The Origin of Kuro

by Nyan Nyan Soup

(The prequel to my fic, Cat. This doesn't have to be read first.) A lonely kitten is left on the street and gets picked up by the worst possible people, C3. Yoshimasa Tsuyuki wants to help this poor cat, but with his job on the line he has to find a more roundabout way to do that. This is the origin story of Sleepy Ash's pet cat, Kuro. [Part one of my Servamp Family AU]

I guess its important to say that(I think) this fic was finished between chapters 69 and 70. I've seen screenshots of panels with Yoshimasa that aren't in any chapters I've read so I really have no idea what the most recent chapter actually is. I'd like to apologize in advance if Yoshimasa and/or his friendship with Shamrock turns out to be completely mischaracterized in this fic.

So, as usual, my proofreading skills are pretty crap. If there's any errors you spot then please let me know!

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The small town was silent. Not a single person was out. It almost felt like a ghost town thanks to the heavy thunderstorm. The sound of the rain was like a constant roar that was momentarily interrupted by a crackling thunder strike every few minutes. With no one around and the rain drowning out any possible sound, it was impossible for anyone to pick up on the faint sound of crying. Not just any crying, but the constant whine-like meowing of a small black kitten sitting on the sidewalk.

He meowed and meowed and meowed. He showed no sign of stopping despite being cold, wet, and alone. Well, he might have been alone if not for the figure laying before him in the street. Only half an hour ago did the kitten recognize said figure as his mother. He couldn't comprehend what happened to her. All he knew was that she began to cross the street ahead of him when he spotted two bright orbs fly by in front of him and suddenly she wasn't moving. He wanted to check what was wrong with her, but he knew being in the street was dangerous. All he could think to do was call for help, but no one ever came. He was too afraid to leave her so he sat there on the sidewalk and called out as loudly as he could.

He started shivering from how cold the rain made him. His fluffy black fur was soaking wet and it made his whole body feel heavy. He could barely even lift his tail up anymore. His throat began to hurt so his meowing quieted down until he became silent. All he did was stare out at his mother, laying motionless in the street.

The sound of footsteps in the rain made the kitten's ears perk up. He turned his head to see two human men in white coats holding umbrellas. They stopped in front of the kitten and looked down at him. He was too tired and cold to move, nor did he want to leave his mother, so he stayed put. They spoke to each other for what felt like a long time before one of them pulled something out of his pocket and pointed it at the kitten. He didn't understand what was happening, but it didn't feel like a good thing to the kitten. His ears heard a 'fwoosh' like sound then he felt a numbness in his back. His vision grew blurry and everything looked like it was spinning. Everything faded to black and he felt himself fall over on the sidewalk, his face splashing into the rain on the ground.

The kitten lost consciousness.

Inside an underground lab, a man with short black hair and glasses was staring at a portable cage sitting on a lab table. He glanced down at the clipboard placed in front of him and flipped through the pages before looking back up to the cage. He walked around the table to the cage and looked inside. He lightly tapped on it and waited for a response, but never got one. Another man in a black suit with black hair and white strands in his bangs entered the lab.

"Oh, Vice Director Touma! You're just in time. I was about to start phase one of the experiment." The man wearing glasses greeted as he tapped on the cage again.

"I haven't come here to watch, Yoshimasa." Touma stated.

"Oh, that's a shame. Ah, you should see this little guy. He's quite cute… It makes me feel a bit bad about all this. Oh well, it's for the sake of science after all. His sacrifice will not be in vain." Yoshimasa said.

He tapped on the cage once again and opened the gate. Touma took a few steps further into the lab, but didn't bother approaching the cage that Yoshimasa was so preoccupied with.

"Listen, I only bothered to interrupt my daily schedule with your… apparent nonsense to warn you." Touma claimed.

"Eh? What could there possibly be to warn me about?" Yoshimasa asked as he adjusted his glasses.

"You clearly don't realize how important this project is. You were placed in charge of this trial because the last four ended in failure and you're the top scientist of the research department. I can no longer accept any failures so if it doesn't work this time… there will be consequences." Touma warned and glared at Yoshimasa, who seemed rather unfazed by his words.

"You do realize immortality is a tricky subject, right? You really can't expect it to work after only five trials." Yoshimasa retorted.

Touma noticed the clipboard laying on the lab table. Realizing what was on it, he picked it up and tossed it across the table. It landed in front of Yoshimasa with a metallic clang.

"All of his research and reports are on those papers. He perfected this experiment not seven, not eight, but nine times. If we can't even get it to work on a damn stray cat then all of C3 is a failure. If this doesn't work then we'll never be one step closer to understanding those monsters. And unfortunately our experiments on Melancholy have gotten us nowhere since he's been in our custody." Touma explained.

"Ah, heh, well… I told the Director I should be put on the Melancholy Research Team, but nooo. 'I'm not needed for that' he said… Anyway! You have nothing to worry about, Vice Director. Like you said, I am the best the research department has to offer. I'll duplicate his experiment down to the letter. You won't even be able to tell the difference between this little fellow and those the likes of Melancholy." Yoshimasa reassured him and focused back on the contents of the cage.

Without a word Touma simply sighed and walked out of the lab, leaving Yoshimasa to his own devices.

Now that he could work in peace, Yoshimasa tapped on the cage for the umpteenth time. He didn't want to rush the trial, but he was beginning to grow impatient with his subject. He picked the clipboard up and looked more thoroughly at the reports while he waited. He managed to read through over half of it by the time he noticed something moving inside the cage. He quickly tossed down the clipboard and loomed over the cage, staring inside of it.

The black kitten inside the cage tried to stumble to his feet. He felt dizzy and disoriented. His fur was still plenty wet and his paws slipped around on the wet floor of the cage. Yoshimasa helped him by reaching a hand inside the cage and sliding the kitten onto the surface of the lab table.

"Ah, you must be pretty out of it. Sorry about that. My coworker said you were shot with a sleeping dart so of course you probably feel very tired. Here, let me dry you off. You're soaking wet from the rain." Yoshimasa said to the cat.

He grabbed a towel that was folded up on the lab table and began to dry off the kitten. He made sure to be thorough about it so that the kitten would be comfortable. Satisfied with his work, Yoshimasa folded the damp towel and lifted up the kitten so he could place the towel underneath the black furball.

"Now, if you don't mind I'm going to have to do some tests before we can actually get this started. Don't worry though, it's just simple stuff like drawing blood. Hm, can I call you C-05? You are a stray so you don't have a name. Well, I guess it's not much of a name, but you need to be called something… Ah, you don't understand a word I'm saying, do you? Look at yourself Yoshimasa, you're talking to a cat." Yoshimasa ranted, mainly to himself.

C-05 had no idea what Yoshimasa was saying. All he knew was that everything around him was white and he finally stopped feeling so cold. He slumped his head down on the towel and relaxed. He still felt a bit too dizzy to realize the extent of his predicament. He was in and out of consciousness for a long time. Barely noticing when a needle pricked him in one of his front legs or even that a plate of food had been placed on the table with him. He eventually passed out again for a solid five hours.

Once C-05 regained consciousness again he blinked a few times. His nose twitched at the smell of meat and he lifted his head. He no longer felt dizzy or disoriented, but he was still tired. He stretched out his body and let out a yawn. His tail grazed the ceiling and he looked up to realize he was in a box. He observed his surroundings more and noticed he was sitting on a folded up towel. In front of him in the box was a plate of thin, cold slices of meat. Behind it was a closed gate. C-05 spotted a white string coming through the gate and looked down to see it was connected to his front right leg. There were white wrappings around his leg as well. He pawed at it a bit, but couldn't figure out how to remove it so he gave up. Without questioning anything else, C-05 began eating the meat. As he ate he realized he was starving. He didn't know how much time had passed, but it had to be long enough to make him feel like he was going to die from starvation. After finishing everything on the plate, C-05 stepped over it and sat in front of the gate. He could clearly hear a beeping sound, but couldn't see where it was coming from. Coming to the conclusion that there was no way he could get out of the box, he simply circled around a few times and curled up on the towel.

He felt absolutely confused as to why he was trapped inside the box and why everything was happening to him. The last thing he could remember was sitting on the sidewalk in the rain, staring at his mother laying in the street. Even if she wouldn't get up, he still wanted to go back to being by her side. He did miss her after all. She was all he knew. He laid in the box for quite some time before the door to the lab finally opened and he lifted his head to see Yoshimasa.

Yoshimasa stared down at the clipboard in his hands as he closed the door behind him. He looked up to see C-05 watching him from inside the cage. He smiled and waved at the cat.

