Chapter 1
Dreams are everything.
They are all we have in this life. They're the absolute manifestation of what embodies and encompasses every single waking day and restless night that we endure. They showcase our greatest hopes and house our deepest desires. They are everything.
There was someone important in my life that had a dream. It was a dream that I was willing to fulfill, even at the cost of my own life.
Trepidation and exhaustion were interlocked in a duel of supremacy for my heart. I had to create as much distance between us and them as possible.
Mottled smears plastered the sky in a muddled overcast of sludge that reflected the grimy entrenched streets below. The air was stagnant, visibly swamped over in an atmosphere overrun by the rancid fumes emitting from upwalker controlled contraptions and the dank waters of the sewers.
Though clearly enshrouded in the snare of night, the town and its streets were in a bustle, completely swarmed with the activity of upwalkers. Every few breaks in between any upwalker presence, a monster would come careening by sending out a burning haze of smoke that fouled the air, causing me to scrunch my nose up in disgust.
The smell was appalling.
I observed this all from my crouched position under the cover of a wooden display that the upwalkers would use on occasion for resting. It was the best hiding spot that I could currently muster up, what with the compromising position we were placed in. I had never held much favor for the smell and raucous of upwalker settlements, but tonight I was thankful.
I glanced to my side at the petite form of a pure white kit, staring wide eyed out at the moving scenery, the complete depiction of innocence and wonder. This was her first time setting foot into an upwalker settlement and seeing upwalkers and their controlled contraptions in person, her only piece of reference to them and this setting having come from stories I'd told her.
Looking at her, I felt a renewed sense of determination to protect her with every fiber of my being.
My eyes anxiously scoured across the calloused path. We weren't safe yet. Not by a long shot. I had stopped only briefly to allow Yuki a moment to rest after so much traveling, but now it was time to go. There was no telling how far they were.
I couldn't afford to have them catching up with us. This settlement was big, infested with upwalkers, monsters, and several distracting smells, making it a prime dwelling to hide out, but the ones tailing after us wouldn't be deceived so easily by this place. They had been specifically trained for situations just as this.
After having made it so far I couldn't risk failing now. If I wanted to protect Yuki, I would have to move now. I bent over and quietly nudged Yuki in her side, whispering softly that it was time to go. "Just a bit more and we'll rest for the night, I promise."
She glanced up from her enamored viewing of the upwalkers and slightly nodded, shooting me a small doting smile in the process. Out of an established habit, I returned the smile back, hoping with every fiber of my being that she failed to notice the strained quality of it.
Yuki had to think everything was fine. There was absolutely no reason for her to know that we were currently being chased and hunted down by cats with the sole intention of killing me the moment they found us.
We had to get moving now.
Waiting for a break in the flow of activity, I slid from under the wooden cover, pausing for Yuki, and then quickly ushering her across the street.
The ground beneath my paws was rough. I traveled at a brisk pace, visibly wincing as gravel painfully dug into my raw pads, while simultaneously darting back and forth behind me every few seconds as I and Yuki safely made it to the other side of the street. The paranoia of someone just out of the vicinity of my eyesight had grown increasingly worser as the night progressed, actually starting now to override my own senses.
Though I refused to physically make Yuki aware of it, I had been slowly losing myself little by little with the three days straight of no sleep. My body was racked with fatigue, eyes bleary and weak, as shadows had started to bleed from the corners of my mind, the rational and irrational parts of my psyche jostling for control over my judgment.
As much as it hurt to say, as the words seared themselves across the inside of my skin, I knew there was no way I'd be able to sustain myself much further if I continued down the path with this course of action. There was absolutely no way I could afford to let that happen though. The stakes were too high.
Instead I swallowed my misgivings, hardening my outer shell and resuming a mask of exuberance for Yuki's sake. I had to get her to safety. No matter the cost, I'd do it!
