A Cat's Mission

"I'll drag you to Hell one way or another," She growled. "Even if I have to go with you."

I looked down into her wide eyes, the feeling of fear finally creeping its way into my body. I had no idea where she was taking me, for all I knew it was into midair outside Eden where we'd both fall to our deaths.

I grabbed her wrist and tried to wrench it away, pulling hard before the gate completely swallowed the whole of her body along with my knees.

"Train!" I heard Eve cry behind me as she swooped in, her angel wings burning white around me.

Creed was beside her, his hand on my upper arm as he tried to pull me free but it were as if Echidna's grip weighed a thousand pounds. There was no reversing this.

"Creed," I called to him as I tried to find him in the chaos of darkness and fluttering wings. "Get Eve out of here. Try to find the others."

It was obvious to me what Creed thought of my orders as both his hands now pulled hard on my arm, yanking me hard to the side but only that.

From somewhere in the room I could hear Echidna's laugh, sending shivers up my spine as the gate rose up higher around me, darkness beginning to take over.

I yanked my arm free from Creed's grip and looked up at him, refusing to take him down with me. It might end here for me but it wouldn't end for them.

I caught a glimpse of Creed's pained expression before blackness swallowed the light around me and sent me falling. I could still feel Echidna's iron grip on my collar, pulling me somewhere I couldn't see. She had plans for me, whether I knew them or not.

What felt like hours but must have been seconds later light erupted around me again followed by the sound of Eve calling my name. I took in a gulp of breath, the feeling of suffocation still with me from the darkness of the gate.

"You wanted to know what I've done with your friends?" Echidna asked darkly, suddenly close as she slammed me into the wall. "See for yourself."

I turned my head slowly at the sound of an animalistic growl that echoed from somewhere nearby. The room we now stood in was a part of the greater room I had been in only seconds ago but it was cut off by a wall of stained glass windows, the glass cracked and crumbling. It was like Creeds castle, only something here was very wrong.

I jerked away from Echidna's grip as something lurched out of the shadows, moving in a way a human shouldn't…but it was human all the same.

He moved with a strange lurching step, his hands claw-like and his eyes a deep crimson that seemed to glow in the eerie light. His teeth had elongated to deadly points and bones seemed too big for his skin.

"No…" I whispered as I shook my head, my stomach turning.

"Oh, yes," Echidna came up beside me as her hand took hold of the side of my head, forcing me to look. "All thanks to you."

I tried to look at her but she forced my head forward, my eyes falling on the creature in front of me.

"If you hadn't been so kind to allow Doctor to test your blood we never would have found it." She almost whispered in my ear.

"Found what…?" I could barely speak.

"The SV Unit of course," She simply replied, a shiver running up my spine. "Of course Creed told you what it was meant for. A simple serum that would accelerate the motor functions of the body. In other words it makes you "stronger". Yet you never felt the effects of it, did you?"

I couldn't shake my head but inside I knew she was right. Both Doctor and Creed had convinced me that the SV Unit was in my body, strengthening my abilities to levels I had never experienced before…but nothing about me was different.

"You needn't worry," She chuckled in my ear. "The SV Unit doesn't flow in your blood; you won't experience any…changes."

"This is what it does…" I whispered, my eyes on the creature I had once known.

"This is what it was created for," She corrected me with another laugh. "But we needed a human factor to make it work-something that would allow it to bond to the human body. We tested so many different individuals blood, we tried for so long. So many people died. Until we found you."

I felt my chest grow tight as I remembered the test tube holding the mixture of my blood and the SV Unit. It was the only one that had mixed together.

"Creed was so convinced that you were special," She spat the words out as if they tasted bad. "That you were some kind of prodigy. The "only one" that would ever earn a place at his side. So of course he was convinced your blood would be the one to work and of course, as always, he was right."

"No…" I shook my head as best I could, unwilling to believe her.

"Oh, yes," She laughed before she released my head. "It's all because of you that your little friend has become, well; I guess you could say he's become stronger. Much stronger."

I jerked backwards as he launched at me, his elongated nails missing the side of my face by centimeters.

"You see once the human factor, or your blood, bonds with theirs its final, there's no going back." Echidna explained, sounding quite pleased with herself. "Of course there is a little something that might help you out."

She held up a small glass vile that hung from a thin cord. I watched it as it swung back and forth from her fingers, catching the light and glittering in the darkness. It was obviously some kind of cure but as long as she had it there was nothing I could do.

She stepped backwards and reached up, catching the cord on a jagged piece of the stained glass window and letting it hang there as if to torture me.

I was snapped out of my trance as another set of lashing nails slashed in front of me, forcing me to doge backwards before I slammed hard into one of the stained glass windows.

