Once upon a time, in a small town in Maine, there lived a cat. Not just any ordinary cat, this cat was a regal cat, descended from bloodlines that had seen the civilizations that birthed them long dead without faltering. Her ancestors had been worshiped as gods, protected kings and queens, flown with witches in the midnight sky and batted with playful intent at the threads of history. In deference to her royal pedigree, her name was Regina, which, she knew, meant 'Queen' in an ancient tongue.
On this particular summer day, however, Regina sat contentedly near the small window. Her yellow eyes drifted closed as she allowed the afternoon sun to warm her face, its rays lulling her into a drowsy half-sleep. She wouldn't notice the small figure stalking her until it was almost too late.
Closer and closer it crept, following the shadows. Even with her guard down, the Queen was a formidable enemy, and the assassin knew to take every precaution. Only when he was a breath away, sure of victory, did he make his move.
"Cowabunga!" Henry launched himself into the air, landing with splayed paws on the ledge that Regina had been occupying only a moment before.
"Aw, Mom!"
Regina smiled indulgently at the kitten, "Ninjas don't announce themselves with made-up words." She informed him.
"But the turtles do it on tv, and they're ninjas!"
"They're just a cartoon, honey. Would you like me to show you how real ninjas sneak up on people?"
Brown ears, too big for his tiny body, perked up. "Really? Awesome! You're the coolest, mom!"
Regina spent the next half-hour teaching Henry how to walk on his paws silently, distributing his weight and curling his legs underneath for the perfect strike. He was a fast learner, she knew, and soon none of the toys would be safe from his kitty prowess.
She hadn't know what to think when her humans had brought him home for the first time, a tiny, shivering ball of fluff who barely knew which way was up. Regina had never had any kittens of her own, though, and she quickly adopted Henry, smoothing out his fur with her tongue after a particularly rambunctious play session and showing him the best spots to catch a quick nap. They were inseparable, a family. The little kitten filled a part of her heart that she hadn't even know was missing, and now she couldn't imagine life without him. He was growing up so fast...
The distinctive creak of the front door opening interrupted her thoughts. Henry bounded out of the room to see who it was, hoping, perhaps, for a burglar or some other low-life he could practice his new ninja skills on. Regina followed at a more stately place.
"Hey there, Henry!" One of their humans, Jessica, reached down to scratch Henry under the chin, balancing a bag of groceries on her hip. Regina simply sat and watched the interaction, pleased that Henry was minding his manners and not jumping around everywhere.
"Keeping the fuzzball out of trouble? Our drapes thank you, Your Majesty."
Regina's other human, Alex, appeared in the doorway and playfully pushed Jessica out of her way, nearly dislodging the groceries. "Leave Henry alone, Jess. He's a good kitten."
"It's only because Regina's such a good mom. Right?"
Regina mewed her agreement and accepted a gentle head rub.
"No wonder she acts like she's the queen around here, with the way you treat her."
"Hey! She acts like a queen with no help from me." The human voices faded into the kitchen and Regina elected not to follow them. She was relatively certain that they could take care of themselves and humans, even the best ones, had a nasty habit of stepping on sensitive tails.
"Would you like to go outside, darling?" It was a rhetorical question, really, because the little kitten was halfway out of the cat door before Regina could even finish her thought. Of course he wanted to go outside. What kind of kitten wouldn't want to try his new ninja skills on a few unsuspecting leaves and perhaps a bird or two?
The sun was bright and Regina blinked, her pupils contracting to slits as she followed Henry into the back yard. It wasn't as large as some others, perhaps, although she hadn't seen many. But it was well kept, green grass shining brightly and ringed with sweet-smelling flower-beds where a precocious young kitten could stalk in the shade, claws digging into the moist earth as he played. His mother, on the other hand, preferred the porch or a small table where she could watch the world go by in comfort. It did not do for a Queen to exert herself, after all. A stroll around the yard in the evening and playing with Henry during the day was quite enough to keep her sleek body in fine form.
Regina smiled in a slight baring of teeth as she saw Henry's wiggling butt appear between yellow and pink blossoms.
"Remember what I told you, Henry. Keep yourself low to the ground and your legs under you. Don't make the jump until you're absolutely certain you won't miss.
Brown fur disappeared for a moment before Henry exploded out of the flower-bed in an barrage of petals, snagging one in midair and chewing on it happily.
