A/N: this chapter has been divided into two parts. It is weird.

I repeat my question: what is Shade's flaw?

Chapter 3: Together We Go (part one)

"But Shade~!" Night whined. "I want to keep the berries! They're so pretty! And besides, they're the first step in the rainbow quest!"

"No." Shade deadpanned.

"But why?"

"You will eat it by accident and die, believe me. So its best to get rid of it." Ever the morbid one, Shade. Ever the morbid one.

"I won't! It's my treasure! Why would I eat my treasure? Kits don't eat their moss balls, Clan cats don't eat their territory, and humans don't eat their money! Heck, the Nyan Cat doesn't even eat its rainbow!"

"…The heck are you talking about?"

Night realized that he didn't know.

"But I'm still going on the rainbow quest."

"NO."

A few hours later…..

"I SAID NO." Shade was intent on making Night quit on this absolutely ridiculous "quest for rainbows", even if she didn't know what it was. But she did feel quite stupid for speaking in all caps just like Night did when he was high on catnip.

"You don't even know what the rainbow quest is!"

"Then explain it."

"I will go on a quest to find objects with the color of the rainbow! Something orange, something yellow, something green, something blue, and something purple."

This could turn out to be easier than I thought, Shade thought, cheered.

-linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinel ineline-

Now, dear readers, you are probably expecting a childish, happy chapter. You are probably expecting a carefree, la-de-da tale, based off the chapter title. I mean, it is called "Together We Go", and that does bring into mind images of happy little animals dancing in the meadow singing of sunshine and daisies and somehow having a tea party at the same time. "Together We Go" does suggest kiddy little quests for a "magic lollipop", and happy children dancing off into the nonexistent sunset to go on a quest to save the world but still singing and dancing despite the "stakes". In other words, LA-DE-DA.

But although this is a parody, it is not a LA-DE-DA tale. It is not a tale of only happy little animals dancing and having tea parties. It is not a tale where they all dance off into the sunset, singing like some kiddy Disney movie. Instead, you will find that this tale (this part in particular) can be quite the opposite.

So now, on with the tale-that is-not-a-LA-DE-DA-tale.

On to Fire.

Fire heard voices.

No, not in her head. From behind her.

Someone was near.

(YOU DON'T SAY?)

But something strange happened. As Fire whirled around, an image appeared in her mind, so spontaneous that it might as well have been planted in her mind by someone else.

Shadows pooling, darkness spreading.

Fire shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the image. But instead she felt an ominous feeling plant itself in her stomach, cold as stone. It was a stone, and its coldness seemed to spread into her mind.

Twin orbs of dim light, slanted in a narrow gaze, cunning, plotting. Eyes. Eyes, watching her.

Again, images, strange images that were not her own. They could be fragments of Fire's memory, but Fire was sure they were not. Her previous life was not that dark, she knew.

A flash of white, sharp enough to cut her soul in two, cutting as the malice glowing in the watching eyes. And then—

A drip, soft at first, but then growing more frequent, drip, drip, drip. Drips, drips of some warm, sticky liquid pooling by her. Pooling from her. Drip, drip, drip. Drip, drip, drip. Drip. Tick-tock. Time running out until she was completely drained, cold , cold eyes watching her, waiting for her to drain away and fade…

And she was fading, fading, fading away, draining. All caused by those cold, cold eyes, cold, cold waiting person in the shadows, wanting her to fade—

Enemy!

The word burst into her mind.

Enemy, a voice in her head whispered, and it filled her head, pushing all other thoughts into the corners of her mind, where they weakly struggled. Enemy. Her other thoughts found themselves fading away, their rationality erased by the presence of the voice. Enemy. The ominous feeling she had in her stomach, the one that weighed her thoughts down like a stone, it doubled. No, tripled. The shadows around her suddenly seemed strangely long and dark, so easy for an enemy to hide in. They could be lurking, hiding, waiting, watching her every move. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike…

Strike, attack, kill.

Before, there had been wariness in her stomach, weighing her down but still allowing free thought. Before, the foreboeing in her heart had been just a stone, there but not quite feel-able. But now it grew, hardening into something much worse. Panic.

The stone in her stomach, it was now a ball of ice.

It spread icy cold fingers of horror from her heart and into her body, freezing her body until she couldn't move at all, instead locked in the cold grip of paranoia. All sounds faded into silence, except the terrified beating of her heart, each thump seeming louder, more like thunder falling. Numbness enclosed her mind, and she found all her thoughts melting away like light melted into darkness when cold night approached. A dull ringing filled her ears, and it leaked into her mind, filling her thoughts, filling her body, filling her very being, until she was vibrating madly, wobbly and fragile yet locked in place by the cold grip of fear. Distantly, she saw the trees' outlines start to wobble, and darkness start to grow…..

But then the cold panic in her heart retracted, calling back the icy tendrils freezing her body, her mind. The ringing vanished, and the outline of the trees grew clear again. Warmth spread back into her body. But her calm thinking did not return, for instead the ice in her stomach slithered and writhed like a serpent, eyes cold and calculating. It twisted its way into her mind, where it transformed into a thought.

-linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline-

"Okay then. I'll show you." Shade smiled, but it did not reach her eyes.

Night did not like the calculating gleam in Shade's eyes as she spoke. The words themselves were pieces of her calculation, of her power game, and she already was using them as a weapon against Night's claim, hoping to fell it. Night's eyes narrowed in suspicion, his mind wary of the smile on Shade's face.

Hmmmmmmmm…

Just kidding!

Night is way to stupid to be so suspicious.

Rewind-

"Okay then. I'll show you." Shade smiled.

She pointed to a cluster of orange flowers that was so conveniently there. "There's your orange thing."

Then she pointed at the sun. "Your yellow thing."

Then at the leaves that surrounded them. "Green thing."

The blue sky above. "Blue."

A cluster of strange purple berries. "Aaaaaaannnnd…purple."

Shade smiled. Proving Night false could actually be fun, she realized. "There! All done!"

"But-but-"

-linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinel inelinelineline-

The thought crept into her mind, but it was not hers.

ORLY?

, _ ,

{ 0 , o }

l )````)

Insanity, then.

But anyway—

It slipped into her mind with the other returning thoughts, but it was much larger, and much stranger. While the other thoughts were wary and timid, it walked with an unnatural confidence, like a king walking through a defeated country he conquered. And it crept, no, strode into her mind, spreading, filling her mind with it presence. The other thought shied away, warded away by some invisible force. Soon, the alien thought had pushed away all others into the corners of her mind, where they weakly struggled.

She felt feeble worry in the back of her mind, but it was quickly erased by the alien thought. Her other thoughts, too, found themselves fading away, their doubts erased by the presence of the new thought. She supposed that she should be worried, but the thought did not leave any room in her mind for that.

It filled her head with not the cold of an enemy, but the warmth of an ally, a friend.

-linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline-

"Those aren't the objects!" Night protested.

"How do you know?" Shade was winning, she could feel it. She wasn't going to forfeit victory no matter what.

"I-I can just feel it! Like, know that it's the right one! And I'm really positive, because I just know it! I can feel it somewhere in my mind and I just know it and I'm sure those aren't the right ones and that you were just making it up! And-"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Shade interrupted, not wanting Night to go on and babble for another hour. But then she added: "And I suppose that you'll know it even more when you're poisoned by those berries."

Sarcasm. That was it.

While somewhere else, a she-cat is losing her mind, Shade is using sarcasm. (Just sayin'.)

-linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline-

It filled her head with a strange welcoming, like a meeting with a friend that one had been separated from for too long. And finally meeting again by a sweet twist of fate, two friends embracing each other like they had so many times before the separation, as said by the faded golden memories.

The new thought was warm, like the sun, like a light beam in a dark corner. No, not a thought, a presence. A presence of someone warm, loving, caring, someone there for her. It was not new, she realized, not new, not alien. It had always been there for her. And now it filled her, it was her.

The presence murmured gentle greetings, and her mind was filled with the softness of newborn birds singing and the strength of a fiery sunrise at the same time. It filled her soul, and she felt brimmingly full, a leaf filled with clean, pure rainwater, filled with new strength. Distantly, she could see trees and a forest, but it was all irrelevant, for all that mattered was the presence.

But suddenly, she remembered the enemy, the cold, lurking shadows hiding who-knows-what, and fear jolted through her, sapping the warmth filling her soul and bringing freezing ice once more. The dull ringing started again, and she felt the ice spreading through her body once more, cold, hard claws of ice wanting to drag her into the darkness of blinding panic. But the presence expanded suddenly, a burst of light blazing, blazing, and the fear melted into relief, for the presence was here.

Here.

But then, wasn't the enemy here, too? Distantly, she could still hear them.

The presence suddenly flared, flashing lights that were too bright, blazing warmth that was too warm, burning, burning. A blinding flash of light and heat filled her mind, her vision, her very being, and for a moment it was all she saw, all she knew. Nothing, there was nothing but this brilliant flash of light, this searing heat, this burning, nothing, nothing! And it burned, it slashed at her mind, and its white-hot light expanded into her mind, her being, and it was all she knew, this burning of light and searing of heat, eating away her self, her sanity. Expanding, growing, rippling fingers of impossible light into the corners of her mind, tearing it apart. Her mind cried out, although her mouth remained silent.

The presence instantly faded its glaring lights and heat. Soft apologies rippled across her injured mind, and she felt the scars smooth and disappear, healed with the smoothness of the ripples, washed away by cool water. She felt the burning fade away into nothing, the pain vanish, now just a rapidly disappearing memory. Soon, it had slipped from her mind, like sand falling through her paws, and all she knew was the presence. All there was was the presence.

But again, she found herself poking the idea of the enemy. After all, she could hear them talking, distantly. But she was sure that they were plotting her demise, plotting to strike, attack, kill. Once again, the presence flared, but this time it flared of strength, and she felt that strength seep into her body, her mind, her soul, chasing away the last of the fear.

And then she heard it.

The presence's voice.

Why let the enemy come to you? Why let it attack first and win? Why should you wait to be killed?

Sweet, honeyed, poisoned words, but all she saw knew was the command. Attack first. Attack them.

Kill them.

-linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinel ineline-

Sarcasm. Indeed.

Night was losing, he knew it. Shade refused to believe him, despite him telling her that he actually could tell if it was the right object or not.

That's not a good reason, Night.

But the main point is that Night wanted to go on the rainbow quest, and Shade wasn't letting him. No, Night did not want to go, he needed to go. Or at least, according to him.

He absolutely positively one-hundred-percent needed to go on that rainbow quest.

So Night decided to try to convince Shade one last time.

"But Shade—"

However, Shade's mind was on a more urgent matter. More accurately, an immediate threat.

Shade suddenly yelled: "Night! Duck!"

Night didn't get it (of course). "Duck? Where? I don't see a duck. If there is a duck, can you catch it for me? I think a duck will make a great pet. Yeah, can you catch the duck for me and let me keep it-"

"No, not that duck, the other duck, genius!"

"Yay, I'm a genius!" It seems Night still does not understand sarcasm.

But that is a tale for another time. Now, we focus on Shade and Night and the immediate threat. Or more specifically, the bundle of bloodred fur and whirling claws that barreled into Night.

No. This is not a cliffhanger. Really.

A/N: Potato!

This chapter is a clue.