Pay The Price For Your Betrayal

"Say WHAT?"

Mooch's eyes ripped open then narrowed violently towards Angel. "You attacked Tani? What's wrong with you, you crazy bitch? What's wrong with both of you? We've barely got any damn ties in this war. We've got one back! Scamp's alive again and all you can think of is you and your spotted rat of a boyfriend! I don't care what happens to him, but I care what happens to you! Hiding like a coward isn't hero like at all. Attacking an ally isn't hero like at all either. Perhaps you should just pull a Lucky and join the human villains huh? or maybe return to the outlands?!"

He turned his pale yellow orbs on Scamp. "You sure she's even worth the trouble dude?" Mooch hissed to his friend, "We've watched out for you more than she has."

"I don't need you to tell me what's 'hero-like'," Angel retorted venemously. She didn't like Mooch at the best of times, and this was far, far from the best of times. "If I've ever been a hero, I know I'm not anymore. I never said I'm proud of what I've done, but I can't run away from it or pretend it didn't happen just because I don't like it." No-one would accept her back even if she wanted to return to the heroes, anyway, so even if she was prepared to abandon Patch, it would have been a waste of time on her part to try, anyway.

"Mooch, shut up!" Scamp was getting desperate. This wasn't how things were supposed to go at all! Mooch had only been supposed to distract Angel, not get into a full-on argument with her; Patch had been supposed to confess, which he hadn't yet; Tani had been supposed to help him with Patch, while instead she just stood there and told him not to choke his own killer too hard; and Angel had been supposed to see sense. The scruffy mutt hopped off Patch, and darted over to the girl he'd loved. "Angel, you've gotta come back with us. It's me, Scamp... you trust me, right? I don't care what you say, I know you didn't mean to hurt 'Tani, and you being out here with him is just going to cause trouble for you. Look, just forget Patch and come back with us? We'll find you someone better, I promise!" Okay, so the original idea had been to pair her with Mooch, but even Scamp wasn't stupid enough to think that would work after watching their feud here.

"Don't you get it? We can't go back! Not after everything that's happened!" Patch exclaimed. How Scamp thought Angel couldn't have meant to hurt Vitani was beyond him. If she hadn't meant to do it she wouldn't have done it at all, right? Or maybe not. Patch didn't really know what Angel's reasoning behind attacking Vitani had been. All he knew was that they were both traitors and it was becoming clearer that Scamp and Mooch couldn't understand that. What about Vitani? She'd been strangely silent since she'd told Scamp to not choke him. Patch got to his paws once more and shot a glare in Scamp's direction. He was getting sick of the whole conversation.

"Stop trying to convince her to go with you. Angel isn't some... thing you can just pull about as you see fit!" he stated. How could someone who claimed to have loved Angel not even see that she should be given the choice to do what she wanted?

Scamp froze, Patch's words penetrating his brain more surely than anything Angel could have said. That was exactly what mom had told him, so long ago, before he'd died the first time. That Angel wasn't some prize bone he could just steal back... it seemed that was the one lesson of the war he was unable or unwilling to learn, and for a moment his mouth worked silently as he failed to find a suitable response. "But... he's a traitor. He's going to hurt you! All I want is what's best for you!"

"What makes you think I haven't already got it?" Angel sounded like an impatient teacher explaining something to a particularly dim child. She didn't mean to sound as though she was insulting Scamp's intelligence, but she was just getting beyond fed up of him right now. Was she glad that Scamp was alive again? Of course. But she wished they could have reunited under different circumstances, preferably in private. Certainly not like this. "The heroes would never take me back. Even if they would, I don't belong there anyway. This, staying out here, is all I can do. It's what I deserve. And it's what I've chosen." Sidling between Scamp and Mooch, Angel returned to Patch's side, keeping a wary eye on the other two dogs.

For a moment, she locked eyes with Scamp. 'Please Tenderfoot, don't make this harder than it has to be,' she begged him silently.

Mooch just stood there, staring at the dirty one-eyed pom, the patch eyed dal and then his scruffy friends. He didn't say much for a while, maw shut tight, staring deeply at Angel for a moment. His plans had backfired; Angel would never see him as anything. Just like all girls. His lips upturned over his maw in a rippling snarl towards the pom and the dal. He turned away from them, and rolled his shoulders in a stretch. He placed a large flat paw on Scamp's shoulder.

"It's not worth it, Scamp," he whispered, "I get it, she's your sister. You love her. But she's clearly made her choice. Delusional and dangerous or not." He snarled towards Angel, the sound rippling from his throat. "The bitch gets what she deserves. A Prince does not look behind, only ahead." He nudged Scamp's side.

"Seriously, dude, let's go."

