Hey guys, this is my first ever Final Space story. If I get the characters wrong, I apologize for that. This was originally created by me over on AO3, so feel free to check out my account there. I hope you enjoy this cause I have some bad news. I'm not gonna say it here. I'll tell you in the Author's Note at the bottom, so please enjoy.

As the Galaxy Two warped out of light fold, managing to nearly avoid crashing on a green planet with planet wide fissures visible from space. The Team Squad breathed a sigh of relief. Now having managed to find sanctuary from certain death (at least for the time being until they have to do it again). This gave time for Gary and his friends to cope and reflect on the day's tragic events.

As everyone went their separate ways in order to cope in their own ways, Little Cato went to the place he went to when he was grieving over his "fathers" death.

Father. That word now sounded like a foreign language to the young cat like boy and considering everything that has recently, he felt himself about to throw up by just using that word in any way, shape or form.

As he sat down on the warm, metal floor, he began to think back on everything that happened now that he has the time to do so.

For Little Cato, everything was like a blur to him, having not given him much time to process certain and very important things. A few hours ago, it was just another day aboard the Galaxy Two in the poisonous dimension know as Final Space with whoever enters slowly becomes poisoned due to their genetics not being compatible to resist said poisoning until they eventually perish because of it.

After Mooncake began to charge the Hyper Trans Dimensional Bridge that would be able to get hi and his newfound family back to their own universe, he unknowingly got in the way of Gary and Quinn's... whatever it was that they were going to do in an attempt to "hype them up". But considering that how quickly he was ushered out of the room, the young cat had assumed that it was something rather private considering how much the two couldn't keep their hands off of each other when they went into Gary's room while he waited for them.

If the young prince of Ventrexia was honest, the two should have just told him that in order to avoid the rather awkward silence between them.

And speaking of telling him things...

A few hours later, he found a very shocking truth from Ash:

Avocato, the one who's been like a father to him for most of his life (barring Gary) had killed the young Ventrexian's real parents, much to his shock and confusion.

But before he could have the time to process all of this, Ash, clearly having gone off the deep end because of this information, took him to Invictus, their imprisoned enemy in her attempt to "protect" him from what she called the Team Squad "a bunch of killers and liars.

She also called Quinn (who she was comparing to Nightfall, who was a future version of her) a former shell of what Nightfall was. And considering the physical similarities between the two, he couldn't help but notice the the similarities either. But unlike Ash, he has bonded with Quinn before she went into Final Space and Nightfall as well when Avocato died, and while he was saddened to see Nightfall sacrifice herself to free the formerly imprisoned but now deceased titan Bolo, which allowed Ash to tap into her powers (that came from Invictus himself) and exorcise the space demon creature from Avocato, freeing him from his control, he didn't compare Quinn to Nightfall like Ash did.

When Gary and his "father" managed to follow them into Invictus' lair, Little Cato, shocked and confused asked the latter did her really kill his parents, to which he replied with a remorseful...

"Yes."

Hearing that simple, single answer was like a billion electric shocks to his nervous system as he fell to his knees in despair, in which he asked the million dollar question in his distress.

"Why did you do it?"

The answer he received was what he knew when the Lord Commander interrogated him, Little Cato and the other Team Squad members for Mooncake's location. Regardless, even though he knew the answer, it still shocked him nonetheless.

"I'm a killer. It's what I do best."

Hearing that caused the prince of Ventrexia to ask him another million dollar question in his mentally exhausted mind.

"Why didn't you kill me?"

Upon hearing that, the murderer of his parents dropped his blasters and marched forward in order to explain himself, despite Ash's efforts to stop both him and Gary from reaching the distressed boy.

"Because when I found you in that wreckage, In that instant you gave me purpose. I may have killed your parents, but you... You saved my life."

While he was processing this information, having everything play on loop in his his head, he faintly heard what Gary and Ash were saying.

Speaking of Gary, it made him wonder something.

"Did Gary know about this too and didn't tell him out of respect for Avocato?"

Before he could even try to answer that question in his head, that's when all Hell broke loose...

For one, the Lord Commander, who was now a Titan, had arrived to confront Invictus before he had to deal with Ash, who managed to break his fingers as payback for when he broke her fingers when she and the others were escaping from him.

While the two were going at it, in a ironic way, one of their enemy's diversion gave him, Gary, Avocato and H.U.E (who was now in a big robotic body cause of Biskit) time to escape. So LC actually helped them in a way.

