The Voice
Aura ran through the woods, bamboo whipped past her face, and rustled as she shot past it. She panted for breath as the smell of death filled her nose. She ran, panting for breath through the bamboo forest. The mist grabbed at her paws as she thundered through it. Her eyes were wide, as she spotted a clearing ahead. She slowed to a jog, then a trot, and soon a walk. Gravestones lined the area, and in the middle was a statue of a stonecat, with bat wings folded halfway around itself. The two feathers on its tail rustled in the wind. It opened its eyes; crimson in the back, and sapphire blue irises, locked onto Aura. It lunged at her, jaws going for her thought. She rolled out of the way, but the cat fell on top of her, pinning her to the ground. She roared as the jaws headed for her neck.
Aura sat up in bed. Kero hovered above, as close as he dared get to his panicking roommate. Aura panted and retracted her claws after she realized it was a dream she had been fighting with. She slid out of bed and onto the floor with a frustrated growl. "Why did I have to have a nightmare on the weekend! I'm never going to get a nights rest now." She growled. 'And why doesn't it ever change or go away?' She thought to herself. Kero fluttered closer. "And your thrashing and growling wake me up every other night." He said. Aura opened the window and grabbed her key. "I'm going to go out for a bit. You can just try and get some sleep here, okay?" She asked, slipping out before he answered. She dropped into the grass and headed for her true home in the woods. The smell of leaves and dirt filled her mind as she walked to the cliff area. She hopped nimbly up the wall of stone. Settling on a ledge she sat on her haunches and lifted her nose to the air. The moon shone on her striped fur as the wind ruffled it.
" Little hawk flying in the darkest night, see the owl in the woodlands who is taking flight, over hills on the breeze to the stars of nights seas, see the little mouse running through the grass with ease."
She sang the old lullaby of her first pack. 'My first pack, it seems so long ago it happened.' She thought to herself. Her song continued for four more verses, before the last note dwindled away. She finished the old lullaby and climbed down the cliff, heading for nowhere in particular. She bent down as a familiar mysterious scent reached her nose. 'The predatory cat!' She thought trying to figure where the scent came from. She put her nose to the ground to find out. She jumped back as a streak of light flew over her head. She snarled, having lost the scent again. The voice returned to its true form and dove again with a silent battle cry. Aura jumped aside and roared. Voice turned quickly and grabbed Aura's neck from behind. She snarled, but the sound was ripped from her throat. She yelped, but no sound came out. Voice cackled, using Aura's cackle, and flew off through the trees Aura tried many more times to produce a sound, but voice had taken away that ability. Aura mouthed some choice words and ran back to her home.
Kero stirred as he felt a frantic shaking on his shoulder. He looked up at Aura who was shaking him. He looked up at her. "Wha izz it?" He asked drowsily. Aura pointed at her thought and tried to scream, to roar and make all sorts of noises. Kero sat up and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, I don't get it." He said. Aura snarled at the sky and picked up an empty card. She pointed to the card. She pointed at her neck and tried to roar again. Kero frowned in thought. Aura sighed silently and grabbed the little guardian around the waist. She looked him in the eye and tried again. Kero shrugged. "I still don't get it." He said. Aura opened her mouth to the roof and silently howled in frustration. "Aura, why don't you tell Kero by writing it out?" Harriss asked, amused. Aura blinked. 'Yeah, why didn't I? Can you hear thought reply's Harriss?" She thought back. Harriss nodded. "Yep. Now grab your magic pen and some paper. It's the voice card by the way." She said. Aura nodded. "Thanks. Wait, how do you know what it's called?" She though suspiciously. Harriss laughed. "I know what all is going to happen, but telling you to early would totally ruin the plot." She said. Aura sighed to herself and wrote out the message, and held it to Kero's face. " Lost my voice to card. The Voice card?" Kero read aloud. Aura nodded. Kero looked confused. "How did you know it was the voice?" He asked. Aura scribbled down the reply, 'Harriss told me,' Kero scratched his head. "Harriss?? You mean the imaginary friend that helped with Glow?" He asked. Aura nodded. Kero scowled in thought a moment before shrugging. "Whatever. Now Voice just stole your voce, and hid. If we lure her back, you can catch her and your voice will return!" He said cheerily. Aura rolled her eyes. 'How exactly do we do that though?' She wrote. Kero's smile fell.
