Mable: This is a long overdue request by 'The Queen of Blood'. I know I was planning to do requests based on how quickly I could get them done, but this one had been pending for so long that I decided to get this one finished as the first priority… Unfortunately, it's still long overdue. -.- Anyway, I don't own 9; Queen of Blood, Enjoy!

Flickers in the Day

Nine didn't really expect this to come so soon. Three and he both knew it was coming, but they really didn't think it would be now, and yet here it was. Both of them looking down at a small Stitchpunk, definitely small if Three who was short in stature could look down at it, whose wide optics were innocent and pleading at the. "Please, Daddy! I'll be really, really careful and I'll hide if I see a Beast!" The young female announced as her soft voice filled with hope. "I never, ever get to go out into the Emptiness, and when Seventy comes home she always has the nicest stories to tell!"

Thirty-Nine was a very curious and quite adorable young girl with a bright mind that spurred on said curiosity. She was short, of course, with pale tan burlap, a small copper zipper, and wide optics that tended to flicker when she was excited about something. She tended to where a blue hood like her mother and a matching jumper that went down to her knees. Her number was on her back, but printed small and spaced out quite a bit, resembling her mother's number somewhat. Nine and Three had been rather protective of their daughter more so because of her size as she was rather small for her age.

"Well…" Nine looked to Three, rubbing the back of his neck, "Thirty-Nine, Seventy is a bit older than you are…" Thirty-Nine pouted, "But I'm very mature! Grandfather One and Grandpapa Two have both said so!" Her large optics were full of pleading hope and Nine looked to Three again. The female was thinking to herself. "What's on your mind?" He inquired and she looked to him, then their daughter, and then gave a reassuring nod. "…Really?" The Librarian nodded in insistence before signing to him, "We can take her out together and show her the safer areas."

Nine gave a small smile and looked to Thirty-Nine, "Well, Tiny, I guess that means we're taking you." Thirty-Nine immediately smiled wide in delight and hopped about. "Oh, yay! Thank you Mommy, Daddy, I'll be a good girl! Promise!" The parents were immediately endeared and got ready to leave. Nine took his Lightstaff as usual, but Five also lent him his harpoon. As a parent himself he wanted Nine to have better protection that a simple staff, even if the younger male didn't think he was going to need it. He gave the harpoon to Three as her aim was better and then they left the Library.

Thirty-Nine almost immediately started to walk ahead from her parents. "Don't get too far!" Nine called after her and Three giggled through flickering optics in delight. "She's so excited! It's adorable!" She signed to her mate in delight and the zippered male smiled back before looking around at the surroundings. "So… Where should we take her? It's got to be someplace safe enough and the closer the better." The Librarian thought to herself and went through her mental catalogue of locations in the Emptiness before her optics flickered brighter as an idea came to her.

"Let's take her to the toy store. That one that Two always visits." Three offered and Nine gave a playful smile, "Just as long as you're not planning on spoiling her." She giggled again in her silent way, with the only noise being the clicking of her optics, and insisted, "Maybe only a little bit." Nine chuckled and looked forward only to see that Thirty-Nine was getting away again, "Whoa! Tiny, getting a little far!" He warned in slight amusement and she looked back with a smile, "Sorry!" She replied and waited for them, taking Nine's hand with one and Three's with the other. "Would you like to go see the toy store? It's not too far."

Thirty-Nine squealed in delight, "Oh, yes! Yes, Daddy, let's go!" With that the location was decided and the three headed in that particular direction. It didn't take long to arrive at the toy store and it was rather delightful. Small compared to other buildings but relatively intact, the toy store waited with a wide open door. Shelves overfilled with plush toys, dolls both soft and porcelain, even a few in boxes that were advertised to talk, and even some board games and puzzles stacked as well. The little female ran inside happily and Three flickered her optics after her in worry.

Unlike Nine, who signed with Three, Thirty-Nine somehow understood the flickers. "I'll be careful!" She chirped and hurried into the back. Nine gave a playful chuckle and put an arm around his mate. "Well, this has gone pretty good so far." He remarked with a smile and the small female nodded in agreement, relieved that they hadn't ran into trouble. She nuzzled into his chest affectionately which prompted him to wrap his arms fully around her. "Maybe if all goes well we can head home, maybe do some reading practice and games until evening, tuck her in, and then have a little private time?"

Three got what he was implying and playfully nudged him. Then she followed by nodding in agreement. Meanwhile Thirty-Nine hummed to herself as she searched the shelves, her optics flickering uncontrollably in her delight, not noticing anything worth a threat. Unfortunately there was something else in the store with the three of them. It peered at her from a tipped over bin in the back, its ruby optic watching the flicker with immediate curiosity. It could see that Nine and Three were still some ways away too and thus it waited for the right moment to strike. Thirty-Nine unfortunately continued to wander further off.