"Well good morning, C-05. How long have you been up? You were out all night, you know." Yoshimasa walked up to the cage and peeked inside. "Oh, good to see you've eaten. It's very important that you're healthy for this."

C-05 couldn't understand Yoshimasa's words, but by the man's body language he didn't seem like a threat. Although he didn't seem like the most trustworthy human either considering he hadn't freed C-05 from the box yet. His mother did teach him to be wary of humans after all. And here he was stuck in a box thanks to a human. His mother would be ashamed if she could see him now.

Yoshimasa looked back to his clipboard and stepped over to a monitor. He checked C-05's vitals that were displayed on the screen. He pulled out a pen from the pocket of his lab coat and wrote down a myriad of numbers along with a few observation notes. He finally turned back to the cage and opened the gate to take out the empty plate. He left the gate open as he placed the plate on a nearby desk.

C-05 watched Yoshimasa as he turned his back. The kitten's red eyes darted from the human to the open gate, and back again. Making a split second decision, C-05 made a break for it. He bolted out of the box and across the cold, steel table. He only made it to the other end of the table when he was yanked back by the string connected to his front leg. It tugged him back and he landed upside down on the table, staring up at the blank white ceiling.

Yoshimasa heard a loud meow and saw the tube connected to the monitor go stiff. He whirled around to find C-05 laying flat on his back. He quickly lifted the cat up and placed him on his stomach in the middle of the table. Yoshimasa pet his fluffy head.

"Haha, you didn't need to run for it like an escaped convict you know? I left the gate open so you could come out, but I didn't think you'd try to run off. Be careful about this." Yoshimasa grabbed onto the tube connected to C-05's leg. "We don't want this coming out. It's so I can make sure you're healthy. Besides, there's no way you could leave here anyway… Unfortunately…"

C-05 stared at the human. Once again he couldn't understand the sounds Yoshimasa was making, but he noticed a negative feeling emanating from the human after he was done speaking. He felt calm thanks to the head petting. He'd never been pet by a human before, although he was certainly enjoying it.

"Well, since you're up and fully conscious I might as well perform a proper examination. Lucky for both of us you were passed out when I took blood so we don't have to deal with that kerfuffle, heh. So, unfortunately for both of us I'm not a dentist, but I'm going to have to check your teeth." Yoshimasa held up his hand and made a shape with his fingers like a jaw opening and closing. "...Oh dear God, what am I doing? It's a cat, Yoshimasa, not a child. He doesn't understand a thing I'm saying. I can't talk to him like I do with Shuhei."

C-05 stared at Yoshimasa. If he was capable of understanding human emotions then his face would show an expression of absolute confusion. Not only could he not comprehend what the scientist was saying, he was also sure that whatever it was it wasn't normal for a human being. He watched as Yoshimasa pulled out a small cylindrical object that started emitting a bright light. Yoshimasa placed a hand on C-05's mouth and gently pulled up. The kitten wasn't too bothered by the action, but he didn't like it nonetheless. He jerked his head away and shut his mouth tight.

"Oh come on now. It's not going to hurt, I just need to look. It's a flashlight, see." Yoshimasa said.

He clicked the flashlight on and off numerous times. The clicking sound made C-05 look back to Yoshimasa. He moved the light in a circle on the lab table. All the lights were on so the light from the flashlight wasn't all that obvious, but C-05 could see it just fine. The kitten stood up and stared at the light as it darted around. Yoshimasa held the light still once he realized he got the cat's attention.

C-05 pawed at the bright spot on the table. It rapidly moved to the side and his red eyes easily followed it. He pawed at it again and it ran away to the edge of the table. C-05 dashed for it and smacked his front paws onto it. He believed he caught it, but he realized it somehow managed to get on top of his paws. He got his face close to it and tapped a paw at the metallic surface. He heard Yoshimasa chuckle at him, but he was too distracted by the light to look away. The light suddenly disappeared and C-05 scanned the room for its whereabouts. Confused that he couldn't find the light, he finally looked back to Yoshimasa.

"Now that you see it's harmless can I get a look at your teeth please?" Yoshimasa asked.

Not waiting for a response, Yoshimasa turned the small flashlight back on and shined it at C-05's mouth. The black kitten didn't stop him as Yoshimasa opened his mouth and got a close look at his sharp teeth.

"Hm… They look normal. You may be a stray but you're still a young little guy so there hasn't been enough time for anything bad to happen to your teeth. Let's see here…" Yoshimasa mumbled to himself.

He put the flashlight down and stuck a finger in C-05's mouth. He lightly pressed on a few teeth, which startled and confused the kitten. C-05 bit down hard on Yoshimasa's finger. He yelped and yanked his hands away from the kitten. He checked his finger, which was bleeding a tiny bit, but didn't seem to be bad enough to warrant putting on a bandaid.

"Yikes… Like I said, not a dentist. I should've expected that. Oh boy, it stings like a papercut. I really hope you don't have something like rabies. Well, I suppose you'd be rabid if you had rabies. Your tests didn't show you had any diseases or anything either. Ah, I'm sure I'll be fine… I hope." Yoshimasa ranted again.

C-05 tasted blood in his mouth. It wasn't a foreign taste, but since it didn't belong to any food he didn't care for it being in his mouth. He watched as Yoshimasa shook his hand and squeezed his finger for some reason. He wiped the blood on his lab coat which created a red stain near the lower pocket. C-05 glanced down at the cylindrical object on the table with him. He pawed at it and it rolled off the table, making a metallic thud sound as it hit the floor.

"Oh, you little troublemaker. You're just like any other cat, aren't you." Yoshimasa claimed as he bent down to pick up the fallen flashlight.

The door to the lab burst open and Touma walked into the room.

"Yoshimasa Tsuyuki! Have you made any progress so far?" Touma questioned in a stern tone.

Yoshimasa flinched and tried to stand up, but banged his head on the lab table on his way up.

"Ah, ow! Y-yes, Vice Director! I have actually." Yoshimasa said as he rubbed his sore head and placed the flashlight in his pocket.

C-05 stared at Touma. He didn't like the feelings emanating from the extremely tall human. He was assertive, dominant, and aggressive. It made C-05 feel intimidated and cornered. Touma glanced at him and made eye contact with the kitten. From what his mother taught him, he knew eye contact meant an assertion of dominance. C-05 knew Touma wasn't a human to be messed with, so he quickly darted his eyes away and dropped his ears down to show that he was being submissive. The gesture was lost on Touma, who neither knew about animal body language, nor cared for it or the kitten.

"It doesn't look like it." Touma stated.

"Well, from your standpoint maybe. But I can't just jump straight to euthanizing the poor guy. I have to study my subject first. Make sure he's healthy and have independent data to compare to after the fact so I can confirm if something abnormal happens or not. There is a scientific process that must be followed, you know." Yoshimasa defended himself.

Touma did not look happy to hear that. "Then hurry up and euthanize the damn thing already. You're not getting paid to play with a house pet."

Yoshimasa frowned and placed a hand on C-05's head. The kitten couldn't understand what the two humans were discussing, but he knew Touma was still being very assertive. Yoshimasa may not have been fighting for dominance, but he wasn't letting himself get pushed over either. It made C-05 respect the four eyed human for not backing down as easily as he did.

"You'll get your results when I get to that part. Now leave me and my research alone. I can't work with you bothering me." Yoshimasa stated.

Touma simply stared at Yoshimasa with a blank expression. Yoshimasa had no idea if that made Touma mad or extremely tired. C-05, on the other hand, could tell that Touma was exuding anger even though it wasn't visibly obvious.

"Make it happen or you're fired." Was all Touma said before he walked out of the lab.

The way he closed the door wasn't by slamming it, but the forcefulness in said action certainly instilled fear in both Yoshimasa and C-05. They were at least glad he was gone. Yoshimasa scratched behind the kitten's ears, which elicited a happy purr from C-05.

"I'm real sorry about this, but it's for the sake of science. On the off chance that you can understand me, C-05… I hope you're okay with the risk involved in this. I don't… dislike… what you'll become if you do survive… but your sacrifice will allow us to understand them better. To have some knowledge of what they are and how they work… and possibly how to kill them. I don't want anyone to die, not even them, but it's my job so I don't really have a choice. You seem like a sweet cat, C-05. If only I could bring you home, I think my family would like you. My son could certainly benefit from taking care of a pet." Yoshimasa spoke to the cat.

