And again. I'm really getting into the swing of this updating thing, aren't I? XD

Queen of the Pens - Aaw. Am I being too mean to poor little Declan? X3

Crowstorm - Hee~ I don't think I can torment you reader-type-people with his being off for much longer. Just a bit more. =3

Amazingly awesome person - Aaaaw, AAP-chaaaan~ I don't want you to cry! And I secretly think my dog Harley is evil, too. He gets this look in his eyes sometimes when he's watching something - just stares and doesn't blink. EVER. Haha! No worries! For I have another update for you right now! :D

LegendaryHero - Your reviews are always so long. I do so much enjoy the long reviews, I have to say. But the allegiences thing...come on, dude. I'm sure the 200 words it took for me to make a list of cats totally took away from the 6,700 long chapter I wrote. :P Repeating myself over and over within the text doesn't always seem to work out even for the best authors. And it's pretty much the only strand of canon left in my fics these days - that and the sole existance of this could-have-been Twist, who really only had like four appearances in one book, sadly enough. And I was gonna cut it off at the "My name" part but then I was like...naaaaahhh. That would be too cliche. It's cliche enough that I have it in there in the first place, I think. XD

Smokefrost - Yeaaaaah. See, the problem with my poor little Shadow brain is that I don't remember a lot of the canon now. I remembered that thyme leaves were used for calming, so I thought that could like mix with the scariness of fire and make...trippiness. XD My Tomato + Lizard = 48 logic doesn't always pull through, does it? XD

Tangleflame - Yeah. They're not very happy at the moment, are they? XD

Enough drivel!

Onto the story~

Twist groaned. Her head was aching, and even before she opened her eyes, she detected something was amiss. Her nest, generally made out of the stiffest stems that even the guards didn't want, seemed to be crafted completely out of soft moss and feathers. Her nostrils twitched at the harsh smell of herbs.

When she opened her eyes, Flint was staring at her. His yellow eyes were so close to hers she had to go cross-eyed to see him. She yelped, recoiling back into a sitting position.

Flint laughed. "So you were awake!"

Twist glared at him, fur bristling still. "What was the point of that?" she demanded. "Couldn't you have been a little gentler about it?" She sank to her belly again, heart racing.

"Come on," he teased. "You haven't had fun in a long time, I'm sure." A pile of herbs dropped in front of her. "Eat up. Sorrow wants to meet with you when you're done."

"She does?" Twist's stomach roiled with uneasiness. "What for?"

Flint, not looking at her, said, "I'm not privy to that kind of information."

She didn't believe him for a second. "What's going on, Flint?"

He twisted his mouth uncertainly. Then, looking back over his shoulder, whispered, "They say he's coming here today. The master."

Twist's heart plummeted. "What?" she demanded in a low hiss. "What for?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Amber thinks he's coming to see for Ruby's kits. I don't know why, because they're not even ready to be born yet."

"The Rogue does come and see the new kits, does he?" she murmured thoughtfully. She remembered Vivian telling her something similar.

Flint looked uncomfortable again. "You shouldn't call him that. Call him the master."

"I would rather rip out my tongue than ever use that word," she spat, turning her head sharply to the side. "He's not my master. He's nothing to be but an enemy. Like an adder."

Flint let out a humorless hum. "You're right about that," he said, surprising her. "He's poisoning these cats. All for revenge on Lucky."

"Revenge? What did Lucky ever do to him?" she asked.

Flint put one ear back behind him. "I don't know, really. They don't tell me. The healers are a pretty low-rank here. But I know that he's devoted his entire life to killing Lucky. He doesn't let anything get in the way of that…obsession. That's why he targets the Sliders so often. I always thought the attacks were random but he is very meticulous. And smart. He's the smartest cat I've ever met besides Lucky." Now his other ear flipped back, too. "He knows things, Twist. Things a cat shouldn't know. He doesn't think normally. It's almost like… I don't know. Like he thinks like a no-pelt or something. Isn't that crazy?"

Twist thought back to the things she had seen in the Warren—arching metal tubes, no-pelt boxes made into nests, that strange shell water-collector that ran on technology she didn't understand. Lucky's mind was truly a terrifyingly powerful weapon.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "Flint, do you know Kip?"

"Viktor's mother?" he asked. "Yeah. She has to come in here often. I try to fix that cough of hers, but…" He trailed off, his eyes downcast.

"She told me she was one of the first Sliders. Back when Wisp first made it. Lucky was just a kit then."