Thirty-Nine wandered to a display at the end and peered over a group of large dolls when it started to slide out nearby. It took a second before she actually detected that she was being watched and looked over. It wasn't even hiding and simply stood in the shadows out of the way. She tried to back away in horror, unsure what to do, but it suddenly bounded forwards. Nine and Three were alerted by their daughter's scream and started to dash over. "Thirty-Nine?!" Nine cried only for suddenly a large Beast to appear from the back of the store. It was obviously a common Cat Beast and had Thirty-Nine held in its mouth.

"Daddy! Mommy!" The little Stitchpup yelped as she tried to fight at the mouth, "No, no! Let me go! Help me!" Terror filled Nine and he rushed forward with his Lightstaff raised, turning it on in an attempt to ward off the Beast. Three, meanwhile, lifted the harpoon off of her back and took aim. The second she started to aim at the Cat Beast she faltered as she realized she'd need to aim at his head. That meant aiming close to Thirty-Nine. Her hands shook as the Cat Beast sprung forward and pinned Nine to the ground. Three finally fired, hitting the top of the Beast's head.

It growled and shook its head before rushing forward, knocking Three out of the way as well. "No!" Nine cried out as he ran after it. Three managed to push herself upwards quickly as well, optics flickering in horror. The Cat Beast dove out of the Toy Store and hurried down the street. Nine managed to spot it as it disappeared behind a building. "No! Thirty-Nine!" He cried out desperately, hearing his daughter's faded cries. Once there was silence the two were in complete horror and he found himself frantic. "We have to- Three- maybe we can catch up!" He blurted out desperately.

Three stood with the harpoon gun, but dropped her head into one of her hands in despair. She trembled and Nine approached, attempting to soothe her. "Three, don't cry, she'll be okay! Cat Beasts…. When they take someone they just put them somewhere, they don't hurt him. She's alright, but we can't let her stay with it. Who knows what could happen!" He was trying to be brimming with optimism. Usually a good outlook made everything a little easier, or maybe that was merely the blinding effect of the optimism speaking. Either way Three nodded and the two hurried out towards the street.

"It went down that alley…" Nine murmured and they began to head in that direction. The road felt longer than it really was and even at a sprint they didn't seem to be going fast enough. Once they arrived at the alley and started down it, eventually the thin concrete breaking apart to reveal soil, and footprints. Three catalogued them before continuing forward. Nine watched them as well, confident that they could follow the footsteps and be led right to the Beast's lair.

Before Thirty-Nine even could think properly she was taken down into a ditch covered by the flooring of an old house. The ditch was filled with fabric, pillows, and a large stack of shiny objects such as old jewelry, plates, mirrors, and other things that the Cat Beast had found. She was abruptly dropped onto the stack and her weight caused a few objects to roll or slide down to the cloth bedding below. She teetered on a metal plate leaning against an empty bottle of crystal, fearful as the Cat Beast stared at her. After a few minutes of eyeing her she decided to chirp out.

"It's not polite to stare." She pointed out, but the Cat Beast merely cocked its head in response. It had been so rough with her parents, but was now so curious with her, and it brought a claw forward. She tried to hide under her arms as the claw poked her side. She let out a soft squeak and out of reflex her optics flickered. The Cat Beast now began to make a purring noise in delight and poked her again. The same reaction followed and it leaned closer to see the flicker. By the third or fourth time Thirty-Nine realized that she wasn't actually in immediate danger and stopped reacting.

She raised her head and looked at the Beast with confusion. The Beast, meanwhile, now moved forward to poke her optic. It got another flicker of light. "Oh, please don't do that!" The Stitchpup insisted, "If you want me to… You like the light?" She offered, suddenly realizing with its purr that it was enjoying the light she was making. "You like the shiny things…" She added in as she looked down at the items beneath her, flickering her optics and having the light reflect off of all of the objects. For a few moments the glistening was clear until she stopped and in those moments the Cat Beast swatted at the light in delight.

"So you took me just because of my flickers?" Thirty-Nine asked with a pout, putting her hands on her hips as she sat there. The Cat Beast must have not understood speech as it simply stared at her curiously. It was becoming increasingly apparent that Thirty-Nine wasn't actually in danger and her curiosity started to overtake. She got a tiny smile and made more flickers, watching as the Cat Beast was entertained by them, swatting at the reflections on the other shiny objects. Even rolling onto its spiked back passively, continuing to purr like a motor of some kind.

"I guess you're not bad…" She admitted, but was not fully convinced, "But it wasn't nice for you to take me and knock over my Mommy and Daddy." It didn't pay much attention to her voice and instead continued watching the flickering. Thirty-Nine didn't know what else to do except to continue appeasing it and hope that her parents would come for her. She trusted that they would and continued to flicker her optics as she loyally waited for them to appear.

Speaking of which, around this time Nine and Three discovered the opening in the dirt that led under the shambles of the house, the entrance into the Cat Beast's den. "We'll have to go in." Nine explained and looked to Three before looking to the harpoon gun. "I… Don't know about using that." Three looked down to it before nodding in agreement and putting it on her back. She decided to sign back with, "We should try to sneak in and get her out. If we draw too much attention or fight she might get hurt." Nine nodded in agreement, "You're right… Okay, I have a better idea."

