Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Dogday die, he didn’t know what was going to happen to him at all, the canine wasn’t religious ( like Catnap ) enough to believe in heaven but he did believe in hell because he experienced it for a long time when he became alive and before actually he died.

The orange dog doesn’t know what to feel, Happy that his torment is finally over, sad for how thing turned out the way it was, Angry for how foolishly naive he was at those times when he met it or the feeling of emptiness like the time when those thing ate at him from the inside or its all of above and it's just him drowning in some body of water and not knowing where the surface is because his Moonlight was gone or maybe it was never there in the first place.

Like right now his Moonlight still not with him and everyone of his friends that die are here with Dogday and when something or someone brought up some that symbolizes him, them go silent while a select few do mock and degrade him, saying we don’t need him but Dogday knows that not the case well not for him any way because when Kickin & Hoppy, sometimes even Picky speaks badly about Moonlight, the cocker spaniel ears start to ring loudly and heat inside of him begins to raise, like the canine once to rip them apart but he instead make himself go still and tries to hide the bloodlust inside of him. 

Though who keep their mouths shut and all together avoiding talking about the feline we’re the two sweet girls in the group, Bobby and Crafty. From what they told Dogday is that they don’t really remember much other than the intense loneliness for Bobby and only seeing the color red for Crafty and that was it for the both of them as he, himself just wants them to stop talking about the lavender scent cat before he sinks his teeth at their flesh like when Prototype made him do with those employees.

What surprised Dogday is that Bubba is the one that is actually defending his Moonlight instead of him and the elephant not saying that the cat is not completely innocent its just to Bubba it felt something was off, complete in a way and when the two critters try to argue that the feline has so much blood on their hands, that there is no way for neither of them to forgive the cat, which Bubba always calm state it's fine but all them also have blood on their hands not just Moonlight.

Which Dogday is gratefully for it but is frustrated with himself for not be able to do the same for his Moonlight and the canine went to Bubba and ask why the elephant was defend the cat, which he only got a blank cold stare before the orange canine tries to explain he doesn’t hate the cat like everyone thinks he is, it just hard for him to defend or talk about the feline and Bubba gaze lessen on the dog and with that Bubba somehow became Dogday’s therapist after that.

An so when the two most active critters were getting on Dogday’s nerves, the dog decide to go to the Bubba if it got really bad but so far in the smiling valley everything was peaceful. As Dogday walks at night when the Moon is out, the reason why the canine does is to get rid of the empty feeling he seem to get at night and the place the caine was going was his Moonlight’s house, only to see the house cover in trash and broken ladder to get up to the door much to the orange dog’s dismay but something was different and Dogday doesn’t know why.

That when he sees him, staring at the ruined house with no expression on his face unlike that place where it was just a wide smile and inside of Dogday the emptiness was slowly going away as he walks forward, the dog reach out towards the purple cat but went still when the feline glance at the canine but there was no reaction from the cat an then his Moonlight ran in the bushes without saying anything and the empty feeling inside the dog came back full force making him drop to the ground with a shock look on the canine’s face.

Chapter Text

After the encounter with the feline, Dogday wanted to go to Bubba right away but knows there is no way the Elephant is awake at the hour of the night. The canine grits his teeth in frustration and is designed to walk back to his house but the images of the Feline he saw pop in his head, even though it was hard to see in the dark but thanks to the full moon.

 It illuminated the area around to show that Catnap’s fur was more rugged and one of his ears was torn, Dogday felt sweat from his forehead as it slid down his skin as he reached his house. As he remembers the blank eyes staring at him, seemingly they looked like they were glowing in the dark.

Finally getting to the door, Dogday looks back at the direction he came from, the canine smile softly while a euphoria feeling was filling him up inside as he comes to the conclusion that he was the first to see his Moonlight , replacing that emptiness feeling of him rapidly but his eyes was different matter they became dark and possessive before opening the door Dogday mumble softly to himself.