"Yeah. Wisp is an old cat." He didn't sound as affectionate as he had before, though: something that puzzled her.

Shaking that thought off, Twist pressed on: "She told me that Wisp had two kits with her. One was Lucky. Do you think the Rogue could have been the other one?"

Flint blinked. "I…I don't know. I've never really thought about that." Then his brow furrowed over his eyes. "Maybe. I mean, they do look rather similar. And they have the same manner of speaking, I think." He pitched his voice low and said, "'Yes, Flint. You are such an important member of the Sliders. I, Lucky, am filled with eternal joy that you simply cannot comprehend due to my monotonous voice.'"

For the first time in what felt like forever, Twist laughed once. "Uncanny."

"Right?" His tail flipped behind him once. "But still. Lucky and the master…brothers? That would explain a lot. They do both have the same style of thinking. But…"

"But?"

"But why would he want to kill his brother?" Flint shook his head. "I mean, Max gets on my nerves—got on my nerves—a lot, but I never wanted to slit his throat. Maybe kick him off a pipe once or twice, but never actually kill him."

"Something must have happened to them." Now that the idea was in place in her head, it was impossible to shake. "What does the Rogue look like?" Vivian had told her before, but maybe she hadn't seen the real Rogue. Maybe he was hiding behind another cat to preserve his identity. Twist couldn't leave anything un-imagined when dealing with these savage cats.

"He's tall. A pale brown tabby. Marked. He's got a lot of scratches on one shoulder." Flint shrugged. "I see him all the time when kits are born. And generally, that's here. The needles and the pits are no place for a kit."

"What about the cliffs?" Twist asked.

Flint shook his head. "The only kits I've seen there are the Rogue's own."

"He's got kits?" She was surprised. It seemed impossible that such a cat could have a family.

Flint nodded now. "You know some of them, I bet. Bronze's one. Sorrow's another."

"Sorrow is his daughter?" Twist felt her mouth drop open.

"Why else would she be in charge of a camp?" he asked dryly. "He only puts his own in charge. That's why Bronze leads the battle parties. That's why Sorrow is the only she-cat as camp leader. Though it doesn't explain Sparrow's behavior, but he's always been a weird one. Or so Amber's told me."

"So Sparrow and Bronze are littermates." I knew it. They look identical!

But Flint shook his head. "No, the master only lays claim to the kits of his that are marked. Sparrow and Bronze are from two different litters. Sorrow's the oldest of them all. His firstborn. They say when she was born, her eyes were already open. And they say that she killed a mouse right after she learned to walk."

"They also say she was a gift from the clouds and that her voice is the most beautiful sound in the world." The sardonic voice was not Flint's.

Flint whirled around, letting out a sharp cry of surprise. "Ah, ah. Sorrow! What are—what are you doing here? Here in the medicine corner? It's kind of, uh, weird, isn't it? I mean, why would you be here when you could be leading the camp? You're really good at that, you know, leading the camp and—"

"Just shut up, Flint." Sorrow's voice, though a snap, had no malice in it. Her eyes fixed on Twist. "I called for you. What, were you going to wait until all the time in the world was gone before you responded? Not the best way to treat the cat that holds you life in her paws."

Twist, grimacing, bent her head. "I'm…sorry."

"It's fine. I can talk to you just as well here." Her eyes slid over to Flint, growing colder as they went, until they hit Flint full force. "Why don't you go find something else to do?"

"Uh, well, she's my patient. I should stay and look out for her, right? I mean, that's the best thing for me to do." Flint was rambling again, his eyes darting around without fixing on anything.

Sorrow didn't budge a whisker-width. "Goodbye, Flint," she said, with enough frost in her tone that Twist was half surprised Flint didn't freeze from his nose to his tail.

Flint, bowing clumsily once more, darted from the clearing as quick as he could.

Sorrow watched him go. Then, to Twist's shock, she let out a minute sigh, her ears folding to the side with weariness. "That one is more trouble than he's worth." She turned to look at Twist. "Don't you agree?"

"Uh…" Twist didn't know what to say to that.

Sorrow watched her for a moment, those strange pale eyes on her, then shook her head just slightly. "Not the brightest cats in the world, are you? Sliders?" She sank to her haunches, her silvery pelt falling around her with a beautiful ripple. "Let's get down to business. As you know now—thanks to that bumbling idiot—I am the master's daughter. His first kit." She let out a single almost humorless chuckle. "The only one that counted, anyway. My brothers and sisters were not like me. They didn't have the capacity that I did. And, they did not have the traits that I do." She turned her head slightly, allowing the just-rising sun to highlight her eyes.