The reason for having darted to this side of the street was the sight of an alley I'd spotted from our previous position. The dim, unwelcoming nature of it was enough to usually steer me clear away from places like it, but this time I was held under special circumstances. It wasn't me I was worrying about.
"We'll head in here and see if we can find a spot to sleep." I told Yuki, making sure to keep my voice bright and cheery to lighten any misgivings she might be having herself about entering such a dark and scary place.
Thankfully, my worry happened to be misplaced as Yuki turned to look up to me with that same fond smile of her, nothing but trust in her eyes for me.
"Okay," she squeaked sweetly.
"Stay close by me," I reminded, as I took a deep breath and then edged into the stark dank aroma of the alley.
The only thing discernible in the darkness was the presence of filth staining the walls and drip of water leaking from a drainpipe as we traversed the cold wet ground. My eyesight wavered for a moment. The shadows had shifted again, images emerging and dissipating slowly in and out of my gaze like a fleeting cloud. I inhaled sharply to recompose myself and moved on.
Almost immediately, I was starting to regret my decision of choosing such an enclosed space to hide away in. The further the two of us delved into the alleyway, the more sinister and foreboding it became. I had to be losing it if I was able to so easily lead Yuki into a borderline trap.
I halted then, feeling a pulse like wave of pressure emit from the walls on either side of us. It felt as though they were pounding down on my eardrums, sending a tremor throughout my body that caused my teeth to clack together.
The vibes of this place were too much for me to bear. It wasn't safe here. I had to take Yuki somewhere else that didn't run such a high risk. The second I opened my mouth to recommend we head elsewhere was the moment everything went wrong.
A familiar odor hit my nostrils and my hackles instantly rose. I whipped around, immediately pitting myself between Yuki and the arrival of a duo of cats at the opening we'd entered through. The anxious glint in their eyes was affirmation that they'd successfully tracked me down. They intended to take Yuki here and now if I didn't do something about it.
Without a word, the duo sunk their bodies down into hunting crouches and began to inch closer towards us, which instinctively caused me to retreat back. What was I doing? The two of us were being threatened right now and the only thing I could do was cower back in fear? That wasn't the sign of a protector, the motive of a hero.
With every drip of the cracked pipe they inched another paw closer, their muscles visibly tensed as they made to pounce at any moment. I stood there completely helpless; my mind racing for some fast out of this situation, but none came. Time was running out and the other option I had left was to tell Yuki to flee while I made some last ditch effort to draw their attention away.
It was downright ridiculous, but I couldn't allow them to get her. Not now, not ever. Suddenly my eyesight went dark, and for one frightful moment I feared the cats had attacked me. It was until a heartbeat later that I realized a young tom had just materialized from the depths of the wall beside me.
He was a slovenly, gruff figure with obsidian fur that for some reason was caked over in mud. Ignoring us entirely, he shouldered his way in front of me and faced off with the cats before snarling out, "Come near here again and I'll kill you."
The duo hissed at him in challenge, but he merely stared back. Just stared. The two suddenly cast uncertain looks in each other's direction, and in that instant they realized that he meant it, and slunk away.
I don't think there was a cat I simultaneously admired and envied more than the obsidian tom in that moment. Those cats had known at once that he would do what he said. I feared that if it had been me, they would have put my word to the test, and I would have failed.
The daring glare in his eye, the bold declaration, he was everything that I craved to be and more. And all that I dreaded I wasn't.
However, it was when he turned around that I noticed the twinkle in his eyes as he then smugly proclaimed, "What a bunch of bird brains. They actually bought that act." And in that instant the illusion was shattered.
Gone was the heroism, the daring glare, as well as all my admiration and envy of him. It all shriveled up at the sight of that cheeky grin. I stared at him completely dumbfounded trying to figure out how I could have so poorly mistaken him for anything other than a fraud.
The more I studied his body language and the languid, casual way in which he held himself, the more at odds I was with myself for thinking anyone would've taken him seriously as a killer.