“So.. you're..now here.. Moonlight.. ”

An with that he opens the door and gets ready to go to bed for the night while in the distance in the trees a feline figure was to be seen at Dogday’s living room window as the it’s tail moves leisurely in the moonlight.

-

The morning came around but Dogday didn’t immediately get out of his bed as the light shone through the room hitting the sun medallion which shone into the canine’s eyes making Dogday squint in slight annoyance before sitting up and stretching his body before jumping out of his bed.

Feeling more energetic then he has been throughout his entire afterlife as he sprints down stair to get to his phone to tell Bubba what happen last night, this morning, it didn’t matter, his Moonlight is here and he needs to tell someone even though, he want the info all to himself but that puppy energy inside him is bursting, as he picks up his phone and dials Bubba’s house phone as it ring three times then Bubba pick up.

“Good morning Dogday,I see you are up early, more than usual.”

Bubba’s voice still had that thick layer of tiredness but given how early the canine call it makes sense, though his was wagging rapidly in excitement.

“ He's here..!”

Dogday whisper shouted just so he would blast the elephant’s ears and heard a what being form but Bubba but was cut off.

{Wait- you're saying that you saw him , where was he, was injured?!}

Bubba spoke in a controlled tone which the canine stopped wagging his tail as he tried to remember last night's intercounter.

“Well um he was standing in front of what was left of his house..”

Dogday’s smile droop.

“ As for injuries that I could see was that his ears were torn but I think those were there while but I’m not sure, along with any other types of injuries that are either old or… new .”

The canine growls out at the end and glares at the empty space in front of him before blinking out of his head as he remembers the cat’s expression, on the other side of the phone the mammoth spoke in a worried tone.

{Dogday, are you still there?}

The orange dog made a humming noise before he continued talking and started to play with the phone cord.

“I’m just remembering his expression before he left..”

Dogday moves his body so he can lean against the drawers making the cord wrapped around the canine’s body.

“It was empty… not like the smile that was permanently on us unlike that place but … just a cold blank stare..”

Speak in sorrowful tone and even if no one could see him, Dogday’s body slope and became downcasted as he finish his words, there was a hum in the phone, then Bubba spoke in a thoughtful tone.

{Day, have I ever told you about my hypothesis..?}

Dogday cock his head as the tail started to wag again.

“Uh.. no, I don’t think so…”

Then in the phone the hound could hear a yawn on the other side.

{Oh sorry about that-}

Dogday interrupts Bubba in a kind matter with a chuckle.

“It's fine, Bubba, I was the one that called you early in the morning, say how about we meet each other after we have breakfast and you can tell me your theory, how does that sound.”

An Bubba agrees to the idea, in which Dogday unwraps the cord from his body.

“Great, see you soon!”

With that both critters hung up and went to make their food for the beginning of the day, After the vanilla scented hound was done with his food and dishes. He opens his door and jogs down the hill towards the crossway and sees two of his friends quietly talking to each other in worry, in confusion the hound asks loudly when he gets closer.

“What’s wrong, Bobby, Crafty?”

Both critters looked at his direction and exclaimed his name with cry out.

“I-its..C-catnap, h-he..”

As Crafty stutters out the Moonlight's name the canine blood goes cold but he tries to keep his composure.

“ Cat-n-nap ..what?”

Bobby looks down long with her ears when she hears the hound say their old friend's name with fear in his voice, taking a deep breath the red cub spoke in a neutral way.

“He’s back and Kickin and Hoppy saw him by the tree lines and went after him when he vanished into the woods.”

As the cub’s words finish Dogday Immediately ran towards the woods with the dark fury look on his face, leaving the two girls behind on the ground with shock and fear written on their face as so as he got to the woods he sniffs the air to help pinpoint him, where the troublemakers went though he smell them, he also noted that the other scent wasn’t lavender but something else which calms himself but he didn’t stop there and sprinted forward into the wood until the orange hound reaches a small lake where Hoppy was on top of another critter and and Kickin was cheering her on as for the critter underneath the rabbit, Dogday could only see their fur color which does look like his when he  was in that place but at same time not.