He knew the cat couldn't understand him, so he was mainly saying all that for himself. Although he felt like it didn't mean anything if he couldn't convey his thoughts and feelings to the one he was speaking to. In actuality, C-05 may not have known what Yoshimasa was talking about, but he could tell that the human wasn't feeling positive. Something was affecting him negatively and it worried C-05. Of course, he wasn't worried for Yoshimasa, he was just worried about himself. He still wanted to get out of whatever place he was being held in so he could go back to his mother. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Why she wouldn't move, why she didn't respond to him, why she just laid there. C-05 placed his head down on the lab table and Yoshimasa took notice of the change.

"Ah, whether you understood my words or not I see my feelings reached you at least. Please don't be upset. If this experiment succeeds then you'll be here forever! Oh, wait… I don't mean here here, at least, I hope not. I'd like you to go free one day. I just mean you'll be on this Earth for a long time after me. Although, maybe you'll become lonely and start to seek death only for all your efforts to become futile and you wander the lands with anger and hostility… If that becomes the case then please, direct all your anger at me. I'm the one that's doing this to you so I should be the target of your future hatred, not the rest of humanity." Yoshimasa tried to explain.

Once again, C-05 didn't understand him and Yoshimasa started to feel like an idiot. There he went again, talking to a cat. He couldn't keep himself from rambling even if he was the only one who understood himself. C-05 noticed Yoshimasa staring at him so he looked back up at the scientist. Yoshimasa smiled and ruffled the fur on the top of C-05's head.

"I'm sorry to do this, but I should start the actual trial. I only hope it won't hurt as much as the reports say it does. They didn't deserve to feel so much pain and neither does an innocent little kitten like you." Yoshimasa apologized and glanced away from C-05.

The small black cat simply laid there and watched Yoshimasa. He had no way to realize the situation he was in. He didn't know anything was going to happen to him and he certainly didn't realize the pain that would follow because of it. C-05 rested his head down on the table as Yoshimasa wrote quite a bit of information on his clipboard. He flipped up a few of the pages and began reading a bit. Yoshimasa glanced at C-05, who wasn't watching him anymore.

"I should get this over with as quickly as possible." Yoshimasa whispered to himself.

He stepped away to the nearby desk and left C-05 on the table by himself. The cat stayed still as he rested on the table. He closed his eyes and listened to Yoshimasa's footsteps. It was silent for about a full minute until he felt something poke him in the back. C-05 flinched and bolted to his feet. He hissed at Yoshimasa, who backed up and raised his hands up. There was a syringe in the scientist's hand. An empty one.

"I'm so sorry." Yoshimasa muttered.

C-05 tried to scratch his back with his hind leg, but couldn't really reach the spot that itched. He quickly looped around in a few circles, but got the strange string caught around his paws and tripped over it. He felt dizzy again and couldn't get to his feet. Yoshimasa reached out to help untangle him, but C-05 just hissed at him again and he pulled his hand away. C-05 couldn't keep his head up anymore and he slumped down so he was laying on the table. The beeping sound he was hearing started to slow down. He felt… sleepy. Very, very sleepy. His eyelids were heavy and he stopped thinking. He'd just go to sleep. Just for a moment. So he wouldn't be tired. The beeping sound got slower and slower and slower. It faded into the background until he couldn't hear anything anymore. C-05 shut his eyes.

The sound of the flatlining monitor was the only thing Yoshimasa could hear. He stared at the small black cat lying on the table for a long while. The only thing he could bring himself to do was turn off the volume to the monitor so he wouldn't have to hear the deafening confirmation of his horrific action.

"I'm just doing my job… I'm just doing my job… I'm just doing my job… I'm just… Dear God! You are a father, Yoshimasa, you are not supposed to take life! No! No, no, no, no, no! That's not what you're doing! If he comes back then you technically didn't kill him! ...It's an animal, does it really matter? ...Oh God, yes it does! I'm so sorry, C-05! No, stop it. You're just doing your job. This is your job. You must separate work and emotions... Why the hell does any of this matter when he'll be fine!? What if it doesn't work? Ah! You told the Vice Director it wouldn't work on the fifth try! This is the fifth try! I'm the top scientist here. Me. Yoshimasa Tsuyuki. I know what I'm doing, I went to college. He'll wake up and I'll get a promotion… I killed an innocent cat and I'm going to Hell…" Yoshimasa ranted on and on as he frantically paced around the lab.

He grabbed the sides of his head and stared at C-05's lifeless body with wide eyes. There was a second syringe placed on the desk. He walked over and picked it up. All he had to do was inject it. If it worked, it worked. If it failed… Well, he could always quit. Touma did threaten to fire him if he failed after all. Nervously, Yoshimasa hesitated before injecting the contents of the syringe into the feline body. He let out a sigh when he finished.

"Okay… Okay, okay, okay. All I have to do is wait between two and four days. If this worked, he'll wake up… Please wake up, C-05. Both my job and my conscience are riding on this. Ugh, I guess the only thing I can do now is wait. Oh! Uh, p-please don't hate me when you wake up either. Not until you've lived long after me, at least!" Yoshimasa said and adjusted his glasses.

He messily wrote down more notes on his clipboard and turned up the sound on the monitor so the flatline was just barely audible in the background. If C-05 woke up he'd need to hear it after all. He stared at the cat for several more minutes before scooting the cage close to C-05. Yoshimasa gently lifted the cat's body and slid him inside the cage. He made extra sure he locked the gate then picked up his clipboard. He slowly backed away to the door and inspected the room to be sure he wasn't forgetting anything. C-05 in the cage, the monitor on, cage locked, lights off, and room locked. He flipped the light switch off and exited the lab, locking the door once he closed it.

"Day one. Subject C-05 is currently, officially deceased. The serum I made, following the instructions of both his reports and my fellow co-workers, was administered seven minutes after euthanizing Subject C-05. There is no change in heart rate. There is no change in positioning. My son asked me about my work last night and I caved. I told him I was working with an adorable young cat, but I left out any details relating to why. My son simply mocked me and said working with a 'cute' animal is unprofessional. Once again I feel as though he is the parent and I am the child. He's only nine. He's far too mature for his age. End report."

"Day two. There is no change in heart rate. There is no change in positioning. I spoke with the Vice Director today. He does not seem disappointed or upset over the trial so far, which is good. It seems I have a chance to keep my job after all. I had a conversation with my dear friend and co-worker as well. I told him about this project I was assigned to. It led to us having a conversation about them. I have never understood his fascination with Melancholy. While he still can't seem to understand the pity I feel for all of them. Despite this difference between us, we are still very close. I believe it's because we hold different opinions on this topic than everyone else at work. Our co-workers just see them, and all nonhuman creatures, as monsters. I refuse to let Subject C-05 be seen as a monster. End report."

"Day three. I know I locked the lab when I left. Which is why I was more confused than angry that I walked in on a certain thirteen-year-old boy staring at Subject C-05 when I entered the lab this morning. He's a sly one. You can't take your eyes off him for a second. I do not know if he has compromised my project or not. Knowing him, he probably only entered the lab to prove he could. I know I can't complain to the Vice Director about him, so I simply made him leave in exchange for allowing him to have a playdate with my son. After examining Subject C-05 I have determined that he has not been touched, but I can't rule out the possibility that my project has been compromised. There is no change in heart rate. There is no change in positioning. End report."

"Day four. There is no change in heart rate. There is no change in positioning. I have become concerned that Subject C-05 will not awaken. I have read over the past reports. All eight previous experiments of his never exceeded four days before being deemed successful. Each of the previous four trials done by my co-workers were determined to be failures after the fourth day. I believe my trial has failed as well. All I can do is hope for a miracle overnight. I no longer care about losing my job. I just pray that I can have another chance to apologize to Subject C-05. I want us to understand each other. I want him to be the so-called 'monster' that changes the opinions of all my co-workers. I want him to be a bridge that will serve as C3's connection to them. End report."

"It hurts... Why? What is this I'm feeling? It's more than just an aching pain in my entire body, it's like my mind hurts too. Not my brain. My mental mind. Thinking hurts. I'm thinking too much. Why do I know all this? Mother… I wish you could explain it all to me. I miss you. I want to see you again. No, I will see you again. Once I'm all better I'll get out of here and come find you. And I'll make all these humans pay."

Yoshimasa unlocked the lab and walked inside, closing the door behind him. He flipped on the light switch and heard the same flatline tone that had been going nonstop for the past four days. He sighed and lifted his glasses so he could rub his eyes. Yoshimasa stepped up to the cage on the lab table and opened the gate. He stared at the lifeless cat inside with a blank expression.

"I'm sorry your life was taken in vain, C-05. I… wanted so much more for you. I wish there was a way my apologies could reach you." Yoshimasa said.

He placed a hand inside the cage and gently pulled the black cat out of the cage. He lifted the front paw so he could start removing the gauze from around the leg.

