Chapter I, To Catch A Trail Or Someone's Tail

So we walked in silence, at first at least. It was a fine night to do just that, I admit. The darkness was my kingdom after all. It was no coincidence that she visited me on this very hour. Still, I never liked being quiet all that much. Not for too long at least. Not with the company like that by my side. And she was a wonder to gaze upon. Distracting at that, as her stunning moves made it quite hard to focus. So, yeah, she occupied my mind quite a lot, surprised? You shouldn't be, if you'd only took a glimpse here and there, if you'd only listen to her delightful voice. Not too long however. She is mine, after all.

"So babe..." Someone had to start the conversation. May as well do it myself. "You waited three days to ask me for help? Tsk tsk. There was no need. I don't bite. Unless you ask for it. Not too hard however." Smooth talk always got me far, let's see how far I'll reach this time around. She seems to be quite... interested. And interesting. Oh yes, interesting. "Unless... you ask for it."

"Oh, you know. She tends to disappear. She's a cat you know. That's why I waited for three days, yep." Changing topic swiftly, huh? I see, I see. She was always like that, yet a simple gaze on her cheeks would indicate that there was something more to it. After all, you don't just blush around when you're talking about your cat. "Not that I'm nervous about her. I know she can handle herself nicely. Still, you know. Three days is a long time, just getting worried, ya know?"

"Yeah, I follow."

"Still, it's nice of you, non of the less."

"I'm all about being nice." I smirked as much as I could. "So. You asked me for help because I'm better than others, huh?" The question needed to be asked. Her reaction needed to be seen. Obviously. Toying with her was such a neat thing to do. Especially since usually, she toyed back. And that's what I adored the most in her. That and her lips - the way she bit them from time to time. "Better than the prince I bet?"

"Naw. You know, just figured that you're the most capable. Even if you lack his brains at times, you compensate in other... things." My, my, girl, you say that's the case, but then way you tangle your hair around your finger... Some could say that you're faking that indifference. Lying? Now that's just a step before sinning in a harder way. I like that. "Why so curious? Think I should ask him instead?"

"Depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Depends if you like being bored to death by a guy with a questionable taste in color."

"Nah, he isn't all that bad. Just a bit... extravagant." You can tell me all the sweet lies girl, but I saw that chuckle, I saw it alright. Even when you tried to cover it with that cute hand of yours. "And nice at times you know and... look!" I do hate when she changed the topic. Just when it was getting interesting. Shame. "We're at the spot."

That we were. Candy Kingdom. The most wretched, vile and depraved place in Aaa. Where you can expect to be stabbed on the very street... nah, I cannot do it with a straight face. You wouldn't find more sweeter and colorful place anywhere around. It almost oozed with rainbows, butterflies, charming round shapes, and all of those things that are made from cuddly, lovable sugar. It gave me nausea. But what would you expect from a place ruled by a guy who wore his pink bunny slippers around each night, just to bake some cupcakes or other 'important' tokens that would serve his kingdom. Or his appetite. All the same to me. I'm not judgmental... yeah right. Either way, those kind of stories always lead us to one certain spot. You know, towards the one that all the action happens, at least during the night time. A nearby bar. In any other place, one could argue which one exactly, since there's so many of them. In here? There were only few to choose from. Nightlife in this kingdom never was it's strength. But then again, what was the strength of the kingdom made out of candy? A simple deduction, or rather my laziness, would indicate to go towards the closest one. As we entered, all the candy eyes were fixated upon us. I cannot even tell if they gazed more at me, or, what was also a possibility – at her. I mean, I know I'm quite the sight, still, I wouldn't blame anyone who wanted to gaze just a little bit upon perfection. Like previously, not for too long however. As for the people in here? The usual candy mass of nonsense and dullness, nothing special, nothing grand, nothing exciting as well, that's for sure. Except one of them perhaps. If I were to go by the king of lies nickname, we'd had a real emperor out there. Lumpy Space Prince. The difference between us? The king is a bit more subtle, while the emperor... yeah...

"So, I've told her like, girl, I have like an appointment right now with three other chicks, so if, like, you'd wish for me to spend some time with you, you'd had to, like, do something to catch my attention..." Words, words, words, words. How much he spoke, and how little was underneath it. Him and the fatuous prince in his pointy tower would get along just fine, flooding each other with pointless sentences. "...and you know, obviously, obviously she was willing to do just that, and you know, I can be like, a charmer and whatnot, so therefore..."

"Uhum..."

"I told her if you want those lumps, like, you gotta work those lumps you see, and she was all picky and what not, so I was like..."

"Uhum..."

"...and then like me and my bud, who I hanged out with, told me, naw man, that's not fair, all the babes for you, like..."

Poor bartender. I could see in his eyes that he just wanted to end this nonsense, one way or another. I could understand him perfectly. Well, who would have thought that this time around, I'll be his savior. Charming.