"They weren't marked?"

"No. I was the first. It is a rare trait, to be marked. Not every kit born to a marked parent is. The chances are higher when both parents have eyes like mine. Or so they say. So my father says. And who am I to question his logic? He is the most brilliant cat in this forest. Your Lucky aside."

"He's not my anything," Twist said before Sorrow could go on.

Sorrow blinked. "Are you not a Slider?" Then her eyes shone with understanding. "You're from the mountains. I always forget that part."

Twist allowed herself to stretch slowly, trying not to show any pain in her eyes. To show weakness at this point would not only be pathetic—it could be deadly. "How," she asked slowly, "does everyone know that?"

"The mountains are an unknown element in our society, Twist. We need to learn as much about them as we can." It sounded like she had said the words often.

"But why am I being targeted? I haven't done anything to call attention to myself."

Sorrow laughed rather scornfully. "Please. The instant you walked in this camp, you had every eye on you. They sense that they are not like you. You have a different…presence. You walk with a guardedness that they want." Her eyes flickered again, some thought dancing just behind that marked gaze. "They want to know your secrets. The guards, the workers, everyone. Especially my father."

"The Rogue wants…information from me?"

Sorrow put her head to the side. "Perhaps that is the best way to put it. It's more like he wants to know…certain subjects. As soon as Snit told me about you, I wanted you in my camp." Her voice curled with derision at Snit's name. "I took the steps necessary to place you here so I could ask you those questions before my father could."

Twist felt surprise radiate through her, though prayed it didn't show on her face. "I don't understand."

Sorrow sighed heavily now. "No, I guess you wouldn't. You're used to—what's the word…—loyalty. Loyalty to Lucky. Don't give me that look, Twist. Even though you claim to not like him or mean anything to him, I don't see you telling me exactly where and how to find him. Tell me how to get Lucky to come out of the Warren, Twist, and I'll give you anything you want."

Surprised at the sudden change in topic, Twist could only stare at her. "You're serious."

"If I can get Lucky, I can get what I want." She stood suddenly, with a fluidity that made Twist instantly and strangely jealous. Staring down at her, Sorrow added, "I want to change things around here, Twist. Our constant battling with the Sliders is wearing down our forces. The Claws cannot continue to do this. We cannot continue to waste every resource for the chance of my father getting revenge." Her head bent low, shadowing the light that had come across her face earlier, casting her eyes so dark they almost looked the same color. "If Lucky is out of the picture, we can redirect our guards to protecting us. The kits and the queens that aren't getting enough food to eat. The guards could come and work as warriors, helping us, hunting for us. And we can live peacefully."

"So, you want Lucky dead?"

Sorrow mouth quirked a little bit. "Isn't that the easiest way to end this? I was taught that the best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one. Besides, my father won't rest until he's dead but he doesn't ever get our troops far enough into their Warren. Snit tells him that it's too dangerous—that the Warren is a stronghold—but I don't believe him. I think he's trying to win my father's favor from me. He's not even his son. He's lucky to be as high up as he is and that's only because he's a snitch. A fitting name for a little rat like him."

"And what do you need me for?" Twist was guarded. Sorrow was seeming to be trying to make a point, and even if she didn't understand it, Twist was going to get as much out of a potential deal as she could. "I'm nothing to either side."

"That's not true. You're from the mountains."

"What does that have to do with anything?" she demanded. "I'm tired of not understanding! I don't get why being from there is more important than being from anywhere else!"

Sorrow's eyes glowed dangerous. "Careful, Twist. I may be speaking frankly to you now, but that doesn't mean that I'm not still your superior. You should be grateful for this chance."

"Chance to what?" Twist asked, in her most coldly polite voice.

"Mm." Sorrow turned away towards the healers' den, setting her paws down delicately before looking over her shoulder again, tail curled over her back. "I would like your help, Twist. All I need is information. I don't care what it takes. I'll give you whatever you want. All for some information."

Twist settled uneasily onto her haunches, twitching a bit of grass off her ear. "Information?"

And now Sorrow slid back over, her eyes shining with an excitement she seemed to have been reining in. "How do you get Lucky to come out of the Warren? What is there that he wants so badly? And why do the Sliders have such growing numbers? What is his secret? Tell me, Twist, and you can have whatever you ask for. I need to get Lucky out of the Warren. What are its weak points?"

