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Again, I must apologize for my lateness. I dunno how many times I gotta type this, so... Sorry.

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THE PARTY, THE RING, AND THE SURPRISE

29 December

Louis' Apartment

Louis moaned silently as the morning sunlight passes through the blinds of his bedroom window. He turned his head to his left and sees Alex sleeping soundly next to him. He smiled gently at the peaceful face.

'I wish I had a little brother of my own,' the young man thought. He slowly rose from his queen sized bed and tried his best not to wake the little guy up. He crept out of the bedroom and slowly closed the door. He walked out to the balcony and took a deep morning breath as he brushed his long silver hair. The wounds that he got from Christmas Eve stung in the cold winter air. He gazed out the white panorama once more before he got in and closed the balcony door.

He prepared some scrambled eggs, which is Alex's favorite dish. The egg aroma that flows in the air is very appetizing. Louis set all the dishes down and went back to his room. He noticed that Alex's still fast asleep. Louis sighed and shook the boy.

"Wake up Alex," he called him gently. "Breakfast is ready."

Alex turned the other way around and groaned, "Aww, just five more minutes mom..."

Louis chuckled and shook him again, "Just to remind you, your mom's not here you know."

Alex groggily got up and rubbed his eye. He yawned and slowly got up from bed. He took a whiff scent in the air and he immediately jumped out of bed.

"Is that the smell of scrambled eggs?" Alex asked him.

"If you don't hurry, I'll finish them before you can even touch it," Louis chuckled at his apprentice. Alex dashed out of the bedroom and sat down on the dining table. He then quickly gobbled up the breakfast course in a matter of minutes, leaving a heavy mess around the plate and his mouth. Louis laughed when he saw Alex's egg-filled face.

"Slow down, tiger," Louis smiled. "What's with the rush?"

"I don't want you to eat my eggs, that's what!" Alex responded with another smile. The both of them laughed as they began to clean the table and Alex's face. A few moments later, the doorbell rang and Louis answered it. In front of their door was Matt who was holding a pile of invitation cards.

"Hi Matt!" Louis greeted. "Come on in!"

"Sorry, I can't," Matt declined. "I have to go somewhere else after this."

"So, what is it?"

"Do you have plans for New Years Eve?"

"No, why?"

"Well, I was wondering if you want to go to the New Years Eve party that I will be holding."

Louis smiled with glee, "Of course I will! Can I bring Alex and Lionel with me?"

"Yeah! Of course they can come!"

"What should I wear?"

"Just read it in the card," Matt told him as he handed Louis his invitation card. "There's also something that I wanted to do later that day..." Matt's face began to glow bright red as he scratched the back of his head.

"Lemme guess, you want to propose to Kelly, right?"

Matt blushed and nodded with confidence. Louis smiled back at him as he sent the card flying towards the bedroom.

"Well, good luck then," Louis patted his back.

Matt shook his head and got his composure back. "Well, see you at the party." Matt dashed back towards the parking lot and drove towards his other pals' houses. Louis closed the door and called Lionel on the phone. He placed it in speaker mode and told both him and Alex the whole story.

"Hmm, a party..." Lionel spoke through his side of the phone," I think that's a pretty wise idea for once."

"Why's that?" Louis responded.

"Well, for one, we've been fighting at least twice per week now. It's a good idea to let all the stress out once in a while."

"Well then, it settles it," Alex stood up," We're going to party! What should I wear Louis?"

Louis snapped his fingers and the card flew back to his hand. He read the card out loud to the both of them, "White tux, no black. Be there before 6. The address is Ludwing street number 27."

"Alright then, let's go shopping tomorrow," Lionel called out. "See you guys tomorrow." Lionel hung up after he finished that sentence. Louis stared back at the excited Alex who was jumping up and down. Louis chuckled and concentrated on the air on his palm. The cool air merged and condensed the water around it, forming the perfect snowball. Louis took aim and threw it towards Alex, landing a direct hit to his head.

"Hey!" Alex grumbled.

"Come on," Louis smiled, "one magical snowball fight?"

"You're on!" Alex smiled back. The two of them began to cast their magic and started to throw snowballs at each other.

...

Time marches on. And...

