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Define Arc	By : BlackberryPatch Category: +M to R > Pet Shop of Horrors Views: 8525 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Pet Shop of Horrors, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Desecration
- 2-Despot
- 3-Damask
- 4-Definition
- 5-Damsel
- 6-Dearth
- 7-Dirigere
- 8-Disturbance
- 9-Decadence
- 10-Disease
- 11-Draht
- 12-Darkness
- 13-Dva
- 14-Daguerreotype
- 15-Draconigenae
- 16-Deification
- 17-Deviant
- 18-Doyoubi
- 10
- 11
- 12
Disclaimer: I do not own Pet Shop of Horrors and no money is being made
from this fanwork.

Note: "Draht" is German for "wire."

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-Interlude-

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"Draht"

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Chris Orcot had seen a couple frightening things in his life.
He'd been held hostage by angry gunmen; Chris had seen a young assassin shoot himself
right before Chris' eyes. He'd talked with Honlon, always an... interesting,
if not outright dangerous, experience.
His constant companion, and best friend, joked- sometimes with far too little
intended humor and far too much desire for Chris' liking- about eating people.
He dealt with strange events as often as most people changed their socks, from
the aforementioned assassins and angry three-headed dragons to pets that seemed
to be people that didn't mind being sold.
He'd believed himself guilty of his mother's death- the absolute worst
crime Chris could think of- and fear and self-loathing had been a large part of
his life for a long time. He wasn't always sure he understood what went on
around him, but he'd always believed that there were things he could depend on.
The pet shop had become one of them. So had Leon and Leon's caring for
him. These two things went hand in hand in his head, and he wasn't sure he
could separate them even if he tried.

He thought that was why nothing in his life had ever scared him as much as his brother's most recent
fight with Count D did.

He supposed it shouldn't have bothered him. They always
fought. He'd come out that evening to the main room, entering just as the door chimed
after being shut behind some departure, and then the Count had turned to
Leon, and...... It was like breathing, their fighting- constant.
Generally it really didn't bother Chris, but this time something was different.
There was something desperate in the way that the Count held his ground as Leon
yelled, and there was certainly something deeper than the usual anger in his
brother as Leon threw a chair against a wall and stalked out.

Chris hid in the corner, behind the couch, and watched with wide
eyes. T-chan was crouched beside him, his hand on Chris' shoulder; and
when Leon left T-chan squeezed his shoulder comfortingly as Chris started to
cry softly. For once, there were no words about crybabies, and when Count
D realized that he and Leon had had an audience, T-chan growled at him when he
came over to see if Chris was alright. Chris spared a thought to wonder if
T-chan was even capable of growling at the Count, but Pon-chan came and
sat on his other side and took his hand, her face solemn, and Chris' world
dissolved back into water-blurred shapes.

When he looked up again, the Count was gone. T-chan and
Pon-chan were next to him, and others crowded around. Chris blushed to be
the center of attention, but, as with T-chan, there was no admonishing of the
crybaby. Hands reached out, to brush the tears from his face and to touch
him comfortingly. He reached out to those hands, welcoming them, and as he
welcomed them they pressed more eagerly against him. "Poor child," One old
woman murmured, pulling Chris against her body, rubbing her cheek against the
top of his head as she rumbled gently, soothingly. "Poor Chris," echoed
others around her, rubbing their cheeks against his shoulders as they pressed
around him, wrapping him in their arms. It was comforting, he thought, to
not be alone.

"The hurt is deep," a voice murmured, and Chris
looked up to see Ten-chan standing over him, speaking with T-chan. His
eyes rested on Chris with easy scrutiny as he smiled reassuringly. "All
of us here know wounds that do not bleed," Ten-chan continued. "We
know that what affects one affects all. You understand this, deeper than you
think." His smile slid into a conspiratorial grinned. "You
could almost be one of us."

"He is not one of us," Pon-chan said softly, unwillingly.

Ten-chan raised an eyebrow at her. "But he is not one of
them." She looked away, holding Chris' hand more tightly.