"Wha- what is this? Y-Yoshimasa? That's your voice isn't it? Are you the one touching me? Answer me damn it! I can't see anything! I can't move! Can you even hear me!? You bastard human! You did this to me! Don't think I forgot!"

The paw in Yoshimasa's hand twitched ever so slightly, making him freeze and stop what he was doing. He tightened his grip a bit and, sure enough, he felt the tiny paw move again. His eyes widened and he backed away from the cat.

"C-05? A-are you alive…? B-but…" Yoshimasa looked over to the monitor that still showed a flatline on the screen. "You're… It's not possible! There's no heart rate. No blood pressure. H-how!?"

"What are you talking about!? Of course I'm alive! Who cares about some heart rate or blood pressure! What even is that!?"

The faintest of meows came from the small cat and Yoshimasa leaned in close.

"If you can hear me then please, wake up! Open your eyes! Something!" Yoshimasa begged.

"Well that explains why I can't see anything. I guess you really can't hear me then. I need to do something. Why can't I move? Am I... a ghost? No, no. Mother says we have nine lives. I can't be a ghost. I still have eight left, right? Wait… W-what's this feeling? Just when I was getting used to this pain. Of course it has to get worse. O-oh, it's u-unbearable…"

C-05 wobbled to his feet and opened his eyes. Yoshimasa lit up with joy. He couldn't believe his experiment actually worked. All his happiness immediately dissipated when C-05 started dry heaving like he had a hairball. The poor cat then threw up all the remaining food in his stomach and possibly more. It wasn't much of a mess considering how small C-05's body was so there wasn't actually room in his stomach for a whole lot. He lost his balance and started to collapse, but Yoshimasa reacted fast enough to grab C-05 before he fell. He lifted the cat up several inches in the air.

"W-why… why did that happen? My insides feel like they wanna be outside… I feel hungry… but thinking about eating makes me feel worse. Y-Yoshimasa… I may hate you, but please… h-help… me…"

C-05 passed out in Yoshimasa's hands.

"Oh dear. It's like Shuhei as a baby all over again." Yoshimasa stated.

When C-05 finally woke up again, he heard Yoshimasa frantically talking to another person.

"No! I swear! He woke up! He came back to life! He didn't have a heartbeat or anything!" Yoshimasa shouted.

"...Aaand he puked his guts out." Touma noted.

"Um… Yes. I cleaned that up. Don't think I can get rid of the smell right away though. But! That's what all the reports stated would happen! So everything is going smoothly! It worked!" Yoshimasa cheered with a big grin.

Touma stared at the scientist with his usual blank expression. "I'll deem it a success when I see it moving with my own eyes. I don't need to alarm the Director with a false positive."

C-05 opened his eyes and his ears twitched from all the noise they were picking up. Yoshimasa noticed and rushed over to point at the small cat.

"See! He moved! He's alive! It is a success!" Yoshimasa confirmed.

C-05 slowly lifted his head and glared at Yoshimasa.

"Get away from me."

Touma took a step closer and watched the cat intently. Instead of C-05 looking away to not instigate a fight, he turned to Touma and glared at him as well. He started emitting a low hiss from his throat. Yoshimasa flinched and crouched down slightly so his eyes were on the same level as C-05.

"You get away from me too."

"Oh my. He's probably mad at me… I can not apologize enough, C-05." Yoshimasa said.

"Well, I suppose this was a success. I'll go inform the Director." Touma said as he began to leave.

"Yeah, that's right. Get out of here. Bring that Director person here too. I'd like to sink my claws into him."

"Really!? Yes! I did it! I am the best one in the research department!" Yoshimasa shouted with joy.

"Be a little more mature about this." Touma stated as he walked out of the lab.

The second Touma left C-05 sprung to his feet. He hissed loudly but stopped when he realized how dizzy he was. He sat back down and stared at the surface of the table. Yoshimasa's happy expression disappeared as he watched the cat.

"I'm sorry, C-05. You have no idea how horrible I feel over this… But, uh… look on the bright side! This has got to be the biggest breakthrough in C3 history! You're a medical marvel. Thank you." Yoshimasa said and flashed a small smile at the cat.

"Like I care! I just want outta here! ...Ugh… After I feel better…"

C-05 laid down on his side and tried to relax. He wanted to focus on escaping, but he was too tired and disoriented. He didn't think Yoshimasa would hurt him again, so he was fine with being vulnerable in the human's presence.

"Oh, of course. You'll be extremely tired for a couple days, but then you'll feel better than ever so don't you worry your fluffy little head." Yoshimasa advised.

C-05 fell asleep again and Yoshimasa stared at the small cat. He understood that what he accomplished had never been done before by anyone else except for him, but he couldn't help but feel bad for C-05. The cat didn't ask for any of this to happen and Yoshimasa certainly didn't want to hurt such a small, defenseless animal. He just had to keep doing his job and hoped the cat would eventually forgive him.

It was another day when C-05 was once again awoken by the sounds of humans talking. Today it was much louder than before there were three different voices, one of them was unfamiliar to the cat.

"What in the world do you mean!?" Yoshimasa questioned.

"I mean exactly what I said, Dr. Tsuyuki." A man replied.

"B-b-b-but… But I'm the one who succeeded! I should be able to follow through with this project to the end! This was all my work so far! You can't just hand it off to someone else!" Yoshimasa argued.

"The Director has spoken. Your replacement will be here shortly. Pack up anything that is yours and leave. You are no longer in charge of this project." Touma stated.

Yoshimasa simply stared at the two men. He was more than aggravated, but he could get fired at the drop of a hat by either one of them. He didn't want someone else coming in and treating C-05 like an object to be poked and prodded. He wouldn't stand for it.

"And what if I refuse?" Yoshimasa asked with a stern expression.

"Then you're fired. This isn't a suggestion, Doctor." The Director answered.

Yoshimasa flinched and dropped his head. He felt so stuck. He had to protect C-05, but he couldn't bring himself to fight back any longer. Especially not with the threat of getting fired.

C-05 finally sat up. He found himself in the box again. He was still tired, but forced himself to walk to the gate. He saw Yoshimasa and Touma, but couldn't see the Director due to the angle the box was facing and because Touma was blocking the cat's view of him. They were the only three humans he'd seen since being held captive and he wasn't interested in dealing with anyone else. He especially didn't want to be stuck with some other unknown human poking things into him. At least Yoshimasa gave off the feeling of being remorseful. The other two didn't seem to care at all. C-05 was worried that everyone else would be the same way. He'd rather stay stuck with Yoshimasa until he could escape.

"Well, can I at least know who's replacing me?" Yoshimasa asked.

"That'd be me." Someone said.

C-05 saw another human enter the room. It was an extremely tall man, even taller than Touma. He had lilac colored hair and big round glasses. He was chewing on a straw for no apparent reason. Despite his enormous stature, he looked very young.

"Wait! You!? But-but… But you're the new guy!" Yoshimasa shouted.

"Yup! Johannes Mimir Faustus! Haven't even been here a week and I'm already replacing the top scientist here! Don't worry, I'll do much better than you!" He introduced himself.

Yoshimasa stared at Johannes with wide eyes before frantically turning to the two other men.

"You can't seriously expect me to be okay with being replaced by the new guy, right!? I don't care what his credentials are! I don't care if he's some kind of child prodigy! I refuse to let him-"

Yoshimasa was interrupted by the Director's phone ringing. He held a finger up to silence Yoshimasa and checked his phone.

"This is an important call. I have to go. Listen, if you're so adamant about this, then why don't I put you on the Melancholy Research Team? You've been requesting that transfer, haven't you?" The Director said.

Without waiting for a response, the man began to walk out of the lab and answered his phone. Touma followed suit and shut the door, leaving Yoshimasa and Johannes by themselves. Yoshimasa just sighed. A few days ago he would have been overjoyed to hear that, but now it was the exact opposite of what he wanted. Johannes immediately made his way over to the cage where C-05 was being held and Yoshimasa ran up to stand in front of the taller man.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Yoshimasa questioned.

"My job. Last I checked you're not the one working on this project anymore, so why are you still here?" Johannes responded.

"B-because there's no way you can understand the importance of this project! I succeeded! Me! I did it all on my own too! I can't just let the new guy take all the credit! Besides, I don't want you hurting my test subject!" Yoshimasa aggressively replied.

Johannes just stood there and stared down at Yoshimasa while continuing to chew on the straw in his mouth.

"Hah, funny. You think you're still important, how cute. I read all the reports yesterday, including yours, so I'm not clueless here. Even the dumbest scientist could take over from here. All I have to do is see if he's just as durable and indestructible as those other ones. That's sure to be fun!" Johannes said a bit too cheerfully.

