The Wolf came from the darkness, snapping and snarling. Marcella's mother broke off from the tight embrace of her child and screamed, darting into the trees. With Marcella left unprotected, the Wolf rushed at her, thrashing his teeth. A scream erupted from Marcella's throat as she braced herself, but she was interrupted by a strangled yelp in front of her. The Wolf was mere feet away, suspended by the chain on his collar, a flash of metal gripped in Andy's hands.

Pawing at his collar, the Wolf turned his attention to the rag doll, shock painting the doll's face, as the chain fell to the ground with a clink. Marcella's heart pounded in her ears. The Wolf lunged at Andy, and she squeezed her eyes shut, shielding herself from the carnage.

"Hey!" Andy shouted indignantly. Marcella cautiously peeked with one eye, expecting to see a brutal scene of torn fabric and scattered stuffing. Instead, she saw Andy—intact—clambering around the Wolf, desperately reaching for the golden feather boa grasped in his paws in an almost silly game of keep-away.

A pair of comforting hands rested on Marcella's shoulders. Raggedy Ann's voice rang out from beside her, "give that back you brute!"

Baby Doll toddled out from behind a tree and hissed, "he's probably going to eat it."

"I wouldn't!" the Wolf howled, backing away from Andy's reach.

"You would," Andy stated, standing his ground. "It's mine." He jabbed his thumb to his chest for emphasis and reached for the boa once again.

The Wolf jerked the boa away and cradled it close to his face. "It's not yours, it's hers! And I'm taking it."

"You tried to eat her!" Marcella exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Nothing does. She's gone." The Wolf's eyes didn't leave the ground; he gently rubbed the feathers between his fingers. Upon hearing the news, Andy froze.

"Gone? Where?" Came his frantic reply.

The Wolf continued to stare blankly at the dirt. "Back where she came from! She gave the boss a piece of her mind. Oh—he didn't like that. So he—he—" His speech melted into a mournful howl. Marcella felt Ann's grip on her shoulders tighten.

"We're not afraid of him," Ann declared.

"Speak for yourself, sister," Andy muttered in response.

The Wolf's wild gaze darted between the dolls. "Fools! You should be," he presented the feather boa, crumpled in his trembling paw. "This is what happens to those who aren't afraid." He curled into himself and collapsed on the ground, clutching the boa to his chest. His grief-stricken whimpers and sniffles painfully reminded Marcella of her sweet little puppy crying softly in his sleep.

"Oh Red Fang..." Marcella croaked. She cautiously approached him, arms outstretched, only to have Andy suddenly cut her off, resting gentle hands on Red Fang's back.

"You should keep it." Red Fang lifted his head to look at Andy with wide eyes. He then considered the boa once more.

"No, no good to me anymore. Here," he plucked a single golden feather from the strand and tenderly placed it in his pocket, then handed the rest to Andy, who draped it over his shoulders. Turning to the rest of the dolls, he shouted, "now run! Make me look good here and maybe I'll get off easy." Ann appeared behind Marcella once more to lead her away with gentle hands, while he faced the dark forest ahead.

"Hold on—" Andy blurted out, halting Red Fang's exit. "If you're gonna go back to General D., then you should probably take that big chain off your neck," he waited for a reply, nervously twirling the boa in his hands. Red Fang peered at the doll from the corner of his eye. "So he can't hurt you."

With every cautious step forward that Andy took, Red Fang visibly tensed and exhaled sharply from his nose, his eyes never wavering from the approaching doll. Andy's hands traveled closer and closer to the bright blue collar, but Red Fang did not snap at them. Several seconds of silent, tense air, and finally Andy's hands fell from Red Fang's throat. He blinked, his paws tenderly inspecting the newly empty space around his neck, and his eyes glanced down at the blue collar still in Andy's grip. An unreadable expression crossed his face, as he peered up at the rag doll.

Marcella had expected Red Fang to turn and run off into the trees then, finally free from General D's control. She watched in confusion as Red Fang leaned forward, took Andy by the shoulders, and pressed his face into his chest. Andy stood in shock (she imagined, if he were able to blush, his face would have been bright red), spitting out a few unintelligible syllables. This did not halt the cuddling, however, and, after a breath, Andy melted into Red Fang's embrace. They stood there for a while, Red Fang nuzzling Andy while he stroked the wolf's fur. It seemed as though neither one wanted the moment to end.

But it did end—when Red Fang broke off, beaming up at Andy. Gazing into each other's eyes, they exchanged silent words, hand in paw. Baby, impatient, loudly cleared her throat, snapping the two back to reality. Red Fang huffed and turned away from Andy, facing the dark forest, hands still linked.

"Um..." Marcella awkwardly interjected, "how do we get out? We're still lost."

"You have that ring don't ya?" Red Fang retorted with a growl.

Andy, dumb, watched him disappear between the trees, howls fading into the night. Raggedy Ann left Marcella's side to check up on her brother, who startled when she rested her hand on his shoulder. She gave him a knowing look, to which he twisted his face into a scowl and crossed his arms. Ann softly chuckled, giving him a comforting pat on the arm, before turning her attention back to Marcella and the objective at hand.

Notes: This fic uses a lot of ideas and much of the dialogue from the Raggedy Ann Revival Effort's revised script (I happen to be one of the script writers hee hoo). If you're interested, please consider joining the Revival Effort Discord server!