31 December

The time was 4:30 in the evening. Louis, Alex, and Lionel got together in Lionel's house because their destination is closer there. The three of them were all dressed and ready to go.

"Is everyone ready?" Lionel asked the group.

"Actually, I'm having second opinions here," Louis doubted his decision.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters, all the members are college students."

"So?" Louis pointed his finger to Alex. "Oh..." Lionel understood what he meant. Alex, who wasn't paying any attention at all, stared back in confusion.

"What?" Alex asked the two young men.

"It's nothing," Louis smiled back. "Come on, let's just go..."

"Are you sure about this?" Lionel stopped him.

"Relax, Matt asked me to bring him anyways."

"Okay, if you say so..."

The three of them walked their way towards the party grounds. When they arrived, the party had yet to be set up. Matt, who was making the final touches, noticed them coming and greeted them.

"Glad you could make it!" Matt shook their hands.

"Are you sure about this?" Louis asked him.

"Of course! I've been planning this since Christmas."

"No, I mean about Alex."

"What about him?" Matt tilted his head a little.

"What do you have in store for an 8 year old kid?" Louis stared back seriously.

"Relax! We're not serving any alcohol tonight!"

"Promise?"

"Yeah! I forgot to tell you that most of the jocks bring their siblings too. That way, Alex won't be lonely!"

"Well, if you say so." Louis looked away. He crouched down and smiled at Alex. "Go have fun kiddo!"

"Alright!" Alex smiled happily as he dashed away to meet the other children.

"So, what can we do to help?" Lionel asked Matt.

"Well, not much. I've finished most of it just a few moments ago. There's just one little detail that I missed."

"What's that?"

Matt's face became bright red as he rubbed his head and stared to the ground. "Well, I misplaced the ring."

"The diamond proposal ring?" Matt nodded and started to blush again. Louis patted his shoulder and smiled to him.

"Don't worry! We'll find it for you!" Louis assured him.

"Thanks guys," Matt sighed in relief. "I knew I could count on you two."

"No prob!" Lionel smiled. "Let's start searching. Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

"What are the options?"

"Well, the hard way is to locate it normally," Louis pointed out. "The easier way is to... um..."

"What?"

"... for me to sniff 'em out..." Louis' face turned red as he said it. Matt just roared in laughter at the second option.

"That's not funny!" Louis grumbled.

"Sorry..." Matt tried his best to hold his laughter. "You talked as if you're a canine."

"Don't you remember I turned into a wolf in front of you guys back in Christmas Eve?" Louis reminded him.

"Oh yeah!" Matt remembered. "So, it wasn't a dream?"

"No. If I turn into one and use your scent, wouldn't I be able to find it easily?"

"Hey! That's a great idea!" Matt agreed. "Wait! If you turn into an anthro-wolf, won't everyone notice you?"

"Duh! That's why I always bring a cloak!" Louis took out a long cloak out of his vest.

"You know," Matt commented, "I think you come here too prepared."

"Can't help it!" Louis smiled back. "Past experiences told me anything could happen at anytime."

"Yeah!" Lionel agreed. "Like the ambush down at the park two weeks ago."

"Well," Louis wore his cloak over his suit and put on the hood, "here goes..." He took the card out of his pocket again and focused his energy on it. In an instant, he was morphed again into the silver wolf who saved Matt and Kelly at Christmas Eve. The wolf sheathed the great sword under his cloak and pulled his hood down once again. The silver eyes met with Matt once again.

"You know," Matt smiled at him, "even though you've done that in front of me before, it's still pretty amazing."

"S-Shut up..." Louis blushed. His silver fur didn't do a good job of hiding the red spots on his face. "Just come closer and let me try to pick up your scent before anyone sees us."

Matt stepped in closer to the wolf. Louis took a few sniffs before he stepped back. "Alright, I think this should be enough," Louis told him. "Lionel, can you cover me?"

The two of them went around Matt's house from top till bottom. Louis sniffed silently as he passes every room. Because Matt's scent was everywhere in the house, he's having a difficult time figuring out where the black box might be. After thinking about that, he stopped on his tracks.

"What is it?" Lionel asked him. "Did you find something?"

"I think remember that I've touched it once before," Louis rubbed his muzzle with his paw. He looked down on his paw and quickly hid it back under his cloak.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It wasn't long until you carried me to the hospital."