"Well, you haven't caught song yet, so that won't work, hmm… I have no idea." He said. Aura flopped onto her bed with a paw over her eyes. 'I can't believe this. Harriss, any ideas?' Aura asked. Harriss shrugged. "In my dimension the voice was caught with song, but like Kero said you don't have that card yet. Maybe you could just wit?" She suggested. Aura scowled. 'Wait for what?' She replied. Harriss grinned. "In this world the Kero on TV said voice only likes pretty voices, so she won't want yours for long, right?" Harriss laughed as Aura's paws twitched, as if ready to strangle the transparent figure. "But actually, that is the best I can think of." She concluded, fading away again. "Well, if we can't think of anything, we should both go back to sleep, it may help to have a fresh start in the morning." Kero suggested lying in the plush pile.
"Good morning!" Kero greeted Aura in the morning. Aura sat up and slid onto the floor. "Now why can't you get out of bed that easy on a school day?" He joked. Aura swiped at his tail, which he quickly drew away. Aura opened the window once she was dressed and trotted to the woods with Kero. "So, how should wee find Voice?" Harriss asked. Aura shrugged. 'Does voice have a scent?' She asked. Harriss shook her head. "Well, I've got lots of time to think. Some stupid school principal hole suspended me for defending myself from some who attacked me. Excuse me for not wanting to look like ground beef and defending myself, I didn't know it didn't matter if the teacher wasn't even in this area of the hallway!" She exclaimed with a snarl. Aura nodded. "I know, you need to fight back cause humans are such slow runners, especially if there are other pups in the way.' She thought. Harriss snarled. And I'm board out of my skull, plus it's staying like that till THURSDAY!" She shouted frustratedly. "But at least I can finish up a few more of your adventures." She said. Aura smirked. Aura perked up. "Oh yeah, if you can find another good voice, voice will try and take that one and you can catch her. You ere singing anon-human lullaby, so maybe you could get one of your pack members to howl a good tune as bait!" Aura said. Aura considered it. "I don't like asking other people to fight my battles though." She stated. Harriss shrugged. "Whatever, I gotta go tear something up in frustration. See ya!" She said disappearing.
Aura blinked a moment, then poked Kero to get his attention. Aura put her paws around her nose to imitate human imitating a wolf howl. Kero nodded and shrugged. "Okay, what about the wolves?" He asked. Aura pointed to her throat and then did the imitation again. "So, you think the wolves holing could attract Voice?" He guessed. Aura nodded. Then made a 'kinda right' signal with her hands. Kero raised an eyebrow. She raised Illusion. She pointed to it, imitated and then shrugged. Kero grinned. "Yeah, illusion could imitate a voice to!" He said. Aura grinned, and held up her staff, then summoned Illusion. Kero floated over. "Illusion, can you make Voice think there's another good voice around?" he asked. Illusion flew off in a streak of light and weird patterns. Kero and Aura followed. Illusion stopped about a mile later.
A new voice filled the area, a clearing in the woods with a river running through it. Aura sat down to wait. Illusion kept making the voice, one of the wolves howls. The soft howling filled the clearing. Soft enough to not attract the real wolves but loud enough to attract the card.
Voice listened to the wind, pinpointing the howls. Aura's chuckle came from her throat as she flew to the source of the howls. Voice landed in the clearing, looking for the source of the wolf song. She growled to herself, unable to see anyone. She floated to the tree line, to the middle of the clearing, through the tall grass, and over the river. She gave out a screech of frustration and landed on the riverbank. She raised lowered her head to the water, her new voice had made her thirsty, it took a lot of air to use, and now her throat felt like it was coated in sand. She took a few sips from the stream.
She yelped as someone tackled her, water splashing in her eyes. Aura pinned Voices wings to the ground and glared. Kero staggered, panting from the water. "How on Earth did you hold your breath for so long?" He asked collapsing. Aura smirked and raised her staff. "Return to the guise you were meant to be, Star card!" She said, tapping the trapped card. Voice snarled one last time before submitting and returning to a card. Aura lowered her staff and returned it to a key. Illusion returned to a card and floated back to its master. Aura pulled out a pen and signed voice. A small light floated from the card, and back to Aura. Aura gave an experimental bark. She grinned. "Nice to be able to talk." She said. "So, Voice, do you wan to stay as a card, or you can promise to not cause trouble or get seen, and roam free." Aura said. Voice remained as a card. Aura shrugged and slipped her into her pocket.