"Did I do it right, Mom?"
"You were perfect." And the sun seemed to shine a bit brighter as Henry basked in his mother's hard-earned praise.
As Henry wandered off, chasing a butterfly, Regina allowed herself a nice stretch and curled up in the cushioned softness of a patio chair. "Be careful, Henry!" The warning was almost an afterthought. Henry was a good boy and he never ventured far away from the yard; certainly not into the street where those dangerous metal contraptions dwelt. Black-and-white fur shifted in the light breeze as Regina closed her eyes, taking advantage of her kitten's playtime to catch a little cat-nap.
The sun was beginning to dip low behind the house when the strange feeling of being watched woke Regina next. For a moment she lay still, waiting, the only sign that she was still awake the slightest twitching of her tail. Then...
"Mom?"
The meow was soft and seemed to come from farther away than she was anticipating. That was different. Different was bad. Different was dangerous. Regina's head shot up as she quickly scanned the yard for Henry, finally locating him on top of a fence post.
"Henry! Come down from there, it's not safe."
"Aw, Mom, it's okay! I've been practicing, look!" Henry leapt nimbly to another post. "See?"
"That's great darling, now come back here. It's time to go inside." She managed to keep the waver of fear from her voice, knowing that Henry would be more likely to come down safely if her didn't know how worried she was. He didn't need to be scared, too.
Henry's ears twitched as he clearly understood that his mother was not quite as impressed with his feats of daring and heroism as he had hoped. Gingerly he worked himself over to a corner where he could jump down from. Now that he looked at it, though, the ground seemed a lot farther down than he had thought it was.
"Mom?"
Regina hurried over to the corner where Henry was waiting, ears flicking back and tail twitching. "Yes honey?"
"I'm scared..."
"It's going to be okay. Just balance yourself on that board there...good...front paws first, then jump down."
Henry managed to get his front paws off the board, but he whimpered as the ground seemed to rush up to meet him and he quickly backed away, his fur fluffing out in fear. "Nonononono..."
"You can do it darling, I'm right here." She smiled for him. "Cats always land on their feet, right? I know you can handle a little jump like this."
Six feet in the air, Henry was pacing back and forth on top of the fence, looking for any way down that didn't involve a terrifying drop to the ground. His little head whipped back and forth, matched in time by his tail, which was at this point nearly the same size as his body.
"Mom, Mom, look, there's a place over here I can jump on and come back under the gate!"
"No, wait, Henry!" But Regina's warning came to late as Henry's tail disappeared behind the other side of the fence.
"Henry!"
A pause, and then - "I'm okay Mom."
Air rushed from Regina's lungs in an audible whoosh, and she gradually relaxed her body.
"Don't dawdle. It's time to go inside." The shadows were lengthening as day stretched into night, slinking oily fingers over the yard to encompass the whole of the porch where Regina had been laying, a damp coolness suffusing the air. On any other night, Regina would have enjoyed it, would have reveled in the sickly sweet smell of the dying sun, but today the chill seemed to sink into her bones, into her heart, filling her with an uneasy restlessness. "Now, Henry."
Her fears took sudden, knife-sharp form when an engine growled menacingly and a shrill "meorw!" filled the air.
"Henry!"
"Mom!"
Later, Regina could not remember exactly how she ended up in the back of the pickup truck with Henry curled next to her in abject terror. There were flashes, if she concentrated. Rays of sun shining fiery emerald through the trees from the top of the fence; jumping through a cloud of acrid smoke that burned at her eyes and lungs; her nose pressed deep in familiar brown fur, whispering to Henry that everything would be alright now that his mother was here.
While Henry was huddled between her and the side of the truck, Regina chanced a glance over the side and almost threw up at the sight of asphalt rushing past. There was no way they could jump out; they would just have to wait until the truck reached...wherever it was going.
They shuddered to a stop in front of a run-down house in an area of town that Regina hadn't even know existed until today.
"Stay down." She put a paw on Henry to keep him hidden in case the driver noticed them and got any ideas, but he passed by the bed and into the house without ever noticing them.
"Okay baby, we need to get out of here. Can you follow me?" Henry nodded, his eyes wide, and shakily got to his feet to follow his mother out of the truck. He nearly sighed with relief to have solid ground beneath his paws again, and if his mother hadn't been there he might even have rolled around on it a little bit.
