effort to remain quiet until what he judged to be the best time, but now caution went out the window. With a shout of her name, the scruffy pup burst from the snowy bushes in a shower of white, his chocolate eyes wild as he stared at Angel.

---

Angel's remaining eye had widened as, by some sheer impossibility, Scamp himself threw himself into the clearing. She was seeing things, she thought, watching as the pup struggled not to let his own revulsion at her empty socket show and began shouting at her. "He's just using you!" the mutt barked out, not making much sense to Angel's mind, already confused by his sudden appearance. "Patch, I mean! He's just trying to hurt you again!"

Her maw hung slightly ajar as she just stared back, uncomprehending, wondering just when her sanity had started slipping this much, or if this was just some ploy of Mooch's. "Patch, tell me I didn't just see Scamp join us," she whispered, trying to blink away the illusion of her dead half-brother, which stubbornly refused to leave.

The arrival of Scamp caused Patch to involuntarily step back a bit further, almost as if he was trying to hide from the prying eyes of his hated rival, before acknowledging Angel's question. He had hoped to tell Angel he had brought Scamp back from the dead more gently than this. But there was the little grey mutt in all his glory, apparently acting as the ringmaster of the little game going on about them, and probably acting on the impulse of wanting to 'protect' Angel. There was nothing to hide anymore. Patch ultimately shook his head in response to the question.

"No... he's really there." he said. It would sound crazy, but Patch needed to finally tell her how he had risked life and limb by going in to the Pridelands to revive his rival. All for her. He'd have told her sooner, but ultimately he decided to give Angel her space until things had cooled down after what he had said when they had gone to live in the jungle.

"A while back, I went back to the Pridelands. I wanted to try and make up for what I did so long ago, what I did to your family and you I mean, so... I went looking for a magic user. I found one, and asked him to resurrect Scamp. That's why he's here."