A few weeks later, Nepeta was reassured that nothing would happen to her once the two humans she lived with got married. Of course, Equius hadn't proposed quite yet, but she noticed that he was being very nervous at times when Feferi was around. And he would start to propose, but soon back out of it and simply do something else. Like the other night, they were having dinner at his house. Nepeta was sitting next to Equius, who was sweating very badly. He had already taken off his coat and was about to go through his shirt. He had all of a sudden gotten down on one knee in front of where Feferi was sitting and she gasped all happily, but he had only just gotten down to tie his shoe.
Nepeta was getting impatient. She wanted to see what Equius was going to do. Of course, he had talked about doing it one night to Nepeta when he was helping her getting dressed. When the time came, however, he turned chicken again and did nothing. She wasn't the only female getting impatient, Feferi wasn't impressed either. She was getting very tired of waiting. Her soon to be fiance kept making it seem like he was going to propose, but he never would. It was getting to the point of her wanting to do it herself. At least that was it would be over with and they would be able to get married.
"Nepeta," Feferi came inside the vet's house one day when he was gone shopping. He had asked her to go watch the troll for a few minutes until he got back. "I'm here."
Feferi went into the kitchen to set her stuff down on the counter. She heard some small feet pounding down the stairs. Any second, she would come into the kitchen and playfully tackle her...What was Feferi to Nepeta? Equius was her guardian, would she be her co-guardian? Friend?
Small horns poking her side snapped her out of her thoughts on what she was to the small troll. Nepeta was already there, hugging Feferi around her side. "Hiya!" Nepeta smiled as she took a step back. "Whatdya wanna do?"
"Well, I don't know. Do you have any ideas?" Feferi crouched down to Nepeta to meet her on eye level.
Nepeta nodded enthusiastically. "Guess!"
Feferi made a playful face. "Shopping?"
Nepeta shook her head with a grimace on her face. "No way!"
"Swimming?"
"Nope!"
"What is it, Neppie?" Feferi gave in. "What does the infamous troll want to do today?"
The olive-blood smiled devilishly.
Feferi knew that grin. That grin only meant that Nepeta had something up her sleeve that shouldn't be. "Nepeta, we don't have very much time until Equius will be here. In fact," she muttered to herself as she took out her phone. "I think he's on his way now. T-minus three minutes or so." She put it back in her purse. But when she turned back to Nepeta, the troll was gone. "Nepeta? Come on, we don't have any time for games. Equius will be here soon."
"Come get me!" Nepeta called from somewhere upstairs.
Feferi sighed. The swimming session she had last night was way too hard on her body for this. "Okay." She groaned. "I'm coming." She forced her legs to move up the dreaded stairs that made her muscles groan from the movement. Once she had finally gotten to the top of the stairs, Nepeta wasn't anywhere in sight. "Equius will be home in just a second. Do you really think he wants to find you as soon as he gets through the door?"
No response. Feferi should've guessed it would be like this. Nepeta loved to play hide and seek and would play it at the most horrible, inconvenient times. Feferi mostly just walked around the rooms, not really looking for her. She was tired, hungry, and did not want to play. If Nepeta wanted to hide for a while and give her silence, fine. She wouldn't mind the quiet for a minute. She loved the troll, but kids could be taxing.
Feferi glanced out the window for a minute like a bored kid in school. She longed to daydream like she used to, but she was too old for it. Instead she only saw the grey car that Equius drove pull into the driveway. Game time was finally over. "Okay, Nepeta. Time's up. Equius is home."
No movement or response at all from upstairs. Usually when Equius was home he would get a full on tackle, no restraint at all was in Nepeta's limps when she was pouncing on her favorite person. But this time, nothing. Feferi was about to call out again when she heard feet run downstairs and a door slamming open. She quickly jogged down the stairs only to see Nepeta running opposite of where Equius was into the yard.
"Nepeta?" Her boyfriend asked. When Nepeta didn't stop and kept running, out of the yard, down the street-the two humans quickly saw the problem. "Nepeta!" Equius called out again. She was running away!
Feferi began running after her, Equius joining her as soon as he had thrown the keys in the house. Nepeta lived to run through the woods, the car was no good in chasing her down. It would be more of a hinder than an advantage. The two also discovered that while Feferi was a swimmer, she was not a runner. Equius didn't run all that much and was no match for the endless amount of energy that Nepeta had, so the two of them were very slow compared to her. At one point during the chase, just as the two were gaining on her, she dropped to all fours and began to sprint on.