"Well, that's pretty much all the clue we need. Sniff yourself out wolfy!" Lionel chuckled.

"You have to say it, haven't you?" Louis glared back angrily at him before he sniffed his own arm. He began to sniff every direction and followed his stray scent in the air. Moments later, they ended up in front of the snack bar Matt set up for the party. Louis sniffed a little around the table and eventually found the little black box hidden among the black forest cake slices. He held out his paw and took the box, examining the contents. It was the same black box that he picked up in the middle of the fight at Christmas Eve. The diamond ring still sit nicely inside.

"Well, that's easy enough," Louis commented. "Let's get this to Matt before..."

Without warning, the stereo system boomed a loud party music, startling the both of them. Louis, yipped in pain due to his lupine ears' sensitivity. He ran outside of the house with Lionel following him. They stood near the edge of the swimming pool where the noise isn't as loud as it is inside. Louis' ears were still buzzing at that time.

"Are you okay?" Lionel checked on him.

"My ears still hurt," Louis replied with a groan. "Turning into a wolf at a time like that is seriously a bad luck."

"Can't you just turn back?"

"Not now, that's for sure. I can't turn back yet until the pain subsides or else it will give me permanent damages," Louis sighed in disappointment.

"Well, I guess I'll be bringing the box to Matt then," Lionel took the black box from Louis' paw. "Catch you later, Louis!" Lionel dashed back inside the house leaving Louis standing there near the pool. He gazed towards the snowfield, enjoying the winter night.

"All right, I think that's enough waiting," Louis told himself. As he was about to revert, his ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming towards his direction. He turned around and saw some members of the football team surrounding him, cornering him to the icy pool. Luckily, his hood and cloak hid his wolf figure from them.

"Hey, Louis! Didn't thought you could make it!" one of the members stood up. His sly grin is showing across his face. Louis knew it was a bad idea to keep his form, but he can't revert back when there are people watching him.

"Look guys, I really don't want any trouble now," Louis tried to persuade them. "So, can you guys move a little so I can..." Just as he about to finish it, his senses started to tingle. He knew that if it tingles, something's going to come. When he came back to his senses, he was already shoved towards the icy cold pool, leaving him soaking wet and almost drowning due to the weight of the sword. He emerged from the water and gasped for air. The college jocks were stunned to see his wolf head and backed away slowly.

"Louis! Are you okay?"

Lionel, Matt, and Kelly pushed through the crowd and saw the wolf soaking wet in the pool. People began to whisper and gossip about his appearance, but it wasn't silent enough for Louis to hear. Louis sighed and climbed on the edge of the pool. His fur was soaking wet and his secret is known in public. Or so he thought.

"Louis! Why did you let that costume get wet?" Kelly yelled at him. "You know it's important for the big finale!"

"Oh...Sorry..." Louis, very surprised at what she said, tried to follow along.

"Come on! Let's get you and the costume dried up!" She pulled his arm and cleared through the crowd. "Move it people! Nothing to see here!"

The four of them got in a bedroom on the second floor. Louis took off his clothes and left it hanging in midair. Using the spare towel, he dried his fur and sword until it's dry. He then cast a fire spell to dry the rest of the stuff. He quickly wore all of them just in time before Kelly knocked and opened the door.

"All done?" she asked him.

"Yeah," Louis smiled back. "Thanks for covering me."

"Hey! What are friends are for!" Kelly chuckled and entered the room. She then locked the door, leaving the both of them alone. "So, tell me why you're in that form."

Louis became hesitant. He knew that he have to keep the proposal a secret, but he can't lie in front of his new friend. He cleared his throat and stared back at her. He recaps the whole scenario to her while keeping the ring a secret.

"So that's why you're in the pool?" Kelly smiled at him. Louis just nodded back at her. Kelly rubbed the fur on his head and chuckled, "Good job, wolfy!"

"You guys just like to do that, don't you?" Louis grumbled as he packed his sword. He stood up and opened the window.

"Where are you going?" Kelly tried to stop him.

"You cover me, I'll cover you." Louis told her with a serious face. "Tell everyone to get in. Something bad's gonna happen." After finishing the sentence, he jumped out the window and ran towards the park across the street.