"Hello there, pumpy." I tapped him on the shoulder. As expected, when he turned around he was quite scared about my presence. I have that effect on people one could say, such fearsome beast, such fearsome creature. Or, perhaps he was simply a huge coward. Yeah, plausible as well. "Heard your stories. I have a question or two for you. Perhaps you'll have an opportunity to tell us another thrilling fact from your life."

It was obvious that this gossiping imbecile will know something. Perhaps it won't be something grand, nor it will be the most important thing around, still, if someone would see that little feline, it would be him. He sees it all. Sees and lies about it.

"Like, what you want to ask about buddy?"

"Our little girl lost her friend." She smiled behind me and nodded as the lights in her eyes were lit almost instantly. Delightful sight. "Care to tell us what you know about it?"

"Like, why would I, the most popular lumping being in the freaking universe, would care about a silly flea bag like..."

"I don't know..." Obviously this guy was just made of petty talk. All I had to do was to glitter my teeth in front of his face, and his lumping legs would shake, have he had ones. "...you tell me?"

"Now, like, if you ask so nicely..." His lumping body wobbled around. Amusing view if I were to judge. Like a jelly made out of cotton candy. "...like, I saw the cat, yeah, around, like, in company of a weird guy, masked guy, who gave her something. That was during the day, when I was like.. accompanied with all the ladies, obviously and..."

"To the point now, to the point pumpy."

"Right. So, the guy was tall..." Tall? Yeah right, probably just a little above this round fellow. "...rather bulky, of course, like, no match for me, still..." So, probably quite skinny, yeah. "...and he had this menacing look in his eyes, like, really evil, you know..." Everything that looked wrong at him was like that in his book. "And... and... oh, exactly him, like, on the spot!"

When he pointed at the corner of the room, I expected a gnome or something similar to pop out, judging by the usual stories of Lumpy Prince. Who would have thought however, this time around, this little liar told the truth. A figurine looked at us from underneath the hood with it's two shimmering, black eyes. What was that, it was hard to tell, as we couldn't even take a good look – he almost instantly ran away. Or she? Naw, it ran too awkwardly. Either way, what could we do. We chased after it, quite fast, through the alleys and narrow corridors of candy buildings. The one before us wanted to loose his tail as best as possible. Too bad he had one of the finest after him. Still, even the finest can be mislead, even the finest can loose their trail, as we learned the hard way when the mysterious figure disappeared in the darkness before us, just like that, almost as if he faded in thin air. Well, that was hardly original, still, at times the oldest tricks do the job. The oldest tricks huh? Same could say the same about me, the oldest of tricks. And I always do my job. Alright, alright. At times... What? Fine, only when damsels such as the one by my side are involved. Could anyone blame me however? Just looking at the way she ran, at the way she tried to catch the thug, even at the way she was close to throwing her sword right at him. All indicated perfection. In both her movement and her verve. I liked that. I liked that a lot.

"We lost him." She tried to catch her breath. I could think of a way or two other than running to obtain that. More pleasing ways at that. "He just disappeared!"

"Yeah."

"So what now?"

"Now? Easy babe." I picked up the little feather from the ground and shoved it right in front of her cute face. "We have a clue, we'll see what we'll dig up from it."

"It's just a feather."

"Yeah." Oh, you're doubting in me now? How cute. "But enough to find out something more. We just need the right person to tell us who's feather this is."

"And that would be?"

"I have an idea or two."

Or a dozen of them in fact. All connected to you, babe. But, that's not the part of our little ride, right? Obviously there was only one person around with the smarts in his bubbly head to recognize who's feather this is. Still, since three days have passed either way, a bit of delay wouldn't hurt I guess. And just as if someone up above answered my calls, it began to rain. It was no mere drizzle, but a real downpour. All for the better. Candy people hardly ever liked the notion of water, for obvious reasons. We however, we weren't made from sugar. As we quickly found our way into one of the empty gates with the doors shoot down tightly, we found a spot covered enough to remain somewhat dry. Somewhat is a good term however, as our clothes were quite soaked with all the water. It was hard to tell how I looked, but judging by her gaze, she didn't mind to take a peek or two. Me? Well, what can I say. A bit of water made her usual wear adhere so nicely, that at times I almost had to rub my eyes to figure out if she's already naked, or still wrapped in her blue clothing. Would prefer the first one, obviously. And as we stood in this little dry spot, the drips of rain tapped slowly over the surface.

"It's raining hard. Hopefully Cake is somewhere dry. She hates water."

"There now." I simply shrugged and wrapped my arm around her. To comfort her of course. And only that. It had nothing to do with me wanting to feel her little frame near me. Nope. "We'll find your friend. We just need to unravel how deep the rabbit hole goes and what is this all about..."

"Well..." She blushed a little bit. Or not all that little, as her cheeks turned red. "If you say so. About the unraveling and, um, you know."

For a second there, I pondered, what exactly made her blush. Then, I noticed that my choice of words, considering the fact who I were with was a bit poor. Still, she didn't seem to mind. Why should I? It would seem that this whole deal will be more fun than I thought. One way or another.