Twist blinked. "Snit has been in and out of the Warren more—"

"He claims it is impenetrable," Sorrow cut her off with a snarl. "I don't believe him for a second. There's something he wants there—something he's keeping to himself. I want whatever it is. He must be hiding something inside those walls. I have to have it, Twist. I want Snit to be gone. He's bad luck for our group—never mind the fact that he's a complete and bumbling idiot. He's been with the Sliders for moon cycle after moon cycle and he's never given us any kind of information we need."

"Snit told me that…" But then Twist stopped. Snit had never told her anything about his spying on the Sliders—nothing.

Nothing…except he had snapped when she had questioned him about Audrey.

Could it be that she's the thing he's keeping secret? Twist wondered. Is he trying to protect her? Even when she had been living with the Sliders, Twist had noticed Snit never strayed far from Audrey and his marked eyes had fixed on anyone he didn't trust. Was he being protective of her? Was he protecting her even now? Even from his so-called master?

Twist just shook her head to Sorrow. "I don't know much about them. I wasn't with them long."

"Then tell me of the mountains," Sorrow urged. "My father never stops speaking of them. He claims that cats from the mountains are more intelligent than any others he's seen. That's why he wanted you. You failed the moss test—when we slipped you sleeping herbs. No other cat has ever failed that test. Cats in these woods learn from the beginning what plants to eat or not. Even the pets. But not you."

"I'm from the mountains but we're no different there. No one in my gang was ever as smart as Lucky. Or, as you claim, your master."

"Hmm." Sorrow didn't sound entirely convinced. She turned away again. "You've given me a lot to think about, Twist. But I still need more information. I have to kill Lucky before my brothers get the chance. I have to keep my father's favor. So I can take his place, one day." Before she reached the end of the entrance tunnel, she turned and called back, "Oh, I almost forgot. My father will be here today. I'll keep you away from him for now but I'll be back later. If you don't have anything else for me then, I swear I'll hand you right over to him. And I never break my word, Twist."

The grass shivered back into place as she left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For the rest of the day, Flint kept Twist in the back behind a thick curtain of bracken. "Sorry," he whispered, bringing her a mouse to eat. "Sorrow's orders. Don't make any sound, okay? The master wants to tour Sorrow's camp."

"Including here?" Twist's eyes widened.

"Yeah. Just…don't sneeze. Or cough. Or breathe loudly. Or anything like that. You know? Just…think quiet thoughts. Grass fields, clouds, night. You know. That kind of thing."

"It's a good thing I'm the one here and not you, Flint," Twist said dryly, backing into her hiding place and curling up. "I don't think you're capable of even thinking quiet things."

Flint laughed once with good humor. "That's a good one. Keep quiet, okay?" Then he disappeared.

Twist settled down into the cocoon of darkness, wondering if the Rogue would stay long in Sorrow's camp. Vivian said earlier that he came around for the birth of kits, but Ruby still wasn't ready to have her litter yet. What could have drawn him away from the cliffs enough to bring him here?

She sighed, finishing off the last bite of mouse and turning to clean her pelt. Sorrow's words nagged at the back of her mind like an itch. She still didn't completely understand the turbulent situation between the Sliders and the Claws, not to mention Sorrow's dedication to the cause. Flint had told Twist that Sorrow was different from the other Claws and maybe that was right—though it didn't stop the silvery she-cat from being just as ruthless and conniving as the rest of them.

Conniving, Twist mused, tossing the remains of her meal into the bushes behind her. I used to be that. Wonder when I changed so much. Her eyelids dropped to slits. Maybe if I still had some of that frustration, I could employ it here. I bet the old me could have been long gone from this place by now. There are too many things hanging me up here—relationships I shouldn't be making. Braiser taught me a lot of horrible things but he did teach me how to look after myself—only myself. She sighed, letting her eyes close for a moment. But now things are different and I don't understand why. I should be looking after only myself, I know that. But I just…I can't anymore.

It was true: she couldn't think in the same way she could before. She didn't know exactly why she had changed—though suspected that Declan had something to do with it—but she liked the change. It felt like she had finally put some distance between her kithood and her life now.

She allowed herself a small, nearly silent laugh. Perhaps I'm an adult now.

The sound quickly died in her throat as the grass rustled up ahead of her. Her eyes pinpointed the spot, unable to blink, as she watched Sorrow enter.

Mousedung! I haven't even thought about what I'm going to say to her yet! I need to make a deal with her now and maybe get out of this mess!

But Sorrow was not alone.

Behind her walked the Rogue.

