"I'm telling you, it's mine! I own it!"

Io slammed his hand against the table, and the police officer just gave him an unimpressed look. "Sir, you stole that ship."

"So?" Io crossed his arms, tail swishing. "I've had her for over 40 years, you can't take her away from me now!"

"We can, and we will sir," the officer said, standing up. "Thank you for your visit, but I'm afraid our time here is finished."

"Hey lady, it's not finished until I say it's finished!" Io shouts, even as the officer leaves the room. "Bloody cops these days, no more honor," he grumbles.

Sighing tiredly, Io walks dejectedly out of the room. He'd be back soon to try and get Sharktamer back, but he knew it was a lost cause, even if his pride won't allow him to leave it be.

On the walk home, he feels his hooves start to pain. After spending his whole life on a boat, his more equine half still struggled to walk on the cold unforgiving concrete of the city.

Walking past an alley, Io heard a muffled scream. It was quickly silenced, but Io's curiosity and anger spiked. Entering the passage softly, he tries to hurry as much as he could.

Barely a few feet in, he sees a sight that made his blood boil. A vampire was biting into a young boy's neck, blood splattered all over both of them. Io knew without a doubt that the boy will not survive this, not if the vampire continues.

"Hey, hands off!" He yells, and charges at the vampire. The vampire pulls back and hisses, but scrambles away when she sees the centaur running towards her. Not having anywhere to run to, she changes into a raven and tries to fly away. Io doesn't let her through and grabs at the raven's tail. She squawks, but only loses a few feathers before flying away.

Huffing angrily, Io turns back to the boy and gently sits him up from where he's fallen to the ground. Wrapping his sash around the boy's neck, Io murmurs to the boy as he works.

"It's alright, I got you, she's gone now, don't worry."

Picking the unconscious boy up, Io gets ready to gallop to the hospital.

He looks at the boy's face, black hair falling over tanned skin.

"I promise, you'll survive this. And come back stronger for it."

~~~ t:i:m:e:s:k:i:p ~~~

Sitting on his porch, Io looks out at the dark weather. Hathens is always cloudy, and always raining, but it's never dreary or dull. No, instead the multicolored fairy lights shine brightly over the porch, and soft shells create a curtain on the sides that kept out the worst of the wind.

In a way, it was peaceful.

On the lawn in front of him, Jude is playing with Raine, smiling like a maniac whenever the dog licks him. Neo sits alongside them, laughing as Jude gets pushed into the mud. The dark haired boy glares at him, but it only lasts a second before he's grinning as well.

Io sometimes wonders what Jude's voice used to sound like. After he got Turned, his vocal cords were shredded and had to be removed. He hasn't made a sound since, but he's never wasted time moping about it.

Instead, Jude smiles, and Io knows he'll be okay.

"See kid," he mumbles to no one in particular, as Raine jumps onto Neo, splashing dirk onto his clothes. "I promised you you'd survive. And you became stronger for it."