"Sven…" I almost whimpered as he slowly moved towards me, his mind far from here. "Sven, it's me…Train."

"He won't remember you," Echidna replied triumphantly. "He's not who you think he is anymore. He's simply an animal."

"No!" I yelled as he launched forward, my body dodging out of the way at the last second as his hands smashed a section of the window to pieces.

"Sven stop!" I yelled over his animal-like growl. "You have to stop!"

"Well, you two have fun." Echidna laughed as she drew a gate in the air and stepped backwards into darkness.

I turned and looked back at Sven, his unfamiliar eyes studying me with a look I had never seen before.

"I don't want to hurt you," I placed my hands out in front of me defensively before muttering. "And it'd be great if you didn't hurt me either."

I could hear Eve and Creed's muffled voices somewhere outside the wall, their attention having been drawn this way at the smashing window.

I flipped backwards as Sven pounced dangerously, his nails leaving marks in the stone floor as I landed several feet away, skidding to a stop.

My hand wandered towards Hades as I watched him begin to circle me, but I knew I couldn't use it. If I could I wasn't going to even draw it.

I spun out of the way as Sven slammed into the wall behind me, my feet stumbling on the uneven ground. I had to stop this quickly, but I was determined to leave Sven alive and hopefully in good shape. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to do this, but I didn't have a choice.

I winced as I felt Sven's nails scrape deep into my arm before he yanked me around and slammed me in the wall, his face threateningly close.

"Sven," I winced as his nails dug in deeper, blood running down my skin. "Sven, you have to wake up."

He eyed me dangerously before letting out a guttural growl, sounding completely inhuman. He was in there, I knew he was, and somehow I had to bring him out.

Both our heads jerked to the right as a set of strange noises came from the closing darkness. Growls, hisses and screams came from somewhere in the unfamiliar space sending shivers up throughout my body. Something was coming and I had a feeling I knew exactly what.

Fear washed over me as I watched their familiar shapes come into the strange light, their expressions and forms similar to Sven's as they made animalistic noises.

The first one I spotted was Sephiria, her dark red eyes immediately finding me as she slowly made her way towards us. Behind her were the rest of Chronos, at least those she had managed to keep on her side.

I looked back to Sven whose eyes had found me again. He let out a quick hiss to the others, the feet stopping immediately as if they realized he meant to kill my himself.

I struggled under his grip, his nails digging in deeper until the pain was almost unbearable.

"Sven," I winced through the pain as he moved in closer, forcing me to press against the wall. "Sven, wake up. You don't want to do this, trust me."

His expression was unwavering as I pleaded with him, trying my best to reach the human side of him that I knew must still be in there.

"Come on," I urged as I glanced over at the rest of them, their eyes too hungry to keep them in one place for much longer. "You've got to snap out of this."

I pressed backwards as far as I still could before coiling my legs up between us and slamming them hard into his stomach, throwing him backwards several feet until he slammed into one of the windows.

The glasses shattered and fell around him, leaving the metal frame behind where I could see Eve and Creed standing several feet beyond.

"Train!" Eve cried as she came running over, her fingers locking around the metal frame. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," I grimaced as I shoved away from the wall and moved away from Sven who was just beginning to recover. "Just stay away from that window."

"Why-" But she was cut off as Sven launch to his feet and ran at me, swinging at random.

I dodged quickly before rolling across the floor and standing near the window, my heart racing and my chest heaving.

"Sven?" Eve cried, sounding close to tears. "What happened to him?"

"Just get away from here!" I yelled to Eve as I dodged again, Sven slamming hard into the window behind me, sending glass flying.

For a second Sven's attention was pulled away from me and centered on Eve, his eyes narrowing as her grew wide with fear.

"Sven, no!" I cried as he lurched forward and lashed out at her, his hand grabbing hold of the front of her dress as she tried to pull away.

I watched as Creed took hold of Eve and dragged her away from the window, pulling as hard as he could to keep her away from a man she had once trusted more than anyone.

I felt a hand grab a hold of my shoulder and wrench me backwards, sending me falling hard to the floor.

Sephiria leaned over me, the tip of her sword pressing hard against my chest where my heart was beating itself to death. She snarled down at me as I stared up at her, my eyes wide as I tried not to breathe just to keep the sword from sinking in.

I heard a scream and looked over to see Eve struggling against Creed's grip, reaching out to Sven as if nothing were wrong with me. He yanked his arm in through the window and threw something familiar down to the ground.

I watched as what I realized was Eve's cross necklace fell softly to the ground without a sound, the light flashing off the metal as its chain settled around it. That's when it hit me. The vile. The vile of what I could only guess was the cure for this madness inside it.