"Momma?"
"Hm?"
"Are we lost?"
Regina looked around, taking in the unfamiliar territory. True, she didn't know where they were, but she had been watching during the whole frightening journey; she was sure that she could remember the turns they took to get here, and it would be an easy thing to follow the streets back home.
"Of course not, we just need to go on a little walk to get home. Are you up for that?"
"I can do it." Henry was determined to prove that he was as cool and confident under pressure as his mother.
By this time night had fully descended, though there was still plenty of light to see by and Regina was anxious to get Henry home safely. She deliberately slowed her pace to make sure the kitten's shorter legs could keep up. Henry happily kept pace with her, secure in the knowledge that his mother could and would handle everything. Regina wished she had his confidence. Her ears flicked back and forth with each new sound, and she could smell the marks of at least three other cats in the area, possibly more. In no way did she want to get caught up in a tomcat turf war; there would be no happy ending in that for either of them.
They were waiting at a street corner when Regina first noticed that they were being followed. She had extended all of her senses to try and remember where the truck had turned or she would have missed the soft footfalls behind them, the faint, unfamiliar yet unmistakably feline scent. As it was, by the end of the next block she had almost convinced herself that it had been imagined, a product of stress and paranoia.
"Where're you going in such a hurry, sister?" A short, stubby form emerged from the shadows of an alley to block their path and Regina cursed under her breath. She'd been so caught up in what might have been going on behind them that she'd failed to notice the new threat in front of them.
The grey cat grinned toothily, revealing that several of them were missing, along with parts of his ears and most of his tail.
"We're just passing through. We don't want any trouble."
The grey cat seemed to think about that, one eye rolling upwards. "Yeah, I get that sister, I really do. But ya gotta see my problem here. If I just let you two walk right through my territory, other cats are gonna start getting' ideas. 'Leroy's gone soft' they'll say. Some of 'em might start thinking about coming in here to take it from me, and I sure don't need to be missing any more of my parts. So I figure this is how we can do this: I'll give you a few nice, neat little scratches to remember me by, and you can tell all your friends to stay away from Leroy's territory. I won't even hurt that pretty face of yours. What d'you say?"
Regina's ears flattened against her skull of their own accord, but it was Henry who spoke up.
"Don't you touch my mom!"
"Get behind me, Henry."
Leroy took an almost lazy step closer to them. "You'd better listen to your mom, pipsqueak, or bad things might start happening."
"Don't you touch him!" Regina was gathering her legs under her to spring – damn the consequences – when a tan blur appeared in front of her and sent Leroy tumbling end over end.
"What'd I tell you about minding your manners, Grumpy?"
"Aw, Emma, why d'you always call me that? I was just givin' my friends here directions."
Regina watched warily as the newcomer – a tabby named Emma, apparently – growled at Leroy and extended her claws.
"In that case you'll be happy to know that they're under my protection now and I'll be escorting them anywhere they want to go."
Leroy glared at Emma with a sour expression, but seemed to decide that it wasn't worth a fight and disappeared into the night.
Emma sighed. Leroy was seriously starting to overstep his boundaries and she was worried she was going to have to teach him a lesson soon. Oh well, she'd deal with that problem when she came to it. First...she turned back to check on the two cats that she'd effectively rescued, only to find the black-and-white one ushering the brown kitten away. "Hey!" She rushed to catch up.
"Where are you going?"
Regina spared Emma an imperious glance. "Home."
"Home? But – wait a second." Tired of trying to walk and talk at the same time, Emma bounded a few steps ahead and cut off their path. "Just hold on."
Regina was certainly not happy about it but she stopped, angling her body to protect Henry from any threat Emma might pose. "Fine. What do you want?"
"Who are you, anyway? You definitely don't belong out here with us alley cats, and you're just going to get beat up, or worse, if you go wandering around not knowing what you're doing."
"Look, ah -"
"Emma."
"Emma. I'm grateful to you for helping us out back there but I can take care of my son. We're just coming through here on our way home and we'll be out of your territory as soon as you get out of your way."
"It's not exactly my territory, I just kinda...patrol it. Keep the violence to a minimum; you know how guys can get, especially with girls around." Regina's tail was twitching and Emma knew she should probably skip the small talk and get on with it. "Why don't I get you something to eat and a place to sleep for a bit? The kid looks like he's ready to drop." As if on cue, Henry opened is mouth in a wide yawn, pink tongue curling upwards.