T-chan scoffed at them all. "Nothing has been done here,"
he said defiantly to Ten-chan. "Nothing has been decided this night."

Ten-chan snorted at him. "Tell that to the god." T-chan
looked away, grumbling softly under his breath. "Tell that to your
friend," Ten-chan continued, softly. Moving through the people pressed
around Chris, he touched a hand to the boy's forehead. "It was not nothing
that just walked out of here."

T-chan, looking properly chastised, turned to Chris. "I
didn't mean it, Chris." He dropped into a crouch, looking away angrily.
"I'm sorry."

Chris wiped at his cheeks, brushing away the memory of his tears
more than the physical reality of them. "What's gonna happen?" he
asked hesitantly. "Is Leon... not ever gonna come back?" He
would really miss his brother, but, remembering how angry Leon was, he couldn't
imagine the older man ever wanting to return to this place.

"Oh Chris."

Chris looked up, surprised to see D standing in the doorway.
He came over to Chris and let his hand trail through the boy's hair.
"Don't worry, you'll see your brother again," he murmured as he knelt beside
Chris. "He'll come and get you."

Pleased that Leon would be coming back, Chris eventually worked
his way to what the Count hadn't actually said. It was T-chan's sudden
stillness that clued him in that there was something to look for, but once he
realized it his eyes flew open wide as he scrambled to his feet. "I'll go
with big bro... and not come back here?"

D hesitated, but nodded, his expression firm, his eyes hooded.
"Yes, I'm afraid so."

Chris wasn't sure which was worse- to lose Leon or to lose the
shop and the friends he'd made there. His eyes welled up with tears again
as he stumbled back, away from the Count, and ran off blindly into the shop.

D watched the boy go, the sorrow on his face not stopping T-chan
from shooting the god a dark look as he followed after Chris.

-o-o-o-o-

Chris ran, not sure what he was running from or where he was
running to, but needing the escape. He stumbled to a halt, breathing hard
and furiously wiping tears form his eyes, outside of a familiar door.
Without thinking, he pushed it open.

"Shuko," he mumbled through tears that clouded his mind
as well as his eyes. "Kanan? Junrei?"

"Chris." Shuko's soft voice soothed him, and Chris
sniffled away the last of his tears.

"Shuko, something terrible happened! Bro and the Count had a
fight." It sounded so insufficient to say it like that. They
always fought- Kanan and Junrei and Shuko always fought- and nothing bad
ever really happened. But this time there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that
wouldn't go away. "The Count said I have to go away." And
even that wasn't the worst of it; he knew Leon cared deeply for the Count and
Chris really wanted them to make up after their fight. Maybe that was what had him
so upset- never
before had the adults admitted to him that there was not going to be any
reconciliation.

"The Count threw Leon out," T-chan said to Shuko as he entered
the room, trailing after Chris.

She shifted her gaze to him, and it was Kanan who roared, "And
what
do you have to say for yourself?! Didn't you promise the Elder that you
would look out for Chris?! Why did you let him hear all that?!" She
swished her full sleeves, turning to Chris peremptorily. "Don't believe
anything they tell you!" Chris looked from her to T-chan hopefully.

T-chan growled softly, folding his arms as he glared at Kanan.
"Hey, I've been doing the best I
could, and a fat lot of help you've been!!" He turned away, grumbling,
"And I never promised anything. I just told him Chris was special."
He glanced sidelong at the boy. "We all know the time is growing nearer-
that this is the incarnation."

"Shut your mouth!" Kanan hissed, waving her hands over Chris'
ears. Chris looked between them dumbfounded; he'd understood barely a word
anyone had said all night and he wondered if everyone was being mysterious on
purpose or if he'd missed something important.