I looked up at Sephiria, her eyes wild as she held the sword with shaking hands. I reached down and whipped out Hades, aiming it directly at her upper arm and firing. Blood spattered the wall behind her as she wrenched her arm upwards in pain and along with it her sword.

I rolled out of the way before pushing myself to my feet and sprinting towards the window where I could see the small vile swinging from its cord.

I dodged a set of claws as Anubis flew at me, his form even more changed than it already had been. I ran along the floor before throwing myself up as high as I physically could, reaching with everything I had for the one most important thing I could think of at the moment.

I felt the rough cord brush against my fingers before I clamped down around it, pulling it down with me as I fell to the ground.

I turned quickly and slammed against the wall, looking around at the figures that had now surrounded me. Either they knew what I was up to or they were completely determined to kill me now.

I looked for a weak spot in the semi-circle that had now surrounded me, waiting for a moment to break through and get somewhere where I could figure out just what I would was going to do, but it seemed I was going to have to figure something else out.

I raced forward, taking Sephiria by surprise as I moved straight at her. She raised her sword high above her head, ready to cut me down but as she moved to do so I fell and slid beneath her and between her legs and those of the figure next to her.

I spun and pushed off the wall until I was on my feet. I ran as fast and hard as I could to the other side of the room, my heart racing as my mind screamed for me to move faster. I only had so much time, I had to do whatever it was I was about to do as quickly as possible.

I spun on my feet only inches away from the wall and held Hades up. I opened its chamber and let all the bullets fall out, the light glimmering off them as they clattered to the floor at my feet.

I snapped the chamber shut before grabbing the cord of the vile with my teeth and pulling it free. I spat it to the floor before jamming the glass vile into Hades' muzzle, hoping beyond all hope that this insane idea would work.

I aimed carefully, waiting as the group slowly made their way towards me now that they knew I was cornered. It was almost perfect, a few more seconds and it would be time.

"Come on…" I muttered as I aimed with one eye open and one clamped shut, waiting with everything I had. "Come on…"

They moved closer together as they made their way towards me, their teeth bared and their nails at the ready.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. They moved just close enough, their bodies pressed together as they snarled loudly. I held Hades with both hands before pulling the trigger hard, the kick of the gunning shoving backwards for the first time in years.

The vile inside shattered and flew through the air, the pieces coated with the liquid inside as they sailed their way towards the group. I fell hard against the wall as I watched and waited with bated breath.

This could work. Or it could blow up in my face. It had to work…it just had to.

I watched as the glass pierced their skin, blood dripped down their skin as they fell backwards, clawing at their small wounds as if they were being torn open. Their skin seemed to glow a deep orange, as if they were on fire internally and it was only a few seconds later that they collapsed to the ground and everything went silent.

I watched in silence as the glowing fell dark and their features changed before my very eyes. It was working…

What felt like hours later they were waking up, their eyes filled with confusion as they looked around. They were scared, they were even hurt, but they were saved…they were back to normal.

"Train?" I snapped out of my relief to see Sven standing in front of me, his suit town and his eyes filled with more than just concern. "What happened to you?"

I couldn't help but laugh as I felt my knees go weak and I slid down the wall to the floor.

"Nothing," I replied as I gave him a weak smile. "Let's just say I think you've paid me back for all the times I called you old."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, finding nothing amusing about the situation.

"Nothing," I shook my head. "It's fine."

"If you say so." Sven sighed before we both looked at the group behind us who looked just as bewildered as Sven.

Sephiria straightened out her now torn jacket and re-sheathed her sword, staring at it as if it had unsheathed itself. The rest of Chronos gathered around her as they tried their best to understand what was going on, but they didn't have much time.

I grabbed a hold of Sven's leg as the room shifted, sending us sliding towards the stained glass windows.

"What's happening?" Sven cried as he leaned down and grabbed my arm.

"Like I know!" I yelled back as I tried my best to stand. "But I think it's time we left!"

We stumbled again as the room shifted back, throwing us several feet across the floor. I looked over to see Chronos doing the same. Only Sephiria had saved herself from falling, her fingers hooked around the frame of one of the broken windows.

"C'mon," I said to Sven as I grabbed his arm and pulled us both to our feet. "Let's go."

We made our way towards Sephiria to see she was talking to Creed who stood on the other side of the window, both their expressions grave.

"What's going on?" I asked as I stepped up beside Sephiria.

"Eden's collapsing in on itself," Creed replied calmly, as if it didn't matter. "With no one to control it it's been taking in too much energy. It's overloading."