A/N: Finally got chapter one planned out. :) Hopefully, you all will like it. Sorry this didn't come sooner, but I have a whole list of excuses! One, there was school. Two, Community theatre. Three, more school. Four, I'm lazy, Five, not really in the mood to write. Six, I kind of wanted to overuse commas in that last excuse. ;) But now I am back, and I'm going to commit to this last chapter, again, a thousand apologies for being about three months late with it. Hope you all enjoy the thrilling conclusion of Zelaphelia's story!

~^..^~

Nothing stirred near the peaceful docks of Le Havre. The day was regular; clear. Sailors would predict no omen of storm or harassing pirates for a good few days.

It wasn't unusual to see a good number of boats surrounding Le Havre's marina. They all sat huddled together, rhythmically bouncing up and down as quiet waves tumble beneath them, and striving for the shoreline. As it was expected of early summer, every vessel was pleasantly waiting with a warm sun and cool winds. In the common eye, or a feline on holiday, Le Havre's coast was practically a paradise.

Orion knew better. According to his mother, he had lived in Le Havre all his life. She took him to see each site repetitiously. He knew the city inside and out, even the parts his mother misguided him from seeing. Yet in a place known so well, who wouldn't go searching for the troubles and legends? And even so, at the youthful age of a year and a half, an ignorant tomkit knew his environment better than his own mother. And he was only happy to point it out. Anyone of his friends could realize his arrogance. But Orion's pride in himself made up for not hanging around many of his friends. That didn't make the days any less boring.

Today seemed different though. There were larger boats docked at Le Havre's shore. Yachts and small schooners. Usually that meant there were British or American tourists arriving. But no one was getting off the boats. They would have gone before noon and it was about eleven o'clock right now.

Curious, Orion almost wondered if he should see if it was coming in or coming out. However, he had more important things to do. If he didn't get back home with food, they wouldn't be able to pay the full rent this month. His mother lived with an old blind queen and her litter of kits. Next to a non-active ferry slip, there was a tugboat that had washed up next to the shoreline. No human ever bothered cleaning up the wreckage, so the small family of cats took over. Yet when Orion's mother came to Le Havre, the rent was half of the food she found.

The kit had understood this to be a fair trade; at least that didn't mean he had to give up half of his hunt, thankfully. But even his mother got into spots of trouble where food was scarce. He had to take over for her as the tom in their family, though mum was too proud to admit that.

Padding past the beach and all of the bright streets of Le Havre, all the people made Orion think that there might not be that many mice in the usual places. Thus, making his job ten times harder!

"Hey, 'Rion!" The dark colored kit's ears flattened at the high pitched noise of his best friend. She was pretty loud, but also kind of… pretty… for a queen, anyway.

He slowly turned over to face the white and yellow calico. "…Hey, Shilly… What's going on?"

"Well, I thought you were going to meet Ghaston, Elletri, and Tzippor at the bay today for a swim! Tzippor didn't believe you could swim, since you've never been in the water before, but I'm sure he's wrong… right?"

Orion made a face, angered enough that he felt like punching Tzipp for messing up his reputation. "Oh, he's wrong. And you can tell him I'll be there in the water before he even gets his claws wet! … I just have to get some grub first, though…"

"Oh, okay… can I come with you?" Shilly gave him a mischievous smile, not even waiting for an answer. The next thing Orion realized, he was walking around to the street market with one of his best friends.

Shilly was a very fun queen; if not a little devious at times. She came from an Irish background, and was actually one of Orion's only friends that spoke good English. Her bright eyes always shouted her mood, which never mouthed sour. And Orion knew for a fact that she had a crush on him. Of course, any queen his age would feel the same the second they saw him, but Shilly didn't expose it very well, which was why he didn't find her that attractive. Still, she was nice and clever, and that's what made her his best friend.

The queen kit looked at him with a bright smile, "So, what should we get for lunch today? Don't tell me you're hunting for birds because you're not very good at it."

Orion made a face, as he darted into the road with her. "I'm an excellent bird hunter. Those stupid birds just move around too much, so I don't waste my time."

The yellow-white queen laughed and simply shrugged. "Sure, Orion. Whatever you say. So, what are we looking for?"

"Food, obviously." Orion smirked at her. By the look on her face, he wanted her to be serious. "…We're going to get something from the market." He muttered, wishing she could take sarcasm.

Shilly stared at him in disbelief. "You do realize if a human catches you, they'll cut off your tail, right?"

"You're paranoid, Shilly!" He grumbled, giving her a light nudge on the shoulder. "Market food is the good stuff. And my mother needs the rent this month, so I'm helping her out."