“ YOU TWO STOPPED THIS RIGHT NOW THAT ISN’T HIM!!!! ”

Dogday roars out making the two stop and look towards his direction as he tackles Hoppy off the poor critter but not before the other smacks her with their fist.

“Dude what the hell??!”

The chicken cries as he is startled by Dogday’s action as he watches the canine strain the green bunny who was in the daze. The vanilla scent dog looks over at the creature and yes it was a feline but unlike a regular house cat this was a deep indigo with grayish spots was spread throughout the panther’s body and there were marks on its face like they were in a tribe and a robotic arm in a clenched fists indicating that they punched Hoppy with it and they were glaring at the dazed rabbit with intense anger.

If the hound has to guess why, it’s ego was most likely bruised.

“So this is where that damn bastard sent him.”

The panther mutters to itself and there was strong scent of Nutmeg fills the air making the chicken flinch at the smell, then Kicken rubs his arm with a downcast face as the panther got up from the ground Dogday notes the feline was just ruffle up with few new scrapes on their person, then the canine looks down at the green hothead next to him, still out but the hound didn’t want to risk letting her go and so he spoke in a apologetic tone.

“I’m sorry about these guys for attacking you, when you just-.”

The indigo cat just scoffs at the dog’s apology and sneers at Hoppy.

“ Why are you ..m aking excuses for them ..”

The vanilla hound was shocked at the hostile tent in the panther's voice but blink out of his stupor.

“I’m not doing such things, these two can do that on their own terms, I'm just sorry that you were attacked by them.”

The critter gaze did not change when they shifted it to Dogday, which made the atmosphere feel cold but Day steels his nerves with the unprompted staring contest, that is until Kickin spoke up.

“Hey Dogday can you get off Hoppy now?”

While the dog’s ears lift up when he hears his name and when the feline turns their head with a huff, then Dogday looks at the bird with a cruel smile at the fowl and instinct kicks in, Kickin making his feathers floof up though Dogday knows that tweety bird just want to get out of the situation.

“Fine.. but you would have to bring her to Bobby, so she can check her head and make sure she is still awake while doing so.”

Kickin nods rapidly as he sprints towards the two but quickly looks at the feline with a weary look and when Kicken grabs Hoppy, Dogday let's go and gets up while dusting his hands with a slightly annoyed look at the troublesome duo, then green bunny only let out some groan as she was moved around a bit too quickly.

As Dogday waits for his companions to be out of his sight before conversing with the critter as he closes his eyes and his ears twitch when he hears the grass move, opening them and looking at the panther’s direction, putting his hands on his hips.

“So what's your name?”

While the dog only got silence from the other, which he felt sweat sliding down from his back with how uncomfortable the situation was as the panther was glaring at the direction where his friends went.

“.. pandora ..”

It was barely whispering but Dogday’s ears picked it up and with that he felt his tail wag making feel like crying internally because the damn thing showed his emotions easily, tilting his head and making a curious look on his face.

“So what brought you here, stranger?”

The canine notices that the feline hasn’t changed since those hot heads left which he starts to get that it was the critter's default face as he watches the tail on the other and see it twitches like they were getting aggravated along with the smell of nutmeg getting strong again. Dogday was grateful for being near his Moonlight when they were at that place, to understand when cats no matter what species have some similarities to one another and he kept his distance just so the feline felt more safe, with the click of their teeth they spoke more louder than before but not much.

“To.. find a missing relative..”

That surprised the orange canine putting his paw on his chin and cock his head with a confused look on his face.

“A relative you say..?”

The Pandora nods as their tail swish rapidly and still twitches but it was not bushy but Dogday can’t let his guard down and can’t show the stranger that he is overly weary of them as well, too not be rude to them like when Hoppy & Kickin did when they first arrived here just because they are a feline.

“I heard.. that .. they are called something else..other..than their birth name .. since they were kidnapped when they … kit..”