"Can we, Mom?"
"I suppose." She addressed Emma. "Introductions are in order since we will apparently be relying on you once again. My name is Regina and this is my son, Henry."
Emma smiled. "Nice to meet you. Just follow me and try not to make too much noise." She casually walked off down the street, shimmying under a hole in a chain fence. Grimacing, Regina followed with Henry tailing her closely and looking much more pleased about the adventure he was having.
After several winding paths and more mud and garbage than Regina ever wanted to see again, Emma led them through a broken piece of lattice under a rather off-kilter porch. There wasn't much light, even for a cat, but Regina could make out a broken piece of plastic under the gutter that was obviously used for a water-bowl, and several scraps of fabric that formed a make-shift bed. It wasn't anything that she would ever consider setting paw on if not for the current circumstances.
Emma shifted her weight awkwardly, waiting for a reaction from the two other cats. "Well, this is it. Home sweet home. You two make yourselves comfortable and I'll see if I can rustle up a late dinner for us." She disappeared into the night without waiting for a response.
With nothing to do but wait for the tabby to come back, Regina drew Henry towards her.
"Time for your bath."
"Aw, Mom! Can't we skip it tonight? I'm just going to get dirty again tomorrow."
Regina smiled at the familiarity of her son's complaints. Some things, it seemed, never changed no matter what was going on otherwise. Just for fun and a little bit of a punishment for whining, she gave him a long, slow lick down his back, making the fur there stand up like a pincushion.
"I could just leave it like that, Henry. What do you think?" Before Henry could reply Emma's head and neck appeared under the porch.
"Hey, looking good kid. You planning on joining a rock band?"
"Yeah!" Henry exclaimed excitedly, bouncing around like the humans he had seen on tv. Regina shot Emma a disapproving glance, as if to say 'great, now he's never going to get settled down.' Wisely, Emma avoided acknowledging that particular expression and elected instead to deposit the two dead mice she'd been carrying on the ground.
Regina and Henry stared at her like she'd grown another tail.
"What's wrong? Go ahead and eat."
Regina's eyes widened. "Eat..that?!"
"Yeah. Mice. Cats eat them all the time."
"Cool!" Before Regina could stop him, Henry pounced on one of the mice, thoroughly enjoying himself.
"I am not going to eat that-that." There were no words know to cat-kind to describe how disgusting Regina found the idea of eating common mice. Common, raw, bony, thin, disease-ridden mice.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but this isn't your nice human pad where you get chicken or fish or whatever served to you in a crystal bowl. Out in the real world, we catch and eat whatever we can."
"I'd rather go hungry."
Tail fluffed in annoyance, Emma looked like she would have dearly loved to come back with a witty retort, but a glance at the kitten stopped her and she contented herself with stalking back outside, muttering under her breath about 'stuck-up house cats.'
Not sure when, or if, their host would return, Regina finished Henry's bath and made sure he had the warmest, fluffiest bed she could arraign. She was just circling around to lie down herself when Emma reappeared. The tabby was dragging half of a package of tuna fish in her mouth and looking pretty damn pleased with herself.
"Here. Dinner fit for a Queen."
Regina opened her mouth to voice the very definite opinion she had about that, but after all, it wasn't a mouse and Emma had gone to a fair amount of trouble for them already. She didn't want to push her luck, for Henry's sake. Instead she delicately opened the plastic packaging and hummed slightly, enjoying the rare taste of human food.
"Thank you Emma."
Emma smiled. "Sure, no problem. Let's get some sleep and then you can tell me what a couple of house cats are doing out here, anyway." It had been a long day, and Emma was tired, her eyes drifting closed even as she talked. Regina seemed to be of the same mind and curled herself protectively around Henry. They really made a cute family, Emma thought; mother and son. I wonder what it's like to have that.
XxXx
A/N: Swan Queen, Once Upon a Time, and cats. It happens to every fandom eventually. I hope you're enjoying this little foray into A/U territory, and if you're not, keep reading and there will be dogs eventually. I expect this to be a 3-shot I can get knocked out by the middle of next week. As always, give me a happy and leave me a review! It's so very, very easy. The little box is just sitting there, so lost, so lonely...