"Okay, I know your mother, and she'll kill you if she finds out you took something from the venders."

Orion rolled his eyes, "What Ma doesn't know won't hurt her. I'll just tell her I noticed it fall off a fresh dump from the trash can and took a claim of it. Simple as that!"

Shilly smirked at him. "Fine. Just don't come crying to me if your tail is severed from your body."

"Whatever, Shilly…" Suppressing a hiss at her, Orion quietly stayed near the gutter of the street, peering around at the food venders calling out for purchases. Nothing was very good anyway, just a bunch of fruit and home-grown vegetables. It was like a cat couldn't find a decent meal!

However, he soon feasted his eyes upon one of the most delectable morsels in this silly fishing village; Trout caught from the Channel. They had this put in the market maybe once or twice a month. And he knew getting a couple in his claws would settle rent for maybe a few months.

Orion crouched down, heading toward the crowd of humans. "Stay here, Shill." He mumbled, trying to look discreet as he ran through the streams of legs.

It was unusual to be able to get through the market so easily. No one seemed to like cats in this town. But today, the only threat Orion received was a slight push from a heavy shopping bag. Nothing that he couldn't handle. In a moment, the young tom reached the large vending table where trout was neatly piled; their heads, fins, skin, and probably bones, removed.

Orion licked his lips as he padded close to one of the legs of the table. He was glad it was one of those fold-out tables and not one of those wooden ones like the older fishers in the village. This probably meant it was better merchandise! Orion spared a glance at the portly gentlemen running the stand. He had an abnormally large backside covered in a leather jacket. He faced another customer, his grubby hand scratching under his hat, probably attempting to count the amount of money in his hands. Stupid human.

The calico tomkit rolled his eyes and quickly distracted his appetite with the trout. At least they were organized by size, but the weight was more worrisome. Picking a few of the fish from the middle of the pile, Orion checked back to be sure he wasn't being watched. He grinned, quickly putting a few in his mouth and jumped off the table.

But right before he was about to walk away, he heard a shout behind him. "Chat stupide! Revenez ici avec mon poisson!"

Orion looked back for a fraction of a second, witnessing the obese fisherman try to get around his table. Well, it would be just embarrassing to get caught by a big human! Without a second though, Orion took off, smaller fish dropping from his mouth as he did.

He made an alerted growl at Shilly to run when he had finally gotten to her, his pursuer surprisingly not far away. "Mmmurrrr!" he shouted, flicking Shilly with his tail before continuing to run.

Shilly squeaked, the situation becoming clear to her. Before Orion realized it, she was the one ahead of him. "Hurry up!" She shrieked, crossing into an alley.

It reduced Orion to think how lucky they had gotten. The human being so slow and unfit, it was almost too easy to outmaneuver him. Both kits stopped behind trashcans at the corner, watching the man pass them. Orion shook his head in disbelief, but not looking at all surprised. "Too bad we didn't have a closer hiding spot… I could have stolen more fish by now…"

~^..^~

Their habitat was small and fusty. A shipwrecked tugboat off the coast of the English Channel had little space to give, which was why Lacote found this to be a generous offer. Zelaphelia had not complained.

Two years ago, a boat ride forced her anxieties to surface and was certain to drown her and drag her down to the depths of the ocean floor. There was so much risk to running away, but there was no way she was going to her family with this secret; one that she had to protect with all capabilities. A kitten was not something that would be taken lightly; not a henchcat's son.

When she first sensed he was inside of her, the stirring frightened her. How was she to do this on her own? How could she be a mother? Yet a few months later, she had given birth to one kit; a healthy boy wriggling beneath starlight; the inspiration for his name. Holding him in his arms dissolved her fear and self-skepticism. He was a living being that she had created, and would raise and nurse for days that grew steadily into two full years.

Orion's kittenish curiosity blossomed to cautious arrogance; a personality that placed him respectfully aware of his surroundings and of others, yet gave him confidence to grow plentifully in his environment. Perhaps a poor allowance on her part. He was so invigorated with life, though. He embraced every opportunity and explored new territory, piece by piece. Zela could not have asked for a better son; granted he had his flaws. One most abundantly, trouble never stopped following him.

The young tom came in, carrying a small load of mangled fish in his arms and inside his mouth. Zela tiredly smiled at her son, wondering how he had gotten so little time for fishing this morning, and still had so much to show for it. Orion padded into the den, placing the largest fish in a doorway. "And there's the payment for Lacote!" he announced proudly.