"It isn't safe to roam these streets at night, you know? He stated quite cockily, puffing his chest out like some sort of big shot. His eyes swiveled behind me. "Especially not when someone as young as her is with you."
Instinctively, I placed Yuki further behind me and glared defensively at the obsidian cat. Whether or not he'd just saved us, I couldn't be sure of his true motives, especially after an act like the performance he had just put on.
"Hi!" With a shock I realized that Yuki was no longer behind me, instead now directly in front of the tom muddy tom. She peered up into his face with zero hesitation or fear, smiling widely under the amused gaze of the tom.
"Well, hey there!" he replied back, returning the smile. "What are the two of you doing roaming this alley in the middle of the night?"
Just like that, with little to no effort, she had struck up a conversation with this complete stranger.
"I'm on an adventure with my brother!" she declared enthusiastically while motioning towards me.
"Is that so?" He laughed lightly in the face of her exuberant amount of energy.
"Yeah, he helped abduct me from home," she replied cheerily.
My face froze and the tom's laugh suddenly became a strangled guttural that twisted into a chocking noise that emitted from his throat. His bulging eyes latched onto me.
"Abduct! Hey, I don't know what kind of creep you are, stealing defenseless kits away in the night, but now I'm starting to regret not letting those cats beat you to a pulp."
I groaned in exasperation. Why had Yuki said that?
"It isn't like that!" I argued. "Or at least, not in the way that it sounds."
"In what other way could it sound? She said you abducted her from home, you dirty kitten thief! Are you even her brother?"
"Of course I am!" I responded hotly. "I wouldn't lie about something like that. I- oh no."
"What do you mean, 'oh no'?" the tom asked, sounding annoyed before turning around to follow where my gaze went. He turned to the entrance of the alley where a patrol of six or more glowering cats stood, the whites of their fangs glinting in the dark.
The two cats from before hadn't been scared off after all. They had just gone to fetch reinforcements.
"…oh," he uttered after a momentary pause. "Well, now. That's unfortunate."
We really were cornered now. There would be no timely rescue from oblivion a second time around. The sight of the force they were willing to amass and employ just to get Yuki back was poof enough. And to think there were probably more of them lurking around just out of sight.
A hollow feeling resided itself in my stomach. So close. I had gotten so far already only to be stopped at such an inopportune moment. And it was my entire fault. I chose to come to this town. I chose to come into this alley. I had gotten us captured. I-
"There's a small hole just underneath this wall," the tom whispered to me. He spoke rapidly and without pause, his eyes never leaving the patrol for an instance. "The two of us won't have time to fit through it, but your sister can. They can't see her from here, not while I'm covering her body like this. Tell her to follow it all the way through and she'll be safe."
My mouth hung open, staring at him in open shock. Was he actually serious?
"What about us?" I whispered back, glancing at the patrol as well.
His eyes left the patrol for the slightest of moments and we briefly locked sight. That bold look determination from before was gone. He seemed to realize his fake bravado wouldn't save us here and did nothing to hide it. The answer was clear as day.
I kept my voice light and easy as I softly spoke into Yuki's ear about what I wanted her to do. I was gentle but firm in my instructions that she not stop, nor come back for me. Follow the hole all the way through, I had said. I'll be waiting-I meant to finish with, at the exit, but my tongue curled up over the words at the last second.
She glanced up into my face and I gave the tiniest smile I could muster up. It was completely forced, but if she noticed the direness of it in that moment she chose not to comment.
"Okay."
Such a simple response, but one that filled me with immense relief the instant I saw her entire white form disappear without a trace, seemingly into the wall. It was so dark in the alley that unless you knew there was a hole there it'd look as though you had just phased into the wall.
With Yuki now gone all that remained in the alley was me and the obsidian tom with the group of cats staring us down. I was surprised that hadn't as of yet just rushed us from the start. Maybe they were waiting on us to make the first move so they could react accordingly.
