This will be an actual, longer chapter. I said longer, not long.


Chapter 1

I guess I need to start at the beginning. Cliche, I know, but you will get over it when you become the symbol of cliche.

I was born a housecat, or so I remember and was told. It all began when I accidentally- read, accidentally- killed another housecat. Maybe I should have considered more the steep height of the cliff, or the fact that Hera- that was her name- was far less strong than me.

She always stuttered a little, and wasn't exactly the smartest she-cat around, but I did like her as a friend. Perhaps I should have asked for her opinion when I suggested- more like ordered- for us to go explore the forest beyond the human houses. Perhaps we shouldn't have gone at all.

But there we were, running through the woods at full pelt, with me in the lead and shouting, "Come on!" and Hera shivering in the cold behind me. I wanted to explore, that was all- I was turning two moons old that day and I wanted to do something special- but my friend was still one moon and something and she couldn't quite catch up.

"Lora will be so worried when she finds me gone," she whined through exhausted breathing and panting. I slowed down a little so that she wouldn't faint from the sheer tiredness.

"Oh, your master?" I asked mockingly. "You're just a plaything. Come on, we'll finally be able to do something exciting for a change!" Suddenly seeing something in front of me, and feeling the ground dip down drastically, I skidded to a halt.

Hera pushed past me, which was most unlike her to do. "Woah," she breathed, staring at the expanse before her. I just rolled my eyes. Cliffs were nothing new to me. I had seen them many times before on the big, flat- what were they called, TVs? that the humans owned. I hissed in frustration. I couldn't even remember such a simple word now...

Even when it was repeated around the house so many times that my ears hurt. "Dad, Chris is hogging the TV." "TREVOR! Stop watching the TV and get up here right now!" "Mom... a few more minutes..."

"It's a cliff," I said, yawning on purpose to show her how boring it all was to me. Suddenly getting an idea, I added, "What if we try to slide down it? It looks pretty smooth."

Hera yelped. "What? No! I'm not sliding down any cliff!"

"I would slide down it first to show you," I replied, "but I want to see you be braver for once. Please?" I flashed her the cutest sad puppy eyes that I could imagine. "I always end up fine. You will, too. It's not like there's anything special about me."

Hera sighed. "No, Mary." In a more teasing voice, she added, "You're such a Mary Sue. So brave and stuff, like always." She stepped up to the edge of the cliff top. "That's too steep. I don't care what you say-"

I rammed my head into her back.

She stumbled for a while, spinning on her paws wildly before she finally lost her balalnce, disappearing over the edge with a blood-curdling shriek. I padded over to the edge, peering down cautiously. "Hera?"

"That's a nice murder you've got there," a voice that I didn't recognize growled from behind me.


Totally accidental. Totally not my fault.


"You're such a Mary Sue." Legendary words, carved in the blowing leaf-bare winds that swept the speaker away.