Zelaphelia fell silent for a moment, the amount of impress shown in her raised brow. This was not met without concern, however, and Zela knew her son would despise the criticism. "…You went fishing for all of this?" she asked, grinning as he set a fish in front of her.

"Of course, Mum." He said, grinning back at her proudly. His mimicry was always a sign of high self-esteem.

Zela grinned, "Pretty clean just after being swiped from the ocean this morning…"

Orion blinked, instantly seeing through his mother's "innocent" observation. One trait most noticeable in her son was his keen ability to decipher. But with youth, at least she was able to do the same thing. Orion grinned widely at his mother, as only a silent way of patronizing. "Good hunting grounds." He said simply, beginning to rip off the fish meat with his teeth.

There was no response she could give that wouldn't be condescending to him. "Grounds, love?" She smirked lightly, "Don't you mean waters?"

Orion looked at her, grinning innocently, though he knew internally that his mother knew. "Well… yeah, that's what I meant…"

Zela's smirk finally dropped, less amused now that she knew what her son had done. She sighed roughly and sat in front of him with a stern expression. "Orion, I've told you how bad it is to steal, haven't I?"

Orion gave a steely grunt, standing up as he dragged his fish to the other side of the den. "Ma, we needed the food for rent! And hunting takes too long anyway. Quit complaining…"

Zela glared and stalked over to her son, forcing him to look at her. "Ne me parle pas de cette façon, jeune chaton!" Her fiery French normally crossed her son as fierce and violent, so Orion simply looked down.

"Desole, Mama…" he grumbled begrudgingly. "…I just wanted to help."

"This isn't the right way to help." Zela sighed, giving him a comforting nuzzle so he knew she wasn't mad at him. Orion just didn't have the right kind of morals. Personally, she blamed the kind of kits he was always with. Those kits that lived on the street, where stealing was the only way to survive. Heavyside knew she never taught him to do that. "Love, if you can't catch the rent, I will always be here to help you."

Though this was the best intentions, Orion glared at his dinner and pushed it away. "I don't need your help, Ma. I can catch anything I want! It's just boring…"

She sighed roughly, taking the fish from the floor and licking the skin clean. "I know it's boring. But I can't stand it when you steal. And you know Lacote hates it too. If she finds out they were stolen, she'll kick us out. You have to know how risky it is to steal from humans. There's more at stake than a ride to the pound."

Orion sat silently for a moment, looking absentminded, yet fairly irritated. Lacote and Orion didn't very much see eye to eye. The old queen found Orion impertinent. He found her as outdated. On too many occasions, Orion had gotten close to getting himself and his mother evicted from the tugboat home. Zela was not about to let this be the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Don't steal anymore, Orion. Your friends might think it's right, but I don't want us to end up on the streets…"

"…Sometimes, the streets look better than this stupid boat…"

Zela gazed at her son, sighing roughly. "Orion, when I was your age, I would have given anything to have a home like this. I never found any place permanent. So be thankful that you do."

Orion nodded softly, though he completely disagreed. She smiled softly and hugged her young son close to her. "… I love you, my little Orio." She purred.

The little tom fussed in retaliation, squirming out of his mother's paw. "Yeah, yeah, love you too… You're messing up my fur, Ma!" He jumped out, giving her a stiff, short nuzzle before padding back to the door. "I'm going to go for a walk!" he said quickly, smiling his large, child-like smile before quickly running out; "Bye, Mum!"

As the boy disappeared from sight, Zela sighed and pushed the fish away. It was like he would never learn. He always said the same things and had no change in his behavior. As if all of her teachings to her son had gone to waste. The red-gold queen, semi-content with how their conversation went and not at all concerned for where ever her son was going, started on eating her trout.

She didn't have much time to ponder and eat at the same time. In only a few minutes, a white kitten jumped inside with speckles of brown splattered over his face. He smiled innocently and gave Zela a nuzzle on her arm, "Hi!"

Zela smiled lightly at the kitten, "Hi, Yule."

Yule smiled, padding over the larger fish that sufficed as rent. "Is this for me?" he asked hopefully.

Zela grinned, continuing to eat, "And your siblings."

Yule stared at her, looking confused, "What are 'siblings'?"

"…Your brothers and sisters, Yule." Zela chuckled and watched the kitten for a moment, "Where are they, anyway?"

"With Mummy!" he replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh, where's Mummy?" The gold-red queen grinned, wondering herself where Lacote was. "Still on a walk?" If one of her kits already made it back, then Lacote wasn't far behind.

"Uh huh!" Yule started chewing at the tail of the trout, and looking like he was enjoying it. Zela smiled warmly at the kit, about to continue questioning the kit until a low, yet recognizably feminine voice came coughing at the door. "Yule… Don't bother Zela. Go eat somewhere else, okay?"