While the ears on the indigo panther went down, eyes narrowing and the nutmeg smell was getting overbearing to the point that it smelled burnt, to slightly defuse the situation Dogay nonchalantly scratched his head and asked some questions calmly and it went something like this.

“What do they look like?”

“Don't… know, but I heard they ….always have a smile… on their face …but they are….. the same species as me….”

“Hobbies?”

“Don't know, but I've been told they ……like to sleep more …than anything…”

“Uh.. did anyone know if this relative has a scent?”

“Don't know… I was not born …when they were.. Kidnapped…before it could present itself..”

Pandora's last answer continued to baffle the vanilla scented canine, though with all those questioning it did seem to calm Pandora down as the nutmeg smell dissipated as the Indigo panther cub was looking at him.

“And you're trying to find someone that you have never met?”

The cub nods their head with their expression not changing with nonverbal answer Dogday signs.

“Do you have any clues that are recent or hinted that this relative is alive?...”

The cub tilts their head, ears flicker a bit and the expression only moving minuscule but not moving.

“Well … our tribesmen did find out …what his new name was before my aunt could name him.. And where they were sent..when we encountered the one that kidnapped him…”

The dog’s tail wag as this information was given.

“And that info lead to here and you known this person’s name what is it?”

Dogday spoke fast in enthusiastically but Pandora’s face did not change but their ears was down do to how loud the hound was.

“The bastard.. calls them Catnap ..”

Making Dogday still in shock as the morning breeze swept pass them.

Chapter Text

Dogday’s mind races as his name mentions from the mysterious critter as he quickly looks at the wild cat’s features once more and yes he does see how those two are related but he doesn’t want to be one of those people who lump all similar species as the same breed. 

“Do you…. know where I can find them?”

At first his mouth was slightly ajar and took a shallow breath before trying to steel his words just so they wouldn't shake.

“..um not currently no.. I don’t know where they are.. sorry..”

Pandora’s tail whips itself on the ground before walking away from Dogday but not towards the entrance of the woods, where the canine’s friends are at but further into the woods. Dogday’s body was in a cold sweat after mentioning his Moonlight’s, he didn’t want the dark purple cat to go just in case they did find his beloved before him and so the hound spoke up.

“H-hey wait ”

Pandora stops and their ears move towards the canine but doesn't look at Dogday, which the orange dog knows that they are willing to listen too him, so before he continues talking as the hound lightly licks his lips out of anticipation.

“If.. your relative … is r-really him ..”

Pandora turns around to look at Dogday more clearly but is still wary of the dog but the vanilla scented dog straightens himself up and spoke in confidence as he touches his nose with his thumb.

“T-then I can help you since I know who you’re looking for and what his smell is.”

As the vanilla scent said that, Pandora was immediately close to his face and even though the facial expression was dull purple feline’s ear twitches, along with their tail and a glint in their shine brightly with some type of determination.

“Do you really know them..?”

Pandora’s voice was still monotone but Dogday gets a feeling that they are confused as to how he knows his moonlight and his gestures of wanting to help, the orange canine raises his arms up and lightly pushes the critter away from him and explains to the panther.

“Well if he really is the one… you’re looking for then I can help search for Cat– him.. the first thing is to notice his scent..”

Pandora hum’s a small sign saying “ go on”. Though having attended listener showing no emotions felt weird and unlike the kids at orphanage who were more expressionist, that did sort of make the dog a bit antsy in front of the feline. So he put his dominant hand on his neck to lightly scratch at.

“It's lavender.”

Which earns him a faint hum from the other as Pandora does step away from the canine’s space as they spoked blandly.

“So.. a floral scent.. hn …..”

Dogday waited for the feline to ask some sort of questions but instead the dusty color critter zips away from him and into the pushes. He was confused until he heard several footstep coming towards his as he turned around he see his friends sprinting towards his direction, with Hoppy in the front with in rage expression, follow by Bobby and Kickin who were telling to miss hot to slow down or calm down and the the two were silently following them but was look around their surroundings Crafty had a fearful look while Bubba have a more neutral look.