"So what's these guys deal?" the tom suddenly asked me, his eyes still trained on the group of cats.
"They want me dead," I replied simply.
"I know that. I meant why? It wouldn't have anything to do with that kit you stole, would it?"
"I already told you it isn't like that."
"They don't seem to think so. They're mad enough to kill me as well and I'm not even a part of this."
"Then you should have thought of that before you decided to involve yourself!" I snapped back. "No one asked for your help anyway."
He glared at me. "Hey, you weren't complaining a few moments ago when I was saving your hide. So how about you show some humility."
"Look," I said pointedly, "arguing isn't going to get either of us out of this mess, so how's about we focus on escaping before anything else."
"By all means then, beguile me with your extraordinary plan to aid in our survival, oh wise one."
That was easier said than done. I had a hard enough time focusing due to sheer exhaustion which only seemed to amplify in the face of absolute death. And the drip of that drainpipe wasn't helping. The obsidian tom glanced my way, catching the wide eyed look on my face.
"You got something?"
Possibly.
"That drainpipe, where is it?"
He caught on instantly. "Back of the alley."
It'd be close. Too close, but we may just be able to make it.
"Can we climb it?"
"Worth a shot."
Better than an outright no, I suppose.
Simultaneously, without a word to the other, we bolted. A barrage of pounding pawsteps responded without pause. Everything I had, all my want and desire to live on, zoned in on the drainpipe. It lead to the very top of a upwalker structure, but what we'd do once and if we made it up there was as good as anyone's guess.
The obsidian tom made it first and scaled up the drain with the agility of a squirrel. I was mere hairs of a whisker behind him. The group was only a few pawsteps away just as we slid onto the top.
They would be on us in seconds. As I scanned for any logical way out, the obsidian tom took one glance ahead of us and turned to me.
"Do you trust me?"
"No!"
"Good!"
He shot forward and I followed suit just behind without questioning what he was planning. I watched as he opened his stride up into big, loping bounds as we approached the edge of the structure. He wasn't serious?
"Jump!"
Of course he was.
The ground disappeared from beneath our paws as we soared through the air. It was until the moment we were actually airborne that I saw what he had been going. There was a similar structure quite a distance away that he had taken a chance on us landing. He was partially right.
I guess those three days without sleep had finally caught up to me. The tom landed a safe distance on the other structure while I barely managed to grip the edge. I slammed heavily into it, knocking the air straight out of my lungs. Almost immediately my body began to slide backwards off it into the darkness.
Moments later, a dark shape shot out and latched onto the scruff of my neck, halting my fall. The obsidian tom's paws scrambled at the end of the edge for some sort of gripe as he struggled to keep the both of us up. From the way things were headed he wouldn't be able to keep up.
Something had to give.
"You have to promise me something," I said exhausted. My sister Yuki, she has a dream. Something she wants more than anything in this world. You have to be the one to fulfill it for me now."
There was a cry of shock that echoed from the tom as I saw his eyes become panicked. He realized what I was saying. Good. He was extremely perceptive, something that he'd need if he was going to look after Yuki from now on.
"My sister's special. I mean really special. You have to take good care of her and get her to the place that smells of sunflowers. It's about a three day walk from here if you rest properly in between. It's impossible to miss. There's no other place in the world like it."
There wasn't much time left I could feel the muscles in his jaw loosening. How frustrating! There was still so much else I needed to tell him, so much that he didn't know.
"Protect her," I rasped, feeling myself begin to slip. "And let her know that I love her, that I'm sor- that I'm going to be a little late meeting up with you guys." My heart skipped for the fleetest of moments. "Lastly, make sure she knows she's just like the rest of us." I looked up into his face and smiled. "You'll probably understand what I mean soon enough."
The last thing I saw as I fell were his grief stricken eyes as I plunged into the abyss below.
A/N: This is part one of a two part one-shot. The second part of which will be completed in the coming days. Be on the lookout for it if you wish to know how this all ends.