The kitten blinked, before grabbing his small trout and scampering to another part of the boat. Zela chuckled as she sat down, continuing to eat by herself. "He wasn't causing any harm, Lacote."

The old queen entered inside, her other three kits following behind her to devour one of the freshly caught fish. "Bah, it's what's wrong with youth these days, dear. They have no discipline. Our only advantage is that there it is never too young to learn good manners."

It would be easy to determine that Lacote was once very lovely and petite in her young age. She had one blue eye and one green with a coat that had once been snow white, but had grown grey and unkempt as time had passed. She was an exceptionally neat queen, but kept her looks messy and unattended, as she had raised so many kits. Late at night when her younger kits were asleep, she had taken to tell Zela raunchy stories of her numerous lovers and the intimate details of her life before motherhood had completely overtaken her. She claimed that the litter she was currently raising would be her last, as she had several litters to follow in her legacy.

Zela enjoyed the old queen's company, but found her traditional ways slightly hypocritical. She was a structured queen, and disliked the riff-raff that roamed the streets of Le Havre. But with such wild stories of her youth, Zela found her judgment of the teenaged cats, particularly her son, unsettling and rude. But Zela had not gotten the courage to make this obvious; instead, she calmly ignored her landlady's hypocrisy and merely coexisted while they raised each of their litters.

Zela chuckled quietly as she continued with her lunch. "My son brought home our rent this week." She gestured toward the fish that her kits were mangling to bones.

"Ah… I see." Lacote nodded as she sat down beside Zela, carefully watching the kits. "How very nice of him… Didn't get it from that gang he's been hanging around with, hm?" The old queen gruffly raised her eyebrow.

Zela rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Orion isn't around those types of cats."

Lacote simply tutted, "So naïve. Zela, where else would he go each day? To be with gang cats that you don't know. If you were smart, you'd follow him around more. He might end up being a 'nipper if you're not careful!"

Zela snorted, "I don't think I need to worry about that. He wouldn't be so stupid."

"They never seem like that at first. But unless you keep them under close surveillance at this adolescent age, then they'll be a hundred miles away from you!"

"…How observant, Lacote." She muttered. Zela knew she should appreciate the advice from such a worldly queen, but she was confident her way of raising Orion was a better way to take care of her child. Lacote didn't know where half of her litters were now; there had to be some factoring difference in how they raised their kits. "I will take care of my kit, thanks."

Lacote made a face, quietly standing up and taking Zela by the paw. "Follow me." She muttered, her tone being one Zela had heard before; it was a voice that made her lose all confidence in her opinions.

The old queen led her outside of the tugboat, pointing up ahead to a group of cats by the beach, some being summoned out of the water by a their leader; other lounging by the beach. Among them, was a dark calico tomkit, slowly making his way to the busy docks. "See that?" Lacote huffed, watching the kit with particular disdain. "It's call initiation… Better go before your kit ends up drowned in the ocean."

Zela stared out by the ocean's white lining, gathering the betraying sight of her son walking toward the boats; an area he knew was off-limits to him. Perhaps investing in Lacote's parenting methods would not be too much a mistake…

~^..^~

Dares were no stranger to Orion. There was a reason for this, of course. For one thing, he liked the risks; the adrenaline that fueled his veins and sped his heart-rate. For another, the small gang of adolescents was watching, and the tomkit planned to impress every one of them; especially Shilly. She was his best friend, after all, and probably the only one that had faith that he could travel across the humans' docks, hop on one of the boats, then jump off and swim back to the group.

Not only would he get the group's approval, Orion was positive that it would grab Shilly's attention of him. He worried sometimes that she would go for a tom like Tzippor when they got older, and Orion simply refused to let that happen. He smiled lightly back at Shilly, who was looking at him with encouragement, but also flashes of sadness and concern. Now excited to complete the dare, Orion quickly sneaked up to the human's docks.

He frowned, finding the area an uninteresting challenge. It was too easy to get through the docks. He could pick any boat and have minimal difficulty getting by any sailor. He smirked confidently, walking across in the summer sun with a casual saunter. A few humans actually passed by him without giving any notice. This only boosted his confidence even more. So much so, he looked back at the group of kittens to see if they were still watching him.

From a far off distance, he saw them all staring up at the docks. However, his smirk disappeared when he saw Shilly talking to an adult queen; to his dismay, it was recognizably his mother. Mentally, he cursed, now more quickly choosing a boat he could jump out of his. His newest plan was simple: swim to shore, and then make a run for it.