Even from all the descriptions of him, Twist still felt an odd sort of terrified awe seeing him with her own eyes now. His eyes were more radically marked than the rest of his guards—a piercing blue the color of hardened ice and a deep, dark amber that sent a jolt through Twist's entire body. Two thoughts entered her mind at the exact same time:

The shadows in that dark eye were horrifying—and the color was the exact same shade as Lucky's.

It's true. The Rogue and Lucky are brothers, Twist thought numbly.

"We haven't done much work to this den yet," Sorrow was saying. "I want it pushed a bit farther back into the field behind it. We'd be able to aid our cats much more effectively."

"From what I can tell, the cats here are very healthy and happy. Ruby's kits will truly be a blessing to such an overwhelmingly satisfying camp. I am proud of you, Sorrow." Twist flinched at the sound of his voice; Flint had been right when he said the Rogue talked similarly to Lucky.

"That's good to hear, Father," Sorrow said, sounding distinctly respectful. "All I want is to please you."

"And you have. Though, in ways that I have no entirely expected of you. You have surprised me lately, Sorrow. First you demand to speak with Snit despite your…former relationship. Then you take away from me the mountain she-cat with whom I have been dying to speak. And now you have asked for the newest in our guards—the cat Leo—for your own personal bodyguard. Why is that?"

"Father," Sorrow said, her voice placating. "I don't believe this is the…right place to have that conversation."

"No, tell me now," he said, a polite but inexorable force in his deep tone. From the gap between stems of grass, she could see him frowning. "This is as good a place as any. Why did you want to speak to Snit?"

"I wanted to know some more information about the Sliders. Nothing else."

"Even though I have had him tell you everything he knows? Such a demanding child you are, Sorrow."

"I'm not," she argued, her tail lashing. "I just wanted to make sure he didn't overlook anything."

"I see," the Rogue said, though he didn't sound like he saw at all. "And what about the she-cat? Twist, I believe her name is. Why did you demand for her to work your camp when she could just as easily come to the cliffs? I could make her tell everything she knows easily."

"If you do that, you'd break her like you broke the last mountain cat," Sorrow pointed out roughly. "That she-cat lost all value to us because of your methods. She doesn't even know who she is! She just sits around with a vacant expression on her face all day long."

Another mountain cat? Twist was shocked. No other cat in her gang had ever come down from the mountains before…

Her blood ran cold instantly, as if she'd been dropped in a frozen stream.

No one before her.

Except for her mother.

The horror ran through her again as she relived Sorrow's words: She doesn't even know who she is!

Could that be what happened to her mother? After coming down from the mountain, could the Claws have snatched her up and brought her here? And after that, did what? Attacked her? Brainwashed her like they had Declan?

Twist was still reeling from it, feeling like she was going to be sick, that she missed the Rogue's next words.

They must have been talking about Declan because Sorrow snapped back, "He's different. I told you I wanted to try out your so-called 'smoke treatment.' I don't buy it. He's either not completely done or he's just a moron. He doesn't like to direct the workers. And you should see how he reacts whenever Twist walks around. It's like he gets snake-bitten every time he lays eyes on her."

Twist, despite her terror for her mother's fate, forced herself back to the present. She had to keep her brain in this moment now—she could worry about everything else later.

"Yes," the Rogue almost purred. "I wished to see the effects of smoke treatment on one with a strong heart. You should have heard how he was calling for her. Twist. Tell me, how did she react when she saw him for the first time? Did it break her heart? Did she grow sad and wilted like a dried leaf? Tell me."

Sorrow scoffed. "Cut it out, Father. I don't want to hear your nonsense."

"I do not mean to come off that way. I just wanted to know if by his heart hardening from her, if she still cared for him. It amuses me to see cats going through such emotional antics. Such a waste of energy."

"So you're saying it's better not to feel anything? What, have you undergone your own smoke treatment, Father?"

The Rogue drew himself up indignantly. "Of course not. Do not be ridiculous. I do not believe in love. It simply does not exist. And even if it does, what is the point of it? I expect the loyalty of my cats because they fear me, not because they love me."

"Yes, it works so well for you so far," Sorrow said sarcastically. "Just like it works for Lucky."

At once, the Rogue's lip curled. He swung out a heavy paw and cuffed Sorrow over the head, sending her to the ground. Standing over her and bending his head close, the Rogue snarled in a whisper, "I told you never to mention that name to me. You may be my daughter, but I am your leader. Remember your place, Sorrow."

Twist couldn't see Sorrow's expression, though she saw that the camp leader's tail had fluffed out to twice its usual size. She murmured something that seemed to appease her father, because he backed off.