Vitani watched silently, feeling useless in this situation. She looked from her two friends to Patch and Angel, she didn't know what to say...should she say anything at all? Angel had made her choice, no matter what Vitani thought of it, it was her choice.

The lioness glanced back at Mooch and Scamp, she knew she'd probably get an earful from them when they got back to camp. She hadn't exactly been playing on their side...she'd not done anything to really sway Angel to their side and hadn't attacked Patch when asked...she'd even tried, unsuccessfully, to save him.

By this point she didn't know where she stood herself.

She returned her gaze to Angel. She wanted to say something to the pom...but she was sure that she was probably the last person Angel wanted to talk to at the moment. It wouldn't seem right after this.

So she simply gave the pom a nod and moved back to Scamp and Mooch's side, brushing her shoulder against Scamp's.

"Angel..." Scamp didn't know what to say, or even what to think anymore. Angel WANTED to be with his murderer. No-one else thought she was worth the trouble anymore, and for himself, Scamp just felt horrible although he didn't really know why. He was trying to save Angel, and it wasn't his fault that she couldn't see that! One way or another, he was sure, her being with Patch would just end badly for her, and he didn't want the girl he still cared for to suffer anymore. Why couldn't she just see...?

Just feeling utterly defeated, the grey-furred mutt's shoulders slumped and he stared at the ground beneath Angel's paws, wishing he could save her from the pain he was sure Patch would bring her sooner or later, and knowing he couldn't. As much as it pained him to admit it, Angel was her own person who had made her own choices ever since he'd met her, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

Was this how Pop had felt when he'd chosen Buster over his own family? The thought surprised Scamp, but he could hardly deny that to his mind, this scene seemed rather similar. And what was it Dad had said then? When you've had enough, our door is always open. Was that what he needed to say now? "When everything goes wrong with Patch, I'll still welcome you back," he stated. Nowhere near as eloquent as Pop's words, perhaps, but it was good enough.

He didn't bother to wait for a response, and Angel had no intention of giving one, anyway. With a disheartened nod of agreement to Mooch, the scruffy mutt began to trudge back in the direction of the hero camp, still casting glances over his shoulder at Angel for as long as she was still in sight.

How had everything gone so badly?

(ooc: Scamp has left the thread. If Vitani and Mooch could follow suit, I'd like Angel and Patch to maybe continue the thread for a little more on they're own, if you don't mind, Ray?)

(ooc: Sure, that's fine with me.)

Patch watched as Scamp walked off, though he didn't look entirely pleased about it. From the sound of it, Scamp still seemed convinced that something would go wrong if Angel stayed with him. That frustrated Patch to no end. Instead of commenting on that fact, though, he decided to wait until he and Angel were alone. With Scamp leaving, Patch had little doubt that Vitani and Mooch would follow suit. Then it would just be the pair of them again. Though, with the revelations that had been made Patch had to wonder what Angel would even want to say to him. He was dreading the notion that the conversation would loop back around to the issue of trust.

Go on and leave already. There's nothing more for you two here. Patch thought. He wished that Mooch and Vitani would just leave. He wanted to hear what Angel would have to say sooner rather than later.

"Come on, Patch," Without waiting for Mooch and Vitani to follow Scamp's lead, Angel gestured for the spotted male to follow her away from the clearing in the opposite direction. She hadn't handled the situation with Mooch and Scamp at all well, she knew, not like she would have been able to a few months ago, but in truth, her head was spinning, as she still reeled from the fact that Scamp was alive again. It was... it was something she'd never have expected in a million years, and the fact that it had been Patch who had done the deed had only made it even harder to wrap her head around. She could tell why he'd done it, of course, but... the simple fact that such a thing was possible was the part Angel was still struggling with.

Once she felt they'd put enough distance between themselves and the scene of the confrontation - assuming Patch had indeed followed her - Angel turned to him. For the first time in a while, the doubts she'd had about dating Scamp's murderer were slipping away in the face of what he'd done, but there was still one thing that Angel wasn't happy about.

"Just when were you planning to tell me that you'd brought Scamp back to life?" she demanded, sounding angrier than she'd meant to. If she'd just known that her former boyfriend had been alive again, then she maybe would have not been caught so unprepared for the conflict that had just taken place.

Patch didn't need to be told twice. He'd followed Angel silently, only glancing back briefly to see if Vitani and Mooch were still there, before finally joining Angel in the place she had stopped at. At the harsh question, Patch flinched visibly. He knew he should have told her about it sooner. He'd been foolish to keep silent. Truthfully, the only reason he had waited so long was because he hadn't been able to think of a plausible way to bring it up in conversation without sounding entirely outlandish. He hadn't wanted to just bring it up out of the blue, but he hadn't meant to keep Angel in the dark for so long either.