He looked back at the shore to see how close his mum was getting, and the panic rose in him as he saw she was already running up to the docks, searching for him fervently and with a look of pure anger. "Uh oh…" Orion bit his lip, looking around again before seeing a few humans pulling ropes from one of the boats. Yes, that was perfect! It was about to sail off! His mother would never see him jump off and swim to shore, then he could wait a few hours to dry off, and then act as though nothing had happened!

Excited with this new deception he had in mind, Orion scampered off to the boat a few passengers quickly hoping on. He hadn't realized it was a ferry ship, but it would still work that way. As he thought idly, Orion had taken no mind to the crates of animals that were being loaded a cargo ship. He accidentally bumped one of the cages with his shoulders, causing a group of hens to cluck like mad women.

Orion jumped a foot in the air, looking around to see if his mother had seen or heard this. He frowned, his ears flattening in kittenish fear as he saw his mother's eyes meet his. She formed a glare, quickly stalking over to him. He couldn't hear her over the clucking chickens, but he saw her mouth forming the pronunciation of his name, her expression growing more terrifying with each step she took. Orion remembered this look when he was much younger. It was the look that alarmed him to upcoming punishment. He wasn't about ready to face her in such a frightening state, so as quickly as he could, Orion jumped onto the back of the ferry ship.

Upon seeing this, his mother started sprinting her way to the ship. Her scary voice was now much clearer, "Orion! Get off that boat right now!"

He was half considering following her drill sergeant orders, but he didn't want to look like a Mumma's boy in front of Shilly and the rest of the gang! What would they think of him? He'd be shamed for good! "Mum-"

His explanation was quickly stifled as the ferry started to move. Orion's claws dug into the floors, but he looked up at his mother to see what she was doing. To his surprise, she was no longer on the dock. Nowhere in sight of the Marina "Mu-Mum?" he breathed, quietly confused.

"You are in so much trouble, young tom." Orion's ears flattened at the sound of his mother's voice behind him. He yelped, quickly turning around to face his mother.

He sheepishly grinned at her, trying to at least act innocent. Of course, by the scowl visible on her face, she wasn't going to fall for that. "Mum… I… I…"

"Not a word. We're swimming to shore, then we're going to have a long discussion about this, got it?" Zelaphelia glared as she took hold of his paw, about to jump into the water with him.

But before they could leap, Orion felt a sharp pain in his pelt. He let out a yelp, squirming around in a human's grip. He mewled and looked up, the sharp gaze his captor's gaze staring at him with a slight smirk. Orion noticed out of the corner of his eye that his mother was trapped in the other hand, though she was scratching at him more viciously than Orion knew she could.

The man chuckled, walking up through the ferry with both cats held tightly in his arms. He muttered something about stowaways, a word Orion did not know the meaning of. In what seemed like a moment, they were tossed into empty cages and locked inside. The tomkit stared around in fear, pawing at the cage's door, as he had never been in such a confined space before. "Mum?" he squeaked, pawing up at the holes in the cage, trying to get out somehow. "Mumma! I'm stuck! Help!"

"Orion! Calm down, son! It's okay. Just calm down, okay? Everything's going to be fine." Zelaphelia's voice from a neighboring cage did calm him down somewhat, but Orion still was quite fearful over what was happening.

"Mum!" he squeaked again, "I'm scared… What's going to happen to us?"

"The human didn't toss us overboard, at least. He looked like he liked us, so I think we'll be alright." His mother's voice was unusually collected. How could she be so calm while so closed off and boxed in such a small space? Even smaller than the tugboat they called home?

"But where are we going, Mum? I don't like it here!" He was completely panicked, in fact. He knew they were on a ferry boat, but he had no idea where it was going, or if they would be able to get back home. Shilly would go out of her mind when she heard about this!

He heard Zela's quiet sigh close to him. Surprisingly, he looked up at her cage and could faintly make out the dim glow of her eyes. "I don't know just yet, Orion… But we'll find out soon, and we'll get home as quickly as possible, okay?"

Orion nodded quietly, trying to act a bit calmer, as his mother had told him too. He sniffled quietly as he curled up by the side of the cage, just wanting to continue hearing his mother's voice and have her tell him that things would be okay and they wouldn't be harmed. He was having so much doubt that such a thing would happen.

Suddenly, he heard a booming voice from above calling, "Good afternoon, Passengers, this is your captain speaking. We are currently heading way to London. Our expected arrival time will be in a few hours, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride."

Instead of the comforting words that he had wanted from his mother, Orion heard her utter a curse word instead…