"I apologize, Sorrow. You know that I do not wish to harm you. Please, remember that you are and always will be my firstborn. But do not mention that cat's name in my presence again or I will make you wish you had never been born in the first place." He turned to go, his steps heavy on the soft ground. Before he left completely, he turned back and said, "I want the she-cat. Twist. I will give you a few days to get her completely healed from whatever you told me happened to her, but I will expect her soon. I will be back for the birth of Ruby's kits. That is about three days. Have her ready then. I will take her to the cliffs and get all the information out of her that I want."

"And then what?" Sorrow had picked herself up off the ground indignantly, shaking the dust out of her pelt.

The Rogue chuckled. "Then there will be no use for her. I will dispose of her. Mountain cats are dangerous. There can be only be one intelligent cat."

"Twist is not the cat you claimed her to be. She's just a normal she-cat."

"They always seem 'just normal,' Sorrow. Just until they reveal themselves." The Rogue's eyes darkened. "And I will not allow any cat to reveal their true intentions lest they contrast with my own. Take care, Sorrow. I will return in three days." Then he was gone.

Sorrow stood there, breathing heavily for a few heartbeats more. Then she turned, her entire head bent low below her shoulders, eyes murderously furious. They found Twist's through the mesh of grass and fixed there, burning. "Did you hear all of that?"

"Yes." There was no point to lie.

Sorrow's ears flattened. She stalked over to the grass curtain and stood outside it, eyes flickering over her shoulder. "And what's your answer, then? Do you have a deal for me? Everything is on the line for you now, Twist. I told you I would give you anything you wanted. So what is it that you want?"

It was such a loaded question. The loyalty she felt towards Lucky…was it strong enough to trump the loyalty that she felt to herself? To her friends? "I…I need several things," she started slowly.

"Anything," Sorrow promised.

"I want two other workers to come with me," Twist said, thinking quickly.

"Which ones?"

"Kip and Vivian."

Sorrow laughed scornfully. "The dying old queen and the puny little pet? Fine, what else?"

"I need all of us to be allowed out of Claw territory unharmed. I don't want the Claws coming after us." She paused a moment and then added, "And out of Slider territory, too."

Sorrow's eyes widened. "You won't return to them?"

Twist shook her head. "No. That's not my home." Which reminds me… "I have another request."

Sorrow was beginning to look a little annoyed. "Okay?"

"Declan comes, too."

"Declan?" She looked confused.

Cursing herself for even speaking the name, Twist amended, "Leo."

"Ah." Sorrow's eyes gleamed with understanding. "Yes, you can't leave without him, can you?"

Twist felt her ears grow hot. "And one last thing."

"You're trying my patience, mountain cat. One last thing and then you tell me everything I want to know."

"Fine," Twist said, just as snappishly. "Last thing."

"What is it?"

"When you were talking to the—your father, you mentioned that you had caught another mountain cat."

"Yes?"

Twist took a deep breath. "What was her name?"

Sorrow put her head to the side. "Why do you want to know?"

"You said I could ask for anything. I'm asking for this." Please. Please let it not be her. Not my mother. Twist sent up a quick prayer to whoever might be listening. Just this once, let it not be her.

"Hmm." Sorrow furrowed her brow, thinking hard. "It was a very strange name, I remember. Very unusual. I assumed that all mountain cat names were like that. Aahhh…" She was silent for several terse heartbeats before she stomped her paw a little, ears flicking. "I remember. It was Ice That Melts On Rocks. She asked us to called her Ice. She didn't last very long."

Twist let out a long, relieved breath. One less thing to worry about. "Thank you."

"Now," Sorrow said, bending close again. "Tell me: how do I get Lucky out of the Warren?"

And Twist began to speak.

This chapter wasn't really as long but it had a lot of dialogue in it so...that's something. I guess. XD

Anyway. Me and my brother are gonna go play L.A. Noire - he hasn't played it even though I finished so now he keeps asking me all those annoying "What happens next?" type questions. I always hate that, because the person asking is always gonna be either disappointed in the ending and not want to play or mad at you should you choose not to tell the answers. My mom's really bad at that. We were watching Titanic - my absolute favorite movie, btw - and she was like, "He dies, right? Jack? He's gonna die at the end, right? If you don't tell me, I'll just look it up. I'll look it up right now. See? Got my computer out and everything."

Annoooooying, very annooooooying.

Anyway.

You know how I do.

R&R~

Shadow