"Are you glubbing kidding me?" Feferi groaned and tried to pick up the pace.
"Nepeta," Equius bellowed. "Get back here, now!"
She paused for a second, she recognized that tone of Equius's as the 'you-are-in-so-much-trouble-be-afraid' tone, but couldn't stop. She had a job to do and if she stopped now, they would never get there! So, waiting until they were a good fifty feet from her, she turned around again and kept running.
The two humans were getting very nervous. People didn't always have the respect for trolls like they did and could possibly hurt her. What's more is that it was starting to get pretty dark, the streetlights were turning on, birds were going back to their nests for the night, people to their houses. If she were to be kidnapped, it would be very bad news for everybody.
Eventually, they realized where she was leading them. She was running to the park where they would walk her to on some days when they had the time, and the energy, to do so. But instead of it being a normal occasion for her, this was different. She completely ignored the jungle gym she lived to play on. It was what she thought she was born to do. Instead, she kept running to the bridge where some figures were standing.
"Nepeta, wait!" Equius called again. Fear was gripping his heart too tightly for him to even breathe. If any of the people dared to touch her, they were going to be very hurt very badly. But all the same, if she got hurt….
But instead of the figures hurting her, one ducked down and picked her up. Equius charged forward with a bit more energy, Feferi struggling to keep up. As they got closer, the figures became more and more recognizable. Two humans had glasses covering their eyes and blonde hair to shine light off of.
"Took ya long enough!" Bro laughed.
Equius and Feferi stopped running and began to pant heavily. They shared confused glances with each other before turning back to the others in front of them and gave them dumbfounded expressions.
"What?" Equius huffed out. "What are you talking about?"
Dave laughed and shifted Nepeta in his grip. She was laughing and smiling like no other and sighed happily. "She," Dave explained, "made a great plan for us. We had her run from you guys so you'd end up here."
"But what for?" Feferi asked, still out of breath.
"Turn around." Bro suggested.
As the two turned, they were shocked with amazement. Candles lined up the bridge handrails behind them, all lit and giving a soft glow of orange light that lit the air up. Below the candles resting were delicate red and white rose petals that gave off a beautiful aroma to the area. At the end of the bridge were two more figures, one with a guitar that was playing a gentle song, the other was softly humming along to the song. They were standing under a tree that was now lit up due to the bright white Christmas lights wrapped around the branches. All of it was just...right. Suddenly, the two lovebirds had left the dull park that Nepeta loved to play into a utopia of love where everything else seemed pointless and dull.
"Well, you two." Dave spoke behind them. He gently took the two hands of two different people and connected them. "I believe you are wanted over there."
Feferi smiled up at Equius and he did the same. He took a few steps forward with his love as the music player began to sing. As soon as the words had been said, the two realized who was waiting at the end of the bridge. Cronus and Jade were there, both singing the lyrics of a very romantic song that always made Equius and Feferi think of the other: Can't help falling in love.
"Wise man say, only fools rush in," Cronus and Jade sang together in perfect harmony. "But I can't help falling in love with you."
Slowly, Cronus came up to Equius, who was only a few feet away. He handed him something square into his hand and gently pushed his hand back to his side. He winked at the vet and stepped back to continue to sing with Jade. Equius began to blush, but now he knew that this was the perfect timing.
"Equius, oh my gosh, are they," Feferi gasped. She felt his hand turn and she turned her body to look at him. He was on his knee, opening the box that contained the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. It was a silver band that proudly displayed an indigo gem in the middle. It was the color of his eyes, the color that would appear in the ocean water on just the right nights, when the pure white moon shown above it, when everything was in perfect alignment. It was the shade of blue that to most people seemed meaningless, but was the color of love to her, her most beloved shade. The color that made her heart melt every time she saw it. It was his color.
"Feferi Peixes," Equius smiled nervously. "Four years ago, I had accepted your dinner date request. I never thought that a simple sandwich shop and a movie could begin the spark of something so incredibly amazing, that I would be kneeling to the most wonderful and brilliant person I have ever known. It had only been the first night of many, just like tonight that started something so big. And now I ask you, to continue this marvelous privilege of loving you and marry me." He took her trembling hand into his. "Feferi, my love. Will you give me the honor to marry you?"
She couldn't speak. No words would obey her thoughts and speak aloud. All she could manage was to collapse into his awaiting arms and kiss him.
Nepeta smiled in Dave's arms from across the bridge. "Thank you fur helping." She whispered to her friend.
"It was a good idea, Nep. If you get anymore, you know where to call."