Yoshimasa flinched. That was the part of the experiment that he dreaded the most. He didn't want to put C-05 through all those painful tests, but he especially didn't want someone else doing them. C-05 began meowing and both men looked over at the cage.

"What does he mean by that? Yoshimasa! What does that mean?"

Yoshimasa thought for a second that C-05 could understand them. The cat seemed a bit distressed. Johannes pushed past Yoshimasa and grabbed the front of the cage, tilting it upward so he could get a good look inside. C-05 roughly rolled back and hit the back of the cage.

"Oh wow, so you're what I'll be working with. You're so cute. That'll make it even more fun to see such a cute kitten in pain!" Johannes happily said.

"H-hey! Be careful with him!" Yoshimasa shouted.

He tried to grab the cage and put it flat on the table, but Johannes pushed him back.

"Like I said, this isn't your project anymore. Don't bother me." Johannes told him.

C-05 saw it happen and hissed, making Johannes look back down at the cage.

"Oh my, a feisty one too. This just keeps getting better and better." He said.

A creepy grin appeared on the young man's face, which actually managed to put C-05 on edge.

"Put! It! Down!" Yoshimasa exclaimed and slammed his hands down on the cage.

It slipped out of Johannes's grip and rattled on the table a bit before staying still. C-05 bounced around inside and felt dizzy as he laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the box in absolute shock. He rolled over and got back on his paws, shaking his head to try and get rid of the dizziness.

Johannes bit down hard on his straw and glared at Yoshimasa. Without warning, he grabbed the older man by the collar of his lab coat and began dragging him to the door.

"Wha- Hey! K-knock it off! What the hell are you doing!? Let me go!" Yoshimasa protested as he tried to remove Johannes's hand from his coat.

C-05 began frantically meowing and bashing his head against the gate of the box.

"Let him go you bastard! How dare you! Let him gooo!"

C-05 couldn't understand why he wanted to stop Johannes. He was still mad at Yoshimasa and he had no idea what Yoshimasa was trying to stop Johannes from doing, but he felt an overwhelming need to rescue Yoshimasa. Johannes got Yoshimasa to the door and opened it, tossing the older man out the door like he was garbage. C-05 bashed his head against the gate again and it managed to break off, landing on the lab table. His head hurt, but he didn't care. He dashed across the table and heard a snapping sound of the tube in his arm coming out. He pounced on Johannes just as he shut and locked the door. C-05 bit him on the arm, making the young man yelp in pain. As Yoshimasa was banging on the door from the other side, Johannes slammed his arm against the wall to get C-05 off of him. Due to the impact, C-05 lost his grip and dropped to the floor. He was too dizzy to move.

"Hahahahaha! That was fun! I guess I'm in for more than I bargained for! Hahaha!" Johannes cheerfully laughed and gripped his bleeding arm.

He noticed there was a lot more blood coming from the wound than what would be normal for a harsh kitten bite. The fact that C-05 managed to bash open the cage gate with enough force also intrigued him. He saw a bit of blood coming the cat's forehead as well. He picked up the small cat by the back of the neck and dropped him on the table as if he was an object. C-05 could only groan in pain.

"Oh it's going to get a lot more worse for you than that! Ah, this takes me back. I haven't been able to do experiments on small animals like this since I was a kid!" Johannes happily said.

He grabbed two straps that were hanging off of the lab table and pulled them across the table to attach them to buckles on the other side. C-05's body was just big enough to be securely fastened to the table by the two straps. In his current state there was no way he could get out of it. Johannes stepped over to the desk and picked up one of the gadgets placed on the desk that Yoshimasa had set out earlier that day.

"Sooo, let's just skip over those pointless introductions and get straight down to business!" Johannes said.

He strapped the device around C-05's head like a headband that had all kinds of wires connected to it. The wires went back to a small handheld device with several buttons. Johannes picked it up, ready to start pressing buttons.

"You know, from what I read this same device is frequently used on Melancholy. I suppose this is the closest I'll be getting for a while to doing tests on any of them. You'll have to do though… until I get bored. Well, without further ado, let's get started! Hahahaha!" Johannes explained.

"...Y-Yoshimasa… please, come help me…"

With a single button press, an electric current shot through C-05's body. It was so painful to the small cat that he didn't even get a chance to scream in pain before passing out.

"Ahem! Testing, testing! One, two, three! I think it's good. Okay! Audio log one! Nobody around here can read my handwriting so I have to do this with audio logs instead. Fine by me, talking makes it faster to complete! Paperwork can be a pain in the ass anyway… Sooo, my amazing little test subject has just been through trial number one! Electrocution! I'm ashamed it didn't stay awake longer… I would've loved to hear those screams. Oh well, I'm sure there'll be plenty of those over the next few days. One high powered shock knocked it out. I suppose that's good since its brain should've been turned to liquid from that. I've read that Melancholy can survive the same shock. Now those are screams I'd love to hear! Hahaha! Ahem, I continued with the shocking ten more times. I kept getting involuntary muscles spasms from the subject during each shock, meaning it's 'alive'. The burn marks on its head also healed up within minutes of each shock. Veeeery interesting. It heals almost faster than pain can be administered. That's no different from the other ones. I'll have to work hard to 'break' this adorable this subject… Oh, right! Um, end report."

"Audio log twooooo! Da-duuun! ...Note to self, remember that other people will be listening to these… Anyway, I deviated from the 'recommended' -pfft, recommended, haha- uuuh, right. I deviated from the recommended trials and tested out my own one. I couldn't find anything in the other reports that answered my hypothesis, so I tried it out on my own. I cut the test subject open. As I expected, internal studies are impossible due to the self regeneration. There doesn't seem to be any known means of stopping, or at least slowing down this process. While that means I can't go through with internal studies, I'm still fascinated by this ability. I hacked up the subject as much as I could. By some miracle, I managed to work faster than the regeneration and I was able to test out my second hypothesis. The reports refer to it as their bodies' 'Plan B'. It's been looked into with Melancholy, and achieved, but research hasn't been able to go further than that… Idiots... Ahem! The subject's body couldn't heal faster than the damage sustained so it went into 'Plan B'. It is now a small, glass-like ball. I can't see anything inside, which sucks, but there seems to be a blue tint to it when held up to the light. It's very pretty, I'll give it that. You could use it as a Christmas decoration! Hahahaha! Anyway, the reports say this form lasts for about twenty-four hours and all my attempts to break it haven't worked, so I guess I'll just leave it be for now. I got bored of trying to break it anyway… Crap, I keep forgetting. Right, end report."

"Audio! Log! Threeeee! ...I'm getting bored of this… When I came here I expected to have more things to cut open. More… fun things. Oh well, what can ya do. Anyway, the subject is still in 'Plan B', so there's not much I can do today. What a shame! What a travesty! Oh the humanity! Ahem… I read through the reports again. His reports state that in theory, if this 'Plan B' form was destroyed then the subject would be forced into a chaotic, rampaging state of destruction focused on targeting the one their thoughts were last on before entering said form. Seems preposterous and ridiculous, even to me! Hahaha! ...Well, this was all his work so I guess that's what he intended to happen. Whether it actually works like that or not, I dunno… I also found stuff that mentioned another form that they all should be able to go into. It's very interesting, I must say. From what I've been told, his goal was simply immortality. Apparently his goal had changed since he abandoned C3. It seems more like he's been creating indestructible human weapons. That raises the question of himself then. If he was just like his other creations, then how was Subject Sloth able to kill him? He should've been unkillable as well. Perhaps he perfected this experiment after performing it on himself. Oh how I wish I was there to see it! I bet it was a beautiful bloodshed! Hm, there's so many things I'd like to ask him about. It's a shame he's dead… At least there's always Subject Melancholy, oh how I'd love to interrogate him! I guess I'm done. End report."

Yoshimasa sat at a table in the lounge. He had his arms folded over the table and his head rested on his arms. There were a few sheets of paperwork sitting in front of him. A man with short, pale blonde hair and wearing the C3 combat uniform walked up to him, tapping Yoshimasa on the shoulder. It startled him and he threw his head up from the table, looking over to the person who touched him.

"Geez! You could announce yourself first, you know." Yoshimasa told him.

"Well don't be so skittish." The blonde said as he took a seat next to Yoshimasa.

He looked over at the papers in front of his friend and picked them up to get a better look. Yoshimasa frantically snatched them out of his hand.

"Stop being nosy!" Yoshimasa demanded.

"How's that transfer going? Think you could get me in there to see Melancholy?" His friend asked.

"While I wouldn't mind doing that, I'm still going to have to refuse. Only those in the research department are allowed anywhere near him, you know that. Besides, I wouldn't trust you around him in the first place." Yoshimasa refused.

"Good, you shouldn't… So I take it you still don't want to help me with my coup plans then?" He questioned.

"No! And don't say that so casually! We're friends, but I don't want anything to do with your pointless coup d'etat!" Yoshimasa whisper-yelled.

"It's not pointless. I've been wanting to quit anyway, but I refuse to be sent back to Germany." He corrected.

Yoshimasa only sighed. He really didn't feel like discussing that matter for the umpteenth time.

"So I take it you still haven't been able to convince the Director to rethink his decision?" The blonde inquired.

"Yes… Every time I'm able to get past Vice Diretor Touma on the matter, he just tells me 'Oh don't worry, I'll get you on the Melancholy Research Team.' That's not what I want! He just says the same thing every time too! I just want my project back! That new guy, Faustus, I know he doesn't care. I've read his profile. He just likes cutting things open! He has no care for scientific methods or even about C-05! I can't stand it!" Yoshimasa answered.

Yoshimasa slammed a fist down on the table, surprising his friend. It gave him an interesting idea. He checked around the lounge, he and Yoshimasa were alone, so he decided it was safe for him to speak.

"You mentioned you wanted that cat out of here, didn't you?" He asked.

"Um, yes I did. I don't want an innocent animal to be hurt anymore." Yoshimasa responded.

"Then how about I change up my coup? We work together, you free the cat and I free Melancholy." The blonde offered.

Yoshimasa stared at his friend. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sure, the mention of a coup was normal for his friend, but he never went too far in trying to get Yoshimasa to join him. Although, the thought of freeing C-05 was enough to get him considering it. He also never felt right about the treatment of Melancholy. He was just worried about the risk.

"What about my family? You have nothing to lose, but I have a family on the line. If things go bad we, and my family, could hunted down." Yoshimasa said.

"That's where you're wrong, my dear friend. The plan is to destroy C3 from the inside out. If we succeed, and we will, there will be no C3 to hunt us." He explained.

"But-... But that's not really what a coup d'etat is then. You illegally replace the leader, not destroy the governing body. Besides, it would practically destroy the town anyway. The Director and Vice Director are also the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, you know."

"Ask yourself this then, the cat, your family, and maybe a chance to be Deputy Mayor. Or, the cat and Melancholy continue to suffer, C3 gets away with their 'justifiable' crimes, and someone else takes all the glory for your work."

"Wait! Why do you get to be Mayor!?"

"Because I'd make a good face for the town and you'd get to make all the decisions. I trust your political guidance more than anyone else's around here. Plus laws are a bit different here than in Germany."

Yoshimasa sighed. He didn't really care anymore about anything else other than freeing C-05, and by extension Melancholy. He felt like he would regret it, but finally decided on a definitive answer.

"Alright, fine. I'll join you in your coup. But I have one condition."

"Of course! Name your condition, Yoshimasa!"

"We rescue C-05 first, then Melancholy. There's all kinds of security around him so once he's freed the base will go into a panic. Besides, who knows how he'll react to being freed in the first place. I would also recommend shutting off the base's security beforehand. You have access to that, don't you? It would make things a lot more risky at the start, but easier for us to get them out. It'll auto-unlock all the doors and make Melancholy's security much easier to get by."

"Sounds goods to me. I say we meet in the security room. Does tonight work?"

"...Yes, tonight is fine."

"Great! Then you worry about how to get that cat free and I'll take care of everything else."

Yoshimasa looked at his friend and nodded. He wasn't feeling great about their plan, but he was willing to go through with it for C-05. He had to make up for what he'd done to the cat. It was the least he could do. His friend stood up and patted Yoshimasa on the shoulder.

"Well, I have patrol duty I need to get to. Don't chicken out on me, you hear." He said.

"Yeah, I won't." Yoshimasa quietly replied.

As the blonde walked out of the lounge he got a sly smirk on his face.

Late at night in the lab, C-05 finally woke up. He found himself lying on the table and on top of the straps that had at one point been holding him down.

"Oh man… What happened? Where did Mother go? She was just here… wasn't she? Or… was that all a dream? It felt like I was in another world, but I guess it was just some dreamland. It was so realistic though."

C-05 stood up and shook his body. He felt so glad to be free from the table, but he wasn't sure how he got out of it. Last he could remember, Johannes was holding up some kind of sharp blade. After that he had a dream about playing in the forest with his mother, then he woke up. It was all so confusing to him, but everything had been confusing since he was kidnapped. He couldn't stay conscious for more than a few hours at a time either. At least he wasn't feeling as tired and dizzy as he had a few days ago. Yoshimasa was right, he would feel even better than ever after awhile. He felt like he had so much energy, like he could accomplish anything no matter what it was.

C-05 walked over to the edge of the table and jumped down. It took him a second to realize there was an odd feeling around his leg. He looked down to his front right paw. The tube was gone, but the gauze was still wrapped around his leg. It felt annoying, so with one clean swipe his claw cut through it and it fell off his leg.

"Huh. That was impossible to get off before."

Finally free of everything that was put on him, C-05 looked around the lab. Everything was sealed up. The door was locked and there weren't even any vents he could try crawling through. Still, he had to do something. He wouldn't make any progress just by sitting there. C-05 jumped down to the floor of the lab and went over to the door. It was the only way in and out of the room, so he'd have to open it somehow. He pressed his nose to the floor and sniffed underneath the door. He couldn't believe what he was smelling. It was like he picked up the scent of everything in the base. It was so much that it made him confused for a moment. He backed up from the door and sneezed. He shook his head and stuck his nose back under the door to sniff again. His ears perked up when he caught wind of Yoshimasa's scent. There was also another familiar scent. Touma's. They were currently somewhere in the base, but C-05 didn't know the layout of the base so he had no idea how to find Yoshimasa.

Something dawned on C-05. Why would he want to find Yoshimasa? Yoshimasa was the one who initially did something to him. What that was though, he wasn't sure. Still, he didn't care why, he just wanted to find Yoshimasa.

C-05 pawed at the door, but nothing happened. He shoved a paw underneath it and padded around on the floor. As far as he could tell there was nothing in front of the door. C-05 sat down. He didn't want to wait for Johannes to return and he didn't know how much time he had until that was. Inside the lab he had no concept of time. It was just bright, white walls to look at. He could've been here two days, or several weeks. He had no way of knowing.

A sudden clicking sound made C-05's ears perk up. The cat looked up at the door. He knew the sound came from the door, but he wasn't sure what it was about. He stared up at the handle. He knew how to open it from watching everyone come in and out of the room. C-05 backed up quite a bit and made a jump for the door handle. He caught it, but he couldn't get his paws to hang on properly so he wrapped his tail around the handle. Hanging onto it, he realized it wasn't moving down like it was supposed to. Apparently his body was a little too lightweight. He tried bouncing, which managed to wiggle the handle down enough for the door to be open, but it didn't budge at all. C-05 wasn't sure what to do now. On a whim, he tightened his tail's grip and let go of the handle. Hanging off of it, C-05 pushed himself away from the door, hoping to use the momentum to pull the door open enough for him to squeeze out of the room. It opened ever so slightly, but that wasn't enough. He pushed off again, but his tail lost its grip and he went flying to the ground, rolling several inches across the floor. He sat up and shook his head before turning around to the door. It opened a lot more than necessary, but he was still happy that he managed to open it.

C-05 ran up to the door and peeked his head out of the room. He had to make sure he wasn't spotted. He checked both sides of the hall, which looked empty. There were no people, so he deemed it safe to leave the room. He stuck his nose in the air and sniffed. He smelled Yoshimasa to the left, and nothing to the right. He didn't know the way out so he wasn't sure which way was the best one to take. He looked left, then looked right. Without looking back, C-05 stayed close to the wall as he went around the left corner.

Inside the security room, the door opened and Yoshimasa walked in to see his friend waiting for him. He noticed all the camera screens were black, telling him that the security system was offline.

"Are we ready to do this?" Yoshimasa asked.

"Of course. I've been ready. You need to make sure you're ready, though." His friend replied.

Yoshimasa sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Yes, I am."

"Good. Now let's start with that cat. You lead the way." He said.

Yoshimasa nodded and the two men left the security room. Yoshimasa, who was extra on edge, nervously checked the hall. No one was around, so they began walking down the hall. The silence between them was awkward. Yoshimasa was paranoid about being discovered while his friend seemed a bit more cheerful than what was normal for him. Yoshimasa simply took it as him being consumed in his obsession like usual.

"Once C-05 and Melancholy are free, what do you plan to do about destroying C3?" Yoshimasa inquired.

"My hopes are that I can speak to Melancholy and convince him to do most of the work. After all, I expect him to be mad enough at C3 and grateful enough to us that he'll go along with it." The blonde answered.

"But… what if he doesn't listen? What if he outright refuses an-and kills us on the spot… or something?" Yoshimasa wondered.

"Don't you worry about that. I know exactly what to do so that no harm comes to either of us." He responded.

Yoshimasa just looked at his friend. There was a calm, almost confident grin on the taller man's face. Considering the circumstances, Yoshimasa felt something was off about it. Still, he placed his faith in his friend and trusted that they would rescue C-05 and Melancholy and that the rest of the plan would go off without a hitch.

Across the base C-05 had his nose up, sniffing the air as he cautiously walked down the hall. He could tell that he was getting closer to Yoshimasa and Yoshimasa was getting closer to him. All he had to do was follow the human's scent and get there as fast as he could.

He came to an intersection and his ears perked up. There was a faint sound of fast footsteps, like someone was running. It was from around the corner that he needed to go. All the cat could do was back up far enough and hope that he wasn't spotted. The footsteps got louder until they were practically on top of him. He curled up into a ball against the wall to make himself smaller. He peeked up just in time to see a human run by. Possibly male, short, and with black hair. The human continued to run through the hall until the footsteps were barely audible again. C-05 took that as a sign he was safe and stood up to round the corner. He only made it a few feet down the hall when the footsteps came back.

"I fooooound you little kiiiitty~!"

C-05 froze and looked over his shoulder. It was the same human that passed him. He could easily see now that it was a boy with yellow eyes. Eyes that terrified the poor cat.

"I knew I sensed a Vibe moving around here! I hoped it was you and lo and behold… it waaaas~!" The boy cheered.

"Who… Who the hell is this kid? Something's clearly wrong with him… Something really wrong…"

Without a moment's hesitation, C-05 made a break for it down the hall. He didn't want to start a confrontation with the terrifying boy. As he expected, the boy began chasing after him. All he had to do was make it to Yoshimasa in time and hopefully he'd safe.

"Hey kitty! Here's some advice! If you're gonna play with me then you should know that you can hide, but you can't ruuuun! Haha!" The boy shouted out.

C-05 didn't understand what the boy meant, he didn't care either. His intentions weren't to play with the boy, only to escape. He could smell that Yoshimasa was very close by.

"Kiiiittyyy! Stop being so fast! I can't catch youuu!" The boy exclaimed.

"Did you hear that?" Yoshimasa asked.

"Hear what?" His friend questioned.

"It sounded like Tsurugi." Yoshimasa stated.

"I didn't hear anything. Tsurugi's not supposed to be over here anyway. Are you sure you aren't hearing things? You might just be paranoid." The blonde lied.

"No, no! I definitely heard Tsurugi! He has a very distinct voice." Yoshimasa told him.

"Kitty, kitty, kittyyyyy~!" Tsurugi called out.

C-05 continued to run away. He was afraid of what the boy would do to him if he got caught. He turned a corner and was overjoyed to see Yoshimasa down the hall. The two groups came into each other's view. Yoshimasa smiled upon seeing the cat. He was a bit confused on how C-05 was able to leave the lab by himself, but he didn't care, he was just glad to see that C-05 was still in one piece. Tsurugi slowed down a bit, feeling that his fun was ruined thanks to being spotted by two adults. He didn't care much for trying to play with the cat any longer. The blonde scowled at the sight of Tsurugi and reached a hand near his belt. A change of plans would have to be in order. C-05 continued to sprint towards Yoshimasa and the scientist threw his arms up, beginning to run to the cat with a smile on his face.

A sudden shot rang out, making everyone in the hall freeze. Tsurugi and C-05 stopped in their tracks, standing only several feet from the two adults. Yoshimasa collapsed to the ground and gripped onto his leg, which had a pool of blood beginning to flowing out around it. He looked over to his friend, who had his gun out and pointed at Yoshimasa.

"Wh-what the hell!? Did you j-just shoot me!?" Yoshimasa frantically shouted.

Without a word, he pointed the gun to Tsurugi.

"Say anything and I don't care what kind of privileges you have, you'll be next." He told the boy.

Tsurugi just snickered, clearly not intimidated. He quietly backed up and disappeared around the nearest corner, choosing not to get involved in what looked to be a matter that didn't concern him.

C-05 felt stuck. Like he couldn't move and had somehow become paralyzed. The sound startled him, then Yoshimasa collapsing startled him all over again.

"Answer me, damn it!" Yoshimasa aggressively shouted.

The blonde shoved his foot on Yoshimasa's back to hold his friend down. Yoshimasa let go off his leg and looked over his shoulder. The gun was now pointed at Yoshimasa's face. He saw a crazed smile on the taller man's face. It scared him enough that he forgot about the worsening pain in his leg.

"Move! Move, move, move! Do something! Anything! What's wrong with me!? I need to help him! Why can't I do it!?"

"You're going to be a martyr, Yoshimasa. Your sacrifice will mean so much to Melancholy once he's freed. I never intended for him to be released tonight. Nor do any of my intentions involve overthrowing C3. I may hate this company, but that's only because of what's been done to Melancholy. I need someone to look like the bad guy so I can play the hero. That way, when I do free Melancholy, I won't be suspected." He explained.

"Y-you traitor! You're supposed to be my closest friend! I have a son and daughter! A wife! A family! You'd really take me away from t-them… all because of some messed up obsession you have!?" Yoshimasa begged.

C-05 began frantically meowing, but his sounds fell on deaf ears.

"Stop it! Stop! Please! Don't hurt Yoshimasa!"

"It's not an obsession! You could never understand! All you do is pity them and feel bad for them! All that bogus crap! I, on the other hand, wish to serve Melancholy! This town belongs to him! He is the founder's son! He is the founder's rightful son! He deserves everything and I will be the one to give it all to him! You are nothing more than a sacrifice for him! So pay your due, Yoshimasa Tsuyuki!" He seemed joyfully excited as he yelled down at the man underneath his foot.

Yoshimasa looked up so he was looking at C-05. He and the cat looked into each other's eyes and in that moment Yoshimasa could tell that C-05 understood everything. There was real human emotion on the cat's face. Sadness, fear, anger. Tears. Yoshimasa just reached a hand out and smiled, but it was far too obvious that it was fake. It was meant to help C-05, but it only made the cat feel worse.

"I'm sorry-"

A second shot rang out and C-05 watched Yoshimasa's face freeze. His hand fell to the floor and his eyes stopped moving.

"Yoshimasaaaaa!"

C-05 had an image of his mother, lying motionless in the street, flash in his mind. It felt exactly the same, except this time he understood what happened. Yoshimasa wasn't going to come back. His mother wasn't going to come back. No one would come back. C-05 didn't want to sit off to the side and cry about it anymore. He was angry, enraged, vengeful. He hissed and charge at Yoshimasa's former friend before jumping at the man with his claws out.

Before he could react, C-05 sunk his claws into his face around right eye. The blonde fell backward and frantically tugged on C-05, trying to pull the cat off of his face.

"Get! Off! You damn! Dirty! Cat!" He shouted.

C-05 tried to bite down on his face and slashed claws deep and hard against his eye. Blood seeped from his wounds and stained not only his face, but also his hair and clothes. He screamed as he finally managed to rip C-05 from his face, throwing the cat down onto the ground. C-05 scrambled to his feet and hissed again, getting ready to jump once more. The blonde pointed his gun at the cat, firing several shots that missed thanks to his ruined eyesight. His last round managed to perfectly hit C-05 in the side of the head. The cat flew back from the force of the bullet and laid on the floor. He pulled the trigger on his gun again, but realized he was out of ammo. C-05 shakily got to his feet. He glanced at Yoshimasa's body before hissing at the other man and running off down the hall. It wouldn't do him any good to stay and fight. He just had to leave, even if it hurt to abandon Yoshimasa.

The blonde sighed and shoved his hand over his right eye. The pain was all he could think about. At least he managed to get the first part of his plan done, even if it didn't go smoothly. He moved himself back so he could lean against the wall, trying to steady his heavy breathing. He looked down at the body of his former friend.

"Anything… for Melancholy… It'll take some time… ah… but once we meet… he'll be grateful… and I'll-I'll serve him… as… my master…"

He felt his consciousness starting to fade and his vision blurred as he heard footsteps approach him. He looked up at them as they stopped in front of him. Another smaller person was behind them. He could just barely tell that it was Vice Director Touma and Tsurugi.

"What happened here?" Touma calmly questioned while looking at Yoshimasa's body.

"It was… was Dr. Tsuyuki. I saw him re-... release one of the experiment subjects, that cat, and it attacked me. He said he was going to… release Melancholy t-too! I didn't know of any other way to stop him, so I… I shot him. It wasn't my… m-my intention to kill him!" He lied, trying to fake sadness.

Tsurugi grabbed onto Touma's arm as he looked down at the body of his closest friend's father. Touma casually, but harshly pushed the boy back and Tsurugi fell over. Tsurugi sat there for a moment before crawling up to Yoshimasa. He made sure he stayed back enough so that the pool of blood around the body didn't touch him. Looking at it long enough made Tsurugi go wide eyed and he got a weird grin on his face as he started giggling. The boy gripped the sides of his head and his giggling turned into whimpering, then screaming.

"Be quiet, Tsurugi." Touma ordered.

Tsurugi couldn't hear Touma, so the Vice Director stepped over and smacked Tsurugi hard in the back of the head. The boy immediately shoved his hands over his mouth and fell silent.

"Leave if you're going to be like that." Touma demanded.

Tsurugi sprang to his feet and wobbled for a moment before running away as fast as he could.

"Pathetic boy can't even handle looking at a dead body yet." Touma muttered.

The blonde man chuckled.

"Where is the cat?" Touma asked.

"It ran off… I don't know where to. Probably anywhere it thinks it can escape…" He answered.

"We'll say the cat did it then. It'll take some work to cover up the bullet holes though. Either way, I suppose I'm obligated to tell you 'good job'... So, good job. If he really did plan to release Melancholy then who knows what kind of chain reaction that would have caused." Touma said.

"Heh. Yeah… Who knows…" The other man replied.

Touma's phone began ringing.

"I need to take this. Don't go anywhere." Touma ordered.

"I don't think I really can considering my eye injuries." He responded sarcastically.

"If it's really that bad then fine, go to the infirmary." Touma suggested.

"Oh, yeah, sure. I'll just get up… and stumble my way there… Ugh, I'm starting to think doing an actual coup would've been a good idea…" He mumbled as the Vice Director walked away to take the call.

Touma answered his phone and held it up to his ear. "Vice Director Touma speaking. Make it quick, I have problems to deal with."

"U-uh, Vice Director, Sir… We have an emergency at the entrance here…"

"...What kind of emergency?" He questioned.

"S-s-s-something… uh, broke through… the doors… We think it was a… um…"

"Out with it. I don't have all night." He ordered.

"We think it was a cat! Like, a kitten or something. No one could do anything. It carved a hole through the door with its claws like it was nothing!"

"Ugh… Leave it be for now. It's not top priority at the moment." Touma decided.

Without waiting for a response, he hung up his phone. He turned back around and could see that the blonde man was gone, a trail of blood droplets leading around another corner. Yoshimasa's lifeless body was the only thing left other than the copious amounts of blood everywhere.

Above ground, C-05 stumbled around in a back alley. He didn't know he'd been underground the entire time, however long that time was. His fur was covered in blood, most of it his, but not all. Although, he didn't have a single injury on his body. They all healed up. All that was left was the psychological and emotional injuries. Those couldn't exactly heal in a few minutes time.

He was so exhausted that he almost couldn't keep moving. Only one thing kept him going.

"Mother… Please still be there… I'll be back soon… I promise… Just give me… a little bit… longer…"

C-05 walked past a puddle. He stopped at it to get a drink. He wasn't sure when the last time he ate or drank was, so he was overjoyed to finally have some water. It dawned on him that since Yoshimasa 'changed' him, he hadn't felt hungry at all. Still, it felt nice to have something, anything. Satisfied, C-05 stepped into the puddle and rolled around in it. He wanted to get all the blood off of him. Getting himself fully wet, C-05 walked out of the puddle and shook his body to dry himself off. He felt much better from that, but he was still tired. He made his way out of the alley. It was night time. Other than there being no sign of a thunderstorm, it felt like no time had passed at all since he was taken. Everything was quiet and dead. C-05 sniffed the air and picked up the scent of his mother. That was all he needed to keep pushing himself. He slowly walked down the sidewalk of the town for a long time.

He was paranoid that C3 would find him any moment now and he'd be dragged back there. He'd be forced to accept Yoshimasa's death and possibly more torture from Johannes. Even Touma and the man who killed Yoshimasa as well. He couldn't do it, he couldn't go back. He had to make sure of it. He just had to make it back to his mother. He'd figure out what to do with his life from there.

His mother's scent became strong and stopped right near him. C-05 looked out into the road. There was a dried, dark red stain in the road. She was gone. Her scent didn't lead anywhere else so there's no way she got up and left. He understood that was impossible now. He simply laid down on the sidewalk, in the same spot he sat in during the thunderstorm, and tried to get some sleep.

The sounds of people and cars woke C-05 up. He opened his eyes and almost became blinded. It was daylight, something he hadn't seen in awhile. He didn't move, only his tail flicked up and down slightly. He wasn't sure what to do. If Yoshimasa was right, then he had all the time in the world to do absolutely nothing. It seemed pointless to C-05. With all the intelligence he gained he realized that if he couldn't die then everything was meaningless. He had no time limit to motivate him to do things before he died. Then again, whether he had a time limit or not, everything was still pointless without his mother.

Something obscured C-05's peripheral vision on his right side. It made him look over and up. A person was standing over him. It had to be C3. He knew his freedom was too good to be true. He wasn't going to fight it. There was nothing to fight for anymore in the first place. The person crouched down and C-05 got a better look at them.

It was a man with light blue hair and dead looking red eyes. There were dark circles under his eyes and two overly sharp teeth in his mouth. He wore a light blue jacket that had black fur around the hood and there were tattered coattails on it that faded to black. He had white pants and black boots.

C-05 and the man just stared at each other for the longest time, both of them having blank expressions on their faces. To both of them it felt like they were looking in a mirror. They could see more than just a physical resemblance. It was like the look in their eyes' were exact copies of each other. Like they both automatically understood every painful thing the other had been through, and there was so much of it. It was like full trust had been formed within a split second between the man and the cat.

"Hey there." The man said first, breaking the silence.

His voice was deep, but dull and devoid of all emotion. Like he was a zombie.

"My name is Sleepy Ash, but Ash works best." He introduced himself.

C-05 meowed as a response.

"I'm… No… I'm no one. I have no name."

"You have a cute meow. I like it. Can I pet you?" Ash inquired.

The cat meowed and nodded his head. Ash slowly reached a hand out and lightly placed it on the small cat's head. He gently ruffled the cat's fur. It was like heaven to both of them. The cat's fur was so soft and fluffy, while Ash's touch was kind and gentle.

"Are you all alone little guy? You look so young… It's not right for you to be away from your mother." Ash said.

The cat was silent.

"I bet that's a yes, huh? ...Man, Sis is probably gonna be pissed about this… Do you wanna come home with me?" Ash offered.

The cat looked at him in shock. He didn't think he could bring himself to be around any other humans, and yet this one felt different. Like he wasn't human. The cat meowed.

"I think I'd be okay with that."

"Are you… agreeing? Okay then, I'll bring you home." Ash said.

He picked up the cat and held him carefully, but tightly in his arms as he stood up. The cat felt comfortable, a feeling he couldn't quite remember until just now. Ash walked down the street in the direction his home was in.

Sleepy Ash felt happy to finally be bringing home a pet for the first time in his long life. It was a feeling he couldn't quite remember until just now.

Deep underground in the C3 base, Touma sat at his desk in his office. Tsurugi stood in front of him on the other side of the desk.

"Tell me, Tsurugi. Where is the cat now?" Touma questioned.

Tsurugi closed his eyes for a moment so he could concentrate. He picked up on numerous different moving Vibes in the town, but pushed them aside so he could find the one he was looking for. He finally found it along with seven other ones. Tsurugi finally opened his eyes and smiled.

"...The Ash residence."

---

Tsubaki doesn't even have to show up and he ruins everything...

Writing this actually made me appreciate Shamrock as a character. I didn't dislike him before, I just never saw him as important until he finally got some backstory in canon(which I never expected). Now I really like writing for him in this verse. I can't wait to find an excuse to bring him back in another Family!AU fic and ramp that Tsubaki obsession up to eleven! I already have a few ideas too~

I am, however, annoyed that I couldn't name him. His real name isn't Shamrock so it would've been weird if he was called that, but I don't know if his original name will ever be revealed... Oh well. Even if it does get revealed I don't think I'll go back and edit this fic just for that.