"I meant to tell you sooner, but I was having problems with how to tell you." he said. She couldn't have expected him to say 'Hey, Angel. I had Scamp brought back to life. What's new with you?', as that would be plain unbelievable. But as time wore on, he had either forgotten or just didn't have any ideas on how to introduce the idea into conversation without being so forward that it was unbelievable. "I'm sorry... I just didn't want to bring it up without preparing you somehow."

Obviously, Scamp had wrecked any opportunity Patch might have had to cushion the blow. If the situation had been more ideal, he would have tried to lead Angel to Scamp and left them to talk so they had space after telling her what had happened before doing so. They just had to deal with how it had played out, though.

Angel sighed, swallowing any kind of harsh retort she might have been tempted to make. Patch had just been doing what he'd thought was best, and even though it had worked out badly, she could hardly fault him for it, even if she was still thoroughly confused about how it had actually been possible in the first place. Raising the dead... she'd never have believed it would have been possible in a million years, but she'd just seen the living proof of it in the form Scamp, and it was still taking a lot to wrap her mind around.

"How did you do it?" she asked, still feeling as though she was in a bit of a state of shock. There were magic users, of course, but she doubted even then could have had this sort of power; changing dogs into humans was one thing, resurrecting the dead was something else entirely. What sort of potentially malicious powers had Patch got himself tangled up in to achieve that? She almost didn't want to find out, but he'd done it for her sake - she had to know what lengths he'd gone to for her.

Well, at least she didn't sound angry anymore. That was a good thing. All he had to do now was explain what he had done to go about the process of bringing Scamp back in the first place. "I had gone to the Pridelands looking for a magic user. What I ended up finding was a baboon... or was he a mandrill? I'm not entirely certain what he was, but he was willing to hear me out. He was the one I asked to help bring Scamp back." Patch explained. Replaying the events in his mind, it had been a bit strange to think about. Under any other circumstances Rafiki might not have wanted to hear him out. This was, of course, assuming Rafiki knew anything about what had happened that fateful night. Fortunately, though, Patch hadn't had to deal with someone that knew about that night. Rafiki had been willing to help him. That was how they had gotten to that point.

"He didn't ask for anything in return, either. We went to the graveyard, went through the process, and before I knew it Scamp was alive again. That... monkey or whatever did want us to make up with one another, but that obviously didn't happen." he said. All things considered, Patch had been quite lucky. He could have ended up with a magic user that asked for some kind of price to be paid in exchange for the task being done.

"You're sure this time?" Angel looked concerned, and not without reason - after all, this was hardly the first time Patch had tampered with magic. "You didn't think you paid a price when the shadow man turned you human either, but he told me you did." What said price was, Angel hadn't been able to get out of Facilier while he'd been turning her human as well, but knowing him, it would have something to do with Patch's soul - after all, she'd very reluctantly sold her own to him for that transformation. "How do you know this monkey's not just messing with you like Facilier did?" Angel didn't know Rafiki at all - and in her mind it was much more likely that he would not have asked for anything in return because he would or had just taken it without Patch even knowing.

"I don't trust magic users," she added unneccessarily. Since Facilier was the only one she'd ever dealt with (except for general Clopin, but his 'magic' was little more than conjuring items from thin air, nothing major) that was understandable, though.

"Positive." Patch hadn't thought about it before, but he did recall his original deal with Facilier to make him human. Rafiki had been different, though. Patch had merely requested something from the mandril. It hardly seemed like a deal since it was a request. A deal would have required Rafiki to have asked for something in return. Besides, he was a hero. What could Rafiki possibly have wanted from a paraiah like Patch?

"He was a hero, Angel. I'm positive he was. Why would a hero ask for something in return when a deal wasn't made in the first place?" Patch asked. It didn't make a lot of sense to him. The last time he checked, heroes didn't go around asking for dark deals from people. Besides, Rafiki had seemed nice. Understanding. He doubted that Rafiki had taken something from Patch in the process of bringing Scamp back.

"I hope you're right," It wasn't that she didn't trust Patch, of course, but Angel still wasn't entirely sure the dalmatian might not have misread Rafiki's intentions. Magic users, so far as she knew, never did things just for other people's benefit, they always had a price, whether hero or villain. But there was no use pursuing the matter anymore, she could tell, not while Patch was so convinced the monkey really did have his best interests at heart.

"Can we stay away from magic users in the future, Squeaky-Toy?" she asked - the first time she could recall using the fond nickname for him since before everything had happened - closing the gap between them and caressing Patch's face with her tongue, starting at his cheek and letting it trail all the way up to the edge of his namesake eye before breaking the contact; her way of silently saying that she really was grateful for the lengths Patch had gone to to undo his mistake, regardless of her concern about the consequences of it.