She giggled and turned to watch her caretaker and his now fiance kiss each other under the tree they set up that day. It was tricky to plan this out and everything could've gone wrong. He couldn't caught her and they never make it, somebody actually catching her. The list could go on, but her young mind didn't focus on that. Instead, it began to focus on the feeling of being watched. But when she turned to look around, she found nothing. The only suspicious thing she saw was a parked red truck across the field. And it didn't have any humans in it at all. There wasn't anything for her to be afraid of, besides, she was the mighty huntress! She could take anything on and come out okay.
…couldn't she?
On average, weddings are a pain to plan. They can take anywhere from four to eighteen months to plan, depending on what you want. Feferi and Equius's wedding was to take a year to wait and plan. They would have it at a club that Feferi's father belonged to. It over viewed a lake and had beautiful fields to play in. It was perfect.
Well, maybe the idea of it was. But in actuality, things were far from being anything related to perfect. Nepeta was okay with a little bit of change now, like Feferi coming over almost all day everyday. But more and more she was being left alone or forgotten in the midst of wedding day plans. And she was far from being okay with this anymore.
Take that day for example. Equius and Feferi were on the couch downstairs while they thought that she was asleep or something. She was watching the clock tick by and sighed for the thousandth time that hour. Today was her second wriggling day. She would turn two and she was beginning to think that Equius had forgotten. It was already way past lunch time and she still hadn't even been told anything. Actually, she recalled him telling her good morning earlier.
Carefully, she went down the stairs to see two heads talking quietly together. As she got closer, she could see they were holding something in their hands. It looked like a book, but it only had pictures in it. Adults didn't really read books with no pictures, Nepeta knew that. Why were they doing that?
"Equius?" The two heads turned to her. Just as fast, her confidence went away. She had hoped to make him realize what he did wrong, but maybe he could remember with a slight nudge. "Do you meow what today is?" She asked hopeful.
He scrunched his eyebrows together. "I believe it is Wednesday, the twenty-third of July. Is there a reason why you need to know?"
Her heart sunk and she shook her head with tears pricking her eyes. "No. I wanna go play outside. Is that okay?"
He nodded and turned back to the picture book they were looking at. Nepeta went out the back door and closed it gently behind her. She had to rub her eyes to stop the tears from coming out. She knew that this would happen. She knew it!
Equius had forgotten her. She knew he was happy, is not a bit stressed, but he promised her that he would remember her and he wouldn't stop loving her. If he forgot, does that mean he doesn't love her anymore as well?
You know what. Enough was enough. If he didn't remember, then she would go to somebody she knew would. And he loved her just as much as any other troll. They were best friends after all and Cronus had promised her that he would take them around the world! It'd be better than that dumb old veterinarian clinic anyway.
With lots of effort and climbing, Nepeta swung herself over the wooden fence of her backyard. She landed in part of her front yard where she knew that she couldn't be seen no matter what window or angle you were at. Her two sweep old mind had to think hard to remember where exactly Karkat lived. She knew the location okay, but the way to get there was a bit harder.
She had to think about the way they drive to get there. She couldn't see out of the car very well, but could still feel the movements when she wasn't sleeping.
"Here I come," she smiled and began running. She wasn't wearing any shoes at the time and her feet were not liking the feeling of the hot concrete at all. Luckily, the pads of her feet helped a bit to prevent any burns.
Nepeta was walking for what seemed like hours. She wondered if Equius even realized that she was gone from the backyard. She hoped so. She hoped that he felt sooooo bad about it and was crying about how she was gone.
...but at the same time, she really hoped that he wasn't. It was a conflicting feeling that had only made her feel worse. Maybe she should turn around and go home. That way Equius wouldn't worry anymore and maybe he remembered that today was worth celebrating. However as soon as she turned around to start walking home, she realized something very important.
She didn't know where she was anymore.
She realized with horror that she was completely and utterly lost. The green blood was sure that she had known the way there, but nothing looked familiar anymore!
Panic struck the lost troll as she whipped her head back and forth trying to find something, anything, that looked familiar in any way, shape, or form. Her heart was beating way too fast for this to be healthy at all. She could barely focus on anything anymore. She regretted coming this far, she regretted trying to leave, she wanted to take it all back, do it all over again. This wasn't fair, she was too scared for this and she was so lost that she didn't even know where she was! All she wanted to do was to find Equius again.