He turned on his Lightstaff, "I'll go in first and lure the Cat Beast into the back. Then you can sneak in and get her, bring her out, and then I'll rush out." Three was disturbed and insisted, "Nine, we can do this without you risking yourself! You always put yourself in danger; we can get Thirty-Nine safely without your risk." Her face was full of pleading, but Nine was determined, "I know… But this is the quickest option and we have to get Thirty-Nine out of there as quickly as possible. I'll be careful." The smaller female finally gave in and nodded.

She didn't want to risk Nine but she was just as desperate to save their 'baby'. Nine gave her a quick embrace before turning on his Lightstaff and entering inside the tunnel. He wandered down deeper into the den. It wasn't long until he found the Cat Beast in question and noticed the flashing light from Thirty-Nine's optics. At first dread passed him, but he then realized that she was smiling and playing with the Beast. It didn't make the Cat Beast any less dangerous, but it was a relief to see that she was alright. Nine now straightened and snuck a bit closer.

Once he got close enough that Thirty-Nine noticed him, with a gasp, he thrust his lightstaff forwards and gave a cry, "Over here!" The Cat Beast suddenly looked to him. It planned to defend its new toy until it seemed to focus in on the Lightstaff. Both Stitchpunks noticed it. "Daddy, he likes the flickers!" Thirty-Nine called in a warning and Nine looked towards his staff. He hummed softly before grasping the lightbulb and loosening it to the point that when he tapped it he could receive flickers. Now the Cat Beast started to move in with a focused red optic and a low purr.

As Nine started to walk backwards, Three rushed into the nest and snuck around the Cat Beast in a long loop, staying low to ground and in the shadows. She managed to get to the tower of shiny objects and waved for the smaller female. She decided to not communicate with flickers as she would risk the Beast's attention. Thirty-Nine went quiet and peered over the plate, seeing her mother and trying to climb down. However, as she started to go down the plate slipped, and suddenly started to slide down the glass, metal, and crystal items. The Stitchpup couldn't help but cry out as she slid to the bottom.

Three grabbed the girl into her arms quickly and looked over to make sure the Beast was still distracted. It wasn't, it was staring directly at them, and suddenly Three darted behind the smaller mound. The Cat Beast began to hurry over and Nine started to dash forward. "Wait! Over here!" He waved the Lightstaff which flickered in response, but the Cat Beast was more concerned with the Stitchpup that was being rescued from its collection. Three zoomed around the mound and past the machine, directly towards Nine and passed him.

"Keep going!" Nine encouraged and turned back towards the incoming beast, swinging his Lightstaff around and hoping that it would distract it. Thankfully it did enough so that the Cat Beast swiped at the Lightstaff, knocking it onto the ground and out of Nine's hands. It kept it claw holding the Lightstaff down as it eyed the object curiously. Nine felt nothing but immediate relief and he backed a few steps before beginning to run off. Soon he was rushing out of the den and into the Emptiness once more. Three and Thirty-Nine were waiting for him, the mother still holding her daughter tightly.

"Daddy, your light stick!" Thirty-Nine pointed out and Nine put an arm around Three and started to lead them away quickly. "It's okay, Tiny, Sweetie, I'll just come back for it later. Let's just… Let's just get out of here." With that they hurried along back to the Library. It wasn't until they entered the actual building that they allowed themselves to stop. The parents sat down on a book near the front and took terms hugging their child. Three was nearly weeping in delight, kissing along Thirty-Nine's forehead before he optics flickered questioningly.

"I'm okay, Mommy!" The Pup insisted, nuzzling into her front, "He didn't hurt me, he just wanted my flickers!..." Now she frowned and looked guilty, "I didn't hide and I wasn't careful… I'm sorry." Three hugged her again and Nine insisted, "Thirty-Nine, these are the risks we take going out. There's a lot of Beasts out there, and not all of them are as harmless as that one was." He warned, but then smiled, "But you stayed calm and you knew how to keep the Cat Beast under control. That's a very grown-up thing you did." He took a turn to hug and kissed her cheek sweetly.

"We'll just have to be a bit more careful next time." He insisted and Thirty-Nine cocked her head, "We'll bring Aunt Seven?" Three giggled with flickering optics as she set the quiver and harpoon aside. Nine chuckled as well, "Now that's thinking like a careful Stitchpup!" She now laid against his zipper, closing her optics and resting briefly. Nine gave a soft sigh and looked to Three who smiled, resting a hand on Thirty-Nine's back and on Nine's arm. She drew her hand back from his arm briefly to sign, "We got lucky… But we knew that this day was going to come."

Nine nodded in agreement and put an arm around her silently, leaning his head against hers. The two cuddled together, carefully holding their Stitchpup, and were thankful for everything they had.

FIN

Mable: Now onto the multiple other requests, Wonderland, and other things! …Though I think I took some Alice in Wonderland inspiration for this. XD What with a curious girl and a cat creature… Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed!