A/N I don't own this story or characters; I only own Sophia.

Mirage1234: Thanks :) I'm slowly implying it sparingly, since I don't plan for romance to be a big part of this story. But there's a bit of shipping in this, if you look carefully. Sophia tells a lot about her backstory in this chapter.

Interesting. I wonder why she was given such an unusual name. Perhaps it was meant to sound exotic?


Just as Sophia and Bluebeard crawled under their makeshift shelter, it began to rain again. "Damn, someone's havin' a crybaby day up there." The Manx huffed, stretching. "But at least it'll wash away the blood, huh, Toots?"

Sophia was sitting at the mouth of the covered crate, staring out at the rain with solemn eyes. She barely heard Bluebeard speaking to her until he nudged her with a paw, making her jump. "Hey, I'm talkin' to you!"

"S-sorry. As I said, I'm not used to speaking." She said. "I haven't spoken for…goodness, for years."

Cocking his head, Bluebeard sat down next to Sophia, glancing at her. He had to slightly look up because she, like Francis, was slightly taller than him, even when they were both sitting. "…What happened with your family that made you go mute for almost your whole life?"

"…My family was somewhat old-fashioned. We were pets of a breeder, so we were like the upper-class cats. Father wanted me and my two siblings to follow the golden rule of being silent unless spoken to. My brothers followed it to a T, but I was unable to. I loved speaking. And I enjoyed teaching myself to read."

"Oh, so you can read too?"

She nodded. "My father hated that not only I could read, but especially that I refused to be silent. He would smack me around, and then shut me in a small, dark room until the next day. If I even said a word, it would happen again. Eventually, I learned to be silent…I never uttered another word until tonight."

"Didn't your other family help you?"

"No. Mother seemed to acknowledge that I was unhappy without my voice, but she never spoke against Father. My brothers wouldn't help me if you paid them. I imagine they didn't want to get in trouble over me. Our grandfather didn't know much about what was going on."

"Your dad didn't expect you to stay silent forever, did he?"

"When we were adopted out, he let us speak…well, I remained silent, but he seemed almost happy that I didn't speak. He just had a smug expression. While the can openers were looking over my brothers, I ran out on the streets. I was tired of being a pet, and decided to live on my own. Ever since then, I've been a wild cat."

"What about that collar?"

"Well, I was once caught and given a name and collar. But I left after a while. I just kept the collar because I became used to it. It gave me my name as well."

"I never knew you disliked bein' a pet too." Bluebeard remarked.

"Me being very negative against a can opener finding me when we first met didn't give you a hint?" Sophia smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh, I never really gave it another thought." Bluebeard shrugged.

"At any rate, as I said before, I may not speak very much. Especially to cats other than you or Francis, or perhaps even Jesaja if we run into him again."

"So the smartass and I are special, huh?"

"Of course. You're both my dearest and closest friends." She smiled at the older Manx, but then turned back to the rain and sighed. "I'm afraid that one of us will get hurt, or worse, you or Francis. I just hope the murderer is stopped before anyone else dies. If you or Francis were killed…why, I would stop speaking altogether."

"Seriously? You barely started talkin', you said you enjoyed it when you were a little squirt, and you'd give it up like that?"

"Certainly. Since I've been silent for so long, it wouldn't matter to me if I stopped speaking again. And as I said, you and Francis are my closest friends." She crouched down slightly and nuzzled her head under Bluebeard's chin and against his chest, surprising him. "I would be so upset if either of you were hurt."

Bluebeard glanced down at her and from side-to-side, feeling quite awkward. He rarely ever had a female be this affectionate towards him, especially since they are usually put off by his gouged-out eye and scrawny left paw. Plus, he wasn't the most polite or gentleman-like cat on the block. That cat was Francis.

But Sophia seemed to look past this, as Francis had. Bluebeard indeed considered the black and white cat a good friend, even deeming the term "smartass" as an affectionate nickname, as "toots" had been for Sophia. But he never thought she would hint that she thought of the Manx as more than a friend.

Sensing Bluebeard's frozen state, Sophia sat up straight, looking embarrassed. "Sorry." She muttered, walking to and curling up on the pillow. She laid her head on her paws, shutting her eyes and feigning sleep. She didn't know what came over her, snuggling up to Bluebeard as though he were her mate. Get your mind out of the gutter, Sophia. He said so himself that he had been with several females. So why would he show interest in you? Why are you even thinking of him as more than a friend?

She felt the pillow shift as Bluebeard climbed on as well. To her surprise, he curled around her and laid his head next to hers. "'Night, Toots." He whispered, licking her cheek before falling asleep.

Sophia smiled softly, gently nuzzling his snout as she drifted into dreamland as well. She had pleasant dreams that night.


The next morning, Sophia slowly awoke from her slumbers, though she didn't open her eyes. She could feel and smell Bluebeard still sleeping close to her. Sighing happily, she snuggled tighter against him.

Suddenly, she felt Bluebeard stand to his feet in a flash, hissing and growling. Quickly opening her eyes and looking up, she saw the golden cat she had met the previous evening standing in the doorway of the crate.

"What the hell do you want?!" Bluebeard snarled, moving aside so he stood over Sophia, who was still lying on the pillow.

"Be still, stranger," The golden cat said in his soft, old-age-sounding voice. "I mean you and your friend no harm." He glanced at Sophia with a soft smile.

Sophia crawled out from under Bluebeard and sat down, frowning at the golden cat. "I'm afraid I still must remain unnamed for the time being." He said, glancing from her to Bluebeard, who still glared at him. "But I stand by my warning to your furless friend: cease this useless attempt at finding the murderer."

"Too bad, jackass," Bluebeard huffed. "Our friend is already too deep into it to quit. And he's a clever smartass who won't fall for any of your tricks."

"We shall see." The golden cat sniffed.

"What do you mean?"

"All I can say is your friend won't be harmed. He is, as you implied, too clever to be killed." He trotted away without another word.

Bluebeard looked over at Sophia with a raised eyebrow. "You've met him before?"

"Last night before I went to Francis's house," Sophia nodded. "He told me to stop finding the murderer before something happened. He claimed he wished to ensure no more innocent lives or taken…or not so innocent, as he called them. He also says he isn't the murderer."

Bluebeard shook his head, muttering about weird cats. "Who was he?" Sophia asked.

"I don't know him, but I know the breed, though not exactly the name. They've popped up in the last several years. But I doubt they're manmade, because even the can openers are surprised at their existence."

"Because they came out of nowhere?"

"That, and because they're not like you and I." Bluebeard continued, stretching and walking out into the sun. He and Sophia approached a large trashcan with a missing lid. As he knocked it over and pulled out a large, thrown-away hamburger, he explained, "They're wild, Toots. I might hiss and spit at Francis's can opener, but these new faces take it to another level. I've heard rumors about them attacking cats that have been here long enough. Not to mention they're weird lookin'."

Sophia nodded in agreement as she shared the hamburger with her Manx friend.


In late afternoon, Sophia and Bluebeard jumped onto the bathroom window of Francis's house, finding him asleep in the empty tub. A strong stench came from him, though it wasn't because of a skunk. Sophia shook her head with disgust as Bluebeard chuckled, wrinkling his nose, "Whew! What a stink! Smells like you've had some action."

Francis slowly opened his eyes with a sleepy moan. He stretched his arms and sighed, "I guess so. I hope you or Sophia know her, because I think she might help in solving the case."

"'Case'?" Bluebeard blinked in surprise. "Are you kiddin' me? Judging by the smell, the case wasn't what you were thinking about earlier today." He jumped into the bathroom, followed by Sophia.

"I have to agree with Bluebeard, Francis." Sophia smiled, sitting on the edge of the tub. "I highly doubt that the mystery was the first thing on your mind today. It was probably the last, if it were on your mind at all, judging by how tired you are."

Francis climbed onto the sink and yawned widely. "Holy cow," He muttered before saying, "Yeah, your right, my friends. I was distracted. But that's past, let's get to work. First thing's first: where can I find Joker?"

"He's probably at home, rehearsing his next Bible class." Bluebeard said.

"Where does he live?"

"A couple of blocks from here. His can opener has a shop for china, porcelain, and hand-blown glass."

"Why do you need to speak with Joker?" Sophia asked, scratching behind her ear with a foot.

"Well, first I want to talk to Pascal again," Francis said, still looking sleepy-eyed. "Meanwhile, I want you and Bluebeard to go get Joker, and tell him I want to talk to him about the murders."

Sophia and Bluebeard's ears perked up. "You really think Joker's the one doin' all this?" The Manx asked in surprise.

"Don't forget what Jesaja told us," Francis said. "Joker is deep, and I mean very deep in this. But the main question is whether I can really pin it on him or not. Oh, before I forget, that distraction I was talking about? It was a young lady I met this morning. She was of a breed I never came across before. Sandy fur, blazing yellow eyes,"

"Ah, I know that kind." Bluebeard said.

"We had a sort of run-in with a tom like that this morning," Sophia nodded. He too had sandy fur and yellow eyes. He looked quite wild and unfamiliar in terms of breeding. I had also met him briefly last night before arriving at your house."

"So, are there others like them?" Francis asked.

"You bet your ass there are." Bluebeard nodded, jumping back onto the windowsill. "They're all over the place lately. But, like I told Sophia earlier today, the can openers are as confused about their origins as the rest of us are."

"What do you mean?" Francis cocked his head.

"They're not manmade." Sophia explained, joining the one-eyed Manx. "And I think because of that, they seem to be moving backwards on the evolution change. Bluebeard said they're not quite like us: they're not like domestic cats, and because of that, are wilder."

"Like predators?" Francis asked.

"Exactly." Bluebeard nodded.


A/N As I said before, a good chunk of this chapter is Sophia talking about her past. It's about the same as the prologue, but probably has a bit more light shed on it.

In case it wasn't quite obvious before (then again, I really didn't make it known) Sophia has a bit of a crush on Bluebeard. Probably because he's the first cat she met in the neighborhood. I'm not quite sure how he would react to Sophia liking him in that way, but I figured he wouldn't expect it. Sophia's kinda embarrassed about it, so she probably won't show as much affection as she did later. But I'm still figuring out the ending of the story (I really want Sophia to be a part of the ending, but I don't exactly want her "stealing" the role from Francis; that's why I have the poll for the ending up, so people can help a bit with choosing an ending. But despite that, I have a good idea about what kind I want) Like I said before, romance isn't gonna be a huge part of the story, but now that I think about it, I might put some in. Just not as much as quite a few of my other stories.

I don't really have a name for the male golden cat (he's the same breed as Nhozemphtekh, the female Francis met [geez, that name]) I just kinda made him up on a whim to make the story more interesting. He might pop up again in the after-movie writing. There are a few names on the Felidae Wiki that I can choose from; or if you'd like, one of you readers can suggest a name for him. Just try not to make it TOO hard to pronounce? XD