“ WHERE DID THAT FLEABAG GO !!!”

Dogday only blink calmly at the hare’s words, which he notices that she winces in pain at her own voice's volume and  “normally” he would’ve reprehend her uses of her tone, so instead he just looks at her blandly.

“Hoppy..”

Even though his voice sounded calm, it made the other critters stop in their tracks except the minted scented bunny was whipping her head side to side then glare at the canine.

“Well Dogday, where is that monster ?”

In which only made the pup to take a deep breath which he could still smell nutmeg in the air and if he could smell it then these others can too, though Hoppy seem to be a exception and if the orange canine has to guess, all she can smell is blood that is dripping from her noses at the current moment. Although when the spring green bunny stopped Bobby Immediately grabbed her face to her face and tilted Hoppy’s face upwards as the red bear had a Handkerchief in hand and touched her nose, in which the hare flinched at the connection but she was a lot less tense.

“Hoppy, you need to stop moving so quickly I need to make sure you don’t have any other injuries or at least a concussion.”

As Bobby fretting over Hoppy, the others approach towards Dogday, the two were nervous but with different reason while Bubba was calm about the situation.

“So a feline critter was spotted here but it wasn’t him, given this scent in the air, did you get their name?”

The elephant asks in an analytical way though unlike those Scientist it wasn’t very cold when he spoke but for the chicken, he flinched when Bubba said it wasn’t him but he kept quite as he looks down at the ground in shame as for their unicorn friend, she look at their leader when Bubba ask his question.

“They said their name is Pandora.”

That is when Kickin looks up at Dogday with nervous energy radiating off of him, which the leader notices when he looks at the bird.

“Do you know what.. what do they want from here..?”

The canine looks at his three friends and then two who were bickering with one another about holding still or not, then looks at the fowl.

“Actually, they did say why they are here.”

Dogday crossed his arms and made a disappointed look.

“But I want to know why you didn’t stop Hoppy from attacking the critter though.. Kickin?”

That is when the yellow bird looks away with a wince.

“..they..look…him.”

Kickin was trembling and he gritted his teeth in frustration as he growled out his words, which made both males close to him sign while Crafty had one of her hooves out towards him.

“I-it’s.. ok..Ki-”

When the filly finally had the courage to speak up, she was interrupted with an angry hare by kicking Dogday in the back, which was followed by exclamation from their friends.

“Dogday!!”

Then Bobby wraps her arms around Hoppy’s waist and pulls her upward off the ground. While Bubba helps the canine up from the ground as Dogday turns his head around and glares at Hoppy but for the bunny it looked like a snarl, which kicked her instinct by becoming limp in the cub’s arms as the pup looks at the elephant and thanked him for the help up in which Bubba could only hear as for others they sprinted towards the limb bunny and asking her different question but no respond from her.

“It's probably Day, although when we get to my place it seem we need to have a small talk.”

Dogday glances at Bubba with a small scoff as a smirk forms on his face.

“Well that was the plan Bubs.”

The response that Dogday got was a half sure agreement as the canine let go of the other critter, which gave Bubba an indication that the pup was fine.

“So you 're gonna skip breakfast at Picky’s place and come straight to my house then, if those two didn’t cause chaos today?”

Dogday looks away and laughs nervous which makes the elephant sign, then Bubba raise his two hooves and claps them together to get the other critters' attention which work.

“Alright guys how about we now go to Picky’s place so we have something in our stomachs and have everyone gather so we can discuss what has happened and go from there.”

As Bubba finished his words everyone agreed with him and slowly walked out of the woods with the dog and the elephant in the front to the nervous duo in the middle and the last two critters in the back just so Bobby can hold Hoppy study. Though the atmosphere of the group was tense to the point no one was talking to each until they reach Picky’s house but as they got out of woods on, in the trees leaves rustles off the branches and in the shadow eyes shine in the shadow as it watch everything transpired with the group below and when the gang was far from the woods entrance a long purple tail swing out of the leaves.