Honlon sighed, and Shuko looked at Chris solemnly as she spoke
to T-chan. "Whether or not you are correct about that, that
Chris is special cannot be doubted." She smiled at Chris, and she was a girl just like he was a boy,
but then her smile faded and she was something else- a creature of ages.
"Chris," she said quietly, turning to the tearful boy. "Take this."
Holding up a handful of her hair, she plucked a strand from her head and held it
out to him. Chris took the strand hesitantly, glancing up at Shuko to
see what he was supposed to do with it. She smiled. "Wrap it around
both your hands, like so." She helped him wrap the strand firmly around
both his fists, the thin length of it stretched out before his face between his
fisted hands. "Now, try to break it."

Chris looked at her in surprise, but obediently he pulled his
hands apart as hard as he could, trying to snap the slender hair. To his
amazement, it didn't break, humming softly at it resonated from the force of his
attempt.

"Try again," Shuko urged.

Chris pulled as hard as he could, as many different ways as he
could think, trying to break the hair. He tried to bite it, he stood on one end
and pulled, he stood on the middle and pulled both ends. Still the thread
remained whole. "I don't understand," he said, looking at Shuko
with confusion. "Why won't it break?"

Shuko smiled, a deep mysterious smile. "This slender wire
represents your brother's relationship with Count D. Do you see now?" She
touched his cheek. "It does not matter what you, or anyone else, does to
it. They are bound together and nothing can sever that bond."

Chris glanced between the hair in his hands and the dragon girl
before him, hope flickering in his eyes. "But...."

"It was not always so," she said. "There were times when
the wire would have broken. But either your brother or the Count would not
let it break at that time." Her eyes shifted to T-chan as her smile grew
even more mysterious. "And now even they cannot break it, should they want
to."

T-chan nodded once, firmly, and looked pleased. "Then it
was worth it," he said.

Kanan snorted, loudly. "Of course it was worth it you dumb
goat! Did you really think it wouldn't be?!"

His chin jerked out, defiantly, but he kept a handle on his
tongue. "No," he replied shortly. "I never did."

Chris shook his head, the long hair still threaded through his
hands. "Where is Junrei? I want to say goodbye to her." The
Count had said he had to leave, and as much as he believed in what Shuko told him,
he wasn't sure he believed in her power to enforce his staying.

Kanan snorted again, her hands on her hips as she glared
contemptuously at a little girl who wasn't in front of her. "She's hiding.
She thinks if she doesn't say goodbye to you that means you can't leave.
Silly girl. But you're not leaving! So it doesn't matter! Come back
when she's over it."

Chris looked stricken for a moment, but he pulled himself out of
it. He clutched the hair from Honlon's head, and bent his own head to examine
it. "So, big bro is gonna come back? And stay," he amended at the
end, to make sure.

"Of course! Didn't I say so!?" Kanan grumbled, but Shuko
shushed her and gently turned to Chris. "Yes, he will Chris. But remember
this," she touched the hair. "It represents Leon and the Count's
relationship, but it is also your relationship with the shop. You may
have to leave for awhile- have you not already left us for a time?- that is out of our control. But this place will always be a part of you- as long as you
need this sanctuary, it will be yours to return to."

He nodded, resolutely, wrapping the hair around one wrist where
it glistened when it caught the light. "Thank you Shuko, Kanan.
Tell Junrei that I said hello." He turned back toward the door, and
went back to the world he had run away from.

Honlon and Tetsu watched him go. "You said they were
bound," Tetsu murmured, "but you didn't say how it would end."

Kanan snorted. "Do I look like a freakin' oracle?!
Anyway," she folded her arms, and it might have been Shuko who continued,
"that's up to them to figure out. A binding works both ways, and if they
fight it too stubbornly then it will destroy them both." Tetsu growled
softly, but Junrei held up her hands to quiet him. "We will help them,"
she said, her child's voice soft, but firm in the knowledge that every evil
could be overcome. "And they," she continued, the pronoun
referring to another entity now, one that was familiar to her listener, "will finally hear us truly."

Tetsu nodded, satisfied.

-o-O-o-
- 10
- 11
- 12
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Define Arc

--Interlude--"Draht"-

-o-O-o-

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-Interlude-

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"Draht"

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