"Hey!" A voice called out. Nepeta didn't answer in her state of panic, so the voice's owner made their way over to her. "Hey," they said much softer. "Are you okay?" Nepeta peeked out from behind her bangs to look at the human. The human smiled pitifully at her. "Are you okay?" They asked again, a bit more softly this time.
She shook her head and crouched. "'M lost."
He looked around for an owner. Surely trolls needed to be on leashes, especially one this small. He figured that she was pretty young since she was so small and she was so panicked by the event that had happened.
"Hey, it's okay. It's okay. What's your name?" The man asked. "Mine is James."
Nepeta peered out at him. He seemed nice enough. Maybe he could even get her home! With the thought of returning home she slowly got out of her crouched position onto her knees. "Nepeta," she told the man(now known as James.
"Well, Nepeta. Where's your owner? Trolls shouldn't be out on their own."
Owner?
Nepeta didn't think she had an owner. At least, not that she was aware of. Was Equius her owner? He never called himself her owner, he always said that he was her caretaker, guardian, or friend. She was so confused that all she could do was slowly shake her head in thought. "Don't think so." She muttered.
James frowned slightly. He wasn't for troll rights and only saw them as pets. But all the same, he couldn't leave her there. She would be taken away or something. Before he did anything, he needed to know more about this troll. "Well, do you have a home?"
She nodded at that. She was sure that she had a home! She was happy enough to get a question right that when James had reached out to take her hand, she didn't remember what Equius said about strangers: don't trust them or go anywhere with them. She only remembered that as James was buckling her into his car and by then it was too late. Nepeta found herself being taken away by a stranger.
A feeling of uncertainty filled her gut along with a cold finger touching her back. "Um, mister?" She asked, not being able to see out of her window. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere safe, sweetie. Don't worry."
She worried.
A little bit after he had strapped her in, he pulled up into a parking lot. He parked the car and helped Nepeta out of her seat before holding her hand again (only her 'furiends' get to pick her up and hold her) to walk her inside. The building there looked pretty clean and had a kitty on the sign, which made Nepeta feel a bit better. On the inside, there weren't any animals that Nepeta could see, which made no sense. If there was a kitty on the sign, where were all the animals?
James began to talk with the lady at the desk and often used her name. She didn't quite understand what they were saying, something about registrations and licenses and stuff. James still had his hand in hers, which she was okay with, but liked Equius's hand more. At the memory of her large friend's hand, she felt the fear bubble up in her tummy. She didn't like that he was so far away from her and she knew by now he had to notice her being gone. The sun was high up in the sky when she had left and now it was getting dark. Guilt for leaving and making him worry, fear for when she could go home, and regret for ever leaving in the first place all filled her body and made her want to throw up. Her tail wrapped around her ankle again.
Suddenly, James picked her up and placed her on the counter. "Okay, sweetie. They're gonna take care of you from here, alright?" She scrunched up her eyebrows. What did that mean? "It was nice to meet you." He rubbed her wild hair before turning and leaving.
Now even more emotions filled her. Why was he leaving? Why wasn't she going with him? What was going to happen now?
The lady at the counter gently pat her head. "It's okay." She cooed. "We'll find your owner. Now, let's go to the back and get you settled, yeah?"
Once again, Nepeta was picked up from the counter and was taken around the corner of the desk. She watched with interest on where they were going but couldn't really get all that much with her head being held to only look behind them. The only time she was able to look in front of them was when she was set down. But instead of it being a room or something more comfortable, like she expected, she had been set down in a cage. The lady stepped out from the cage and had closed to door behind her. With not another word or explanation what was going on, the lady left and did not come back.
The cage wasn't very big. Only about the size of a small walk in closet. She was able to walk around freely if she so choose to do so, with the cages being high reaching fences, but all the same, she did not like this. In the cage there were some chewed up toys, a bowl of water, and a questionable towel. The floor was a cold concrete that froze her bare feet. She quickly went up to the got and began shaking it.
"Hey," She yelled. "Lemme out of here!" Tears started to blur her vision when nobody answered. "Let me out," she sobbed again, choking on the last word. She sat down, back against the fence," and pulled her legs up to her chest. She leaned down a bit to rest her head on her knees and put her arms around her head. She began to cry out of everything that had happened that day. All she wanted was to go home...
What seemed like hours dragged by to Nepeta. She eventually had worn herself out and was sleeping when the door to the front opened. The lady from last night took out a bag of food from a closet that created the surrounding dogs in other cages to bark. Nepeta flinched. She wasn't a big fan of dogs already, she didn't need to have them barking in her sensitive ears. The lady filled up from bowls and slid them under the cages.
When Nepeta received hers, she looked back up at the lady. "What's this?"
The lady jumped, as if not expecting her to talk. "That's, uh, breakfast." She answered curtly. "You get two meals a day."
Nepeta frowned. "What about lunch?"
"You don't get lunch," the lady answered.
Nepeta huffed and picked up a piece of kibble. It had a weird texture to it, like it was covered in dust. Her stomach growled hungrily, but she didn't dare eat the 'food' they served here. She was beyond hungry, she hadn't eaten since breakfast the previous day and was starting to really feel it. Equius would've given her food, anything, by now. And if not she could've gone to Feferi to get something to eat.
Feferi...Maybe Nepeta was being too harsh on Fef. Sure, she had taken the attention away from her multiple times, but she made Equius happy. Plus she did a bunch of stuff with Nepeta too, so maybe she wasn't all that bad. Her thoughts didn't expand much onto it, she would later in years, but not while she was this young. Her mind simply wasn't mature enough.
A bit later, a new lady came around and played with all the dogs and such. Nepeta hesitated, before walking over to her fence wall and pulled on it a few times to get the lady's attention. "When do I get to go home?" Nepeta asked over the barks.
"You have a home?" The lady asked, clearly surprised by this news.
"Yeah, don't you?" Nepeta thought maybe the woman lived here with the dogs. It'd explain why she smelled like that at the very least.
The woman smiled a bit and walked out of the dogs' cage. She made her way over to Nepeta's opened it, and walked inside. She crouched down, not minding that Nepeta had backed up a bit from nerves. "We only knew that you came in last night. I didn't know that you had a home or could speak."
Nepeta blinked at her. Didn't all trolls and humans talk? Why was this place so weird?
"Do you know the phone number there?"
The olive troll shook her head. Equius had tried to teach her, but the numbers were just too confusing. The lady frowned at her answer and she cursed herself for not trying harder to memorize the nine digit number.
"Well, do you know any names? Maybe I can look them up in the phone book."
Nepeta knew that one! A bit of joy seeped into Nepeta as she told the lady her caretaker's name. The lady nodded her head and told her that she would be back in a bit when she called the Zahhak number.
When she came back, she had a smile on her face. "Good news, he picked up. He said that he'll be here in a few minutes to take you home." She reached through the hole in the fence and pat Nepeta's head. "You're going home."
Nepeta beamed at this and jumped around in her small cage. She was so excited to see Equius again, she could not wait! She tried to sit down and wait, but her body's energy level prevented this. She had to walk around or do some form of small exercise in order to be a bit more comfortable.
When the door to the front world opened again, she hit the fence with the force of her running speed, but to her confusion it wasn't Equius. The man that appeared certainly looked like Equius. And he did not work here, the dogs backed away from their cages when he passed by. The man was tall, if not a bit taller than Equius. His arms bulged with muscles, much like her version of Zahhak. He had long, black hair, a square jaw and face set, strong everything, and was wearing the facial expression of annoyance.
She backed away from the gate opening. She didn't know who he was, but he gave off the impression that she should be nervous around him. He squat down to meet her eye level and she swore that she heard him growl. The two of them stayed like that, frozen with fear and annoyance with the other until Nepeta broke it.
"Do you meow Equius?"
"Equius," the man had a very deep voice that rumbled. "Is my son."
As she would find out later, the shelter she was at had an outdated phone book. At the time it was printed, Equius was living with his father in college. So the only 'Zahhak' number available was his. And unfortunately enough, he had been the one to answer his phone and be demanded to come down and pick up his troll. The father of Equius should have just let the troll be and give it up. No son of his needed to have an animal, but he needed to talk to his son anyway. Having given away his troll would not be an acceptable conversation starter, thus he went.
He had taken care of all the paperwork that was needed and even went to the extreme and paid for the fee of taken care of Nepeta. But he still bore the face of an extremely upset man. Nepeta was very nervous around him and wanted to ask about Equius, but she didn't dare. Not when he was like this.
Once all of the paperwork was finished and everything was set to go, the man grabbed Nepeta by her arm and walked out of the shelter, not paying attention to Nepeta's struggles or complaints of the pain. Once outside of the building, Nepeta realized how early it was. The sky was still a bit pink from the sunrise, the air still smelled a bit like dew on the plants, the birds only just waking up. The traffic jams also filled her ears and made her heart beat just a bit more. How long was she there? How long did she make Equius worry…?
"Equius," his father barked into his phone. "I have something at yours from the shelter. Get over here now," he growled and hung up. Nepeta's ears laid flat against her head and her tail slightly curled in towards herself. No wonder Equius was so stingy sometimes, being raised by this man.
Equius's father looked down at her with disgust. "Why my son got you, I don't know. But I must ask, what blood are you." He didn't say it like it was a question and Nepeta took a second longer to answer. "Olive," the father spat. "I cannot believe that. I cannot fathom the fact as to why he wanted such a disgusting mistake in his life."
Nepeta flinched. She tried so very hard not to cry, but that was nearly impossible. Especially when he went on.
"At the very least he should've gotten a blue blood or at least something worth the air."
She wanted to run up to Equius's car as it turned into the parking lot a few minutes later, but was still trapped in Equius's dad's hand. His grip was crushing her arm very literally and she whimpered. Once Equius had gotten out of his car, he began to run over to where Nepeta was.
She smiled slightly for him, but was still weary of her captor. And she turned out to be right when the ground was suddenly rushed up to her face. She didn't have time to reach out to stop herself from falling, so her head hit the black road full force. She could feel the scrapes forming on areas over her body and pouted. She was able to get up on her own, but welcomed the feeling of her best friend and guardian's hands on her small arms to help her up.
"I believe that thing is yours."
Equius growled under his breath and picked up the shaking Nepeta. He knew that she had to be freak out. And even more so with the fact that his monster of a father had picked her up. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and dug her face into his chest. He could feel her crying slightly and sent his heart out to her. This was not okay. Not in his book, not okay.
"'That thing' has a name. Her name is Nepeta." Equius growled. He glared at the man. "Apologize. You pushed her down for no reason whatsoever."
"Why would I apologize to something that won't understand?" He shook his head. "Why would you even want a thing that vile? I can't comprehend it."
"Because she understands much more than you ever could and you have to feel sorry for yourself because of your pitiful life," Equius snapped. "You don't ever treat her with such a force again, do you comprehend that?"
His father's facial expressions turned sour and he began yelling at his son. Equius began yelling back, but kept one calm hand on Nepeta's back, gently petting her. He was furious with his male parental unit for treating her like that, but also was releasing all the worry and stress he had gotten from the second he realized she was gone. He didn't know what he would do if she was actually gone. There were some very cruel people in the world that he didn't even want to think about. He was glad that she was safe, but he was also worried about what she encountered.
Trolls were not viewed the same as humans and were often treated like animals. Yet they could go to school, read, speak, they could do everything a human could do. Maybe in some ways they could do it better too.
Whatever the case, Equius and his father soon finished their argument. His father had been wanting to know what Equius was getting up to now that he was taking large sums out of the bank recently and now he knew why, his son was engaged. He seemed to be a little happy, but was just glad that now he could expect actual peace and quiet. Once he was gone in his own car, Equius wouldn't leave without him going first, he went to the grey car and strapped Nepeta in.
"Are you alright?" He asked her in a worried tone. "No broken bones or anything?"
"I'm hungry." She yawned. "And tired. And thirsty."
He nodded. "Well get you all the essentials once we arrive back home. And we will be having a talk about your actions once we get there."
"Eq," She stopped him for a second. "Yesterday was my wriggling day." She was so exhausted that she didn't have any energy left for nerves and had to get it out in the open so he might be able to see what she was thinking.
His face twisted into regret and he rubbed his face. She could barely hear him, but he cursed. This made her surprised. He never cursed, ever. He climbed into the car and sat down in the seat next to her. He grabbed her hand tightly in his own. "Nepeta," He began softly. "I cannot express my level of sorrow for what I had forgotten."
She said nothing. She didn't really know what to say. He looked really upset. The vet reached up and took off his glasses, then rubbed his eyes. He looked really tired, like he didn't sleep at all last night. He didn't sleep? She looked around the car, not knowing where exactly she should look.
"But I thought you weren't gonna furget me?"
He sighed deeply. "I didn't mean to. I guess that I was just wrapped around my own selfish desires I forgot to care for you." He turned to her. "But that is going to change right now. I promise, Nepeta, I will do my best to make sure that you're safe and happy."
For whatever reason, that made her heart fly. It brought her all the happiness the last day should have. If she could, she would have reached out and hugged him, but the damned seat belt was making sure that she wouldn't be able to. Instead she gave him a toothy smile and furgave him instantly.
She didn't know it at the time, but as she looked back on it in future years, she would realize that this was the first moment that she had shared with her moirail. It was her first pale feeling she ever received. And what made it even more spectacular was that even more were to follow it.