But they weren't out of the woods yet as Ms. Graven was on their tail, royally pissed off more then ever and filled with rage. As they were about to leave Final Space when Ash used her powers like a tractor beam to prevent the Galaxy 2 from leaving.

And add the cherry on top of the universally sized crap sundae, when Mooncake used his planet destroying mouth lasers to stop Invictus' puppet from stopping them from getting out of there. But somehow, Ash managed to bypass the strength of his blast and absorb the little guy's powers and take it for her own.

This was the final key needed to allow Invictus to be released from his imprisonment.

What made it worse was that she did it to spite Gary for "taking everything away from her". Now she was returning the favor by hurting Mooncake and taking him away from Gary and the others.

So they had to leave him behind in order to get out of there... just like Fox.

Remember him dying caused the young prince to flinch a little knowing how important that his big, one armed, and rather hammy, man child-like Tryvuulian rival was to Ash.

Upon thinking that, he felt tears begin to manifest in his eyes.

Ash.

The girl that was crazy about him.

The girl who kinda liked him.

The girl that was he was always kind to in times of tragedy.

The one that he respected and bonded with because their respective tragedies.

The one who told him that Avocato killed his parents!

The rage in him began to boil when he remembered that. Rage that Avocato not only lied to him all his life, but also at Gary for possibly knowing about this and not telling him.

But also saddened that Ash essentially doomed not just him, but also his so called father, the other father that he actually respected, Mooncake, Quinn, Grandma Sheryl and essentially all of reality by going to Invictus' side.

Now that he has time to process everything, the question the youngling's mind was...

"Should I forgive Avocato for what he did?"

Suddenly, he heard something coming down the chute as it's made it's presence known as Little Cato knew who it was.

"Hey, kiddo." Avocato said, trying to lighten the mood a bit as he got up from being on his back. "Y-You doing okay?"

"Oh, it's him." The young Cato that to himself as he looked away from him. "What do you want, Avocato?!"

Avocato instantly knew the harshness and ice cold in his adopted son's tone and couldn't help but flinch a bit. He couldn't blame him of course for obvious reasons but still hearing the boy who was essentially a son to him speak to him like that emotionally hurt him. Especially since he referred to him by his actual name and not 'Dad'.

"I... uh..." The man sized cat began, trying to think of what to say before he cleared his throat. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You know considering everything that's happened."

"You really wanna know." The kid asked, to which he saw him nod. Snarling a bit in anger, he said. "Okay, I'll tell you." He then took a breath before he began to explain his feelings. "I'm pissed. The hell. Off!" He revealed, exploding into a rant. "Not just at you for what you've done, but also at Gary for not telling me about it and at Ash for turning on us and joining Invictus! And on top of that, I'm the prince of a world that YOU essentially betrayed and ruined under that Lord Commanding butthole's orders!" He then turned around to face him. "Just admit it! You killed them because you were too scared to fight the Lord Commander, weren't you?!"

In his anger, he punched the wall, despite him REALLY wanting to punch Avocato in the face but he didn't have the strength to do it as he was worn out at this point.

Avocato looked in sadness as he saw adoptive son begin to shed tears. As far as he knew, he understood where Little Cato was coming from. Because of him, the young Venterxian was now the orphaned prince of a hell scape, war ridden world. So he didn't blame the kid for lashing out at him the way he is, he knew that he deserved every single bit of it. After all, he and LC basically ruined his life by betraying Ventrexia and giving it to their enemy. And to be honest, Little Cato was completely right. Looking back on the day that the two met, despite not trusting the little imp, deep down he was scared to fight the Lord Commander. Despite his appearance, the one known previously as Jack could easily rip him apart if wanted to. Hell, he even killed him once, but that's too long of a story saved for another day.

His anger receding a bit but not having faded completely, he then asked as he clenched his fist. "Does Gary know? Be honest."

Looking down, he muttered remorsefully. "Yes, he does." Before stating to him. "But you shouldn't be pissed at him for that." He continued as he tried to lay a comforting hand on his "son's" shoulder.

Only for him to smack it away as the young, cat-like prince said in his pissed off state. "Don't touch me! Just... please continue."

Though hurt by this physical rejection, Avocato did what he was told and continued. "I told him because he is my best friend. I had to tell him so he wouldn't wallow in despair over being forced by Invictus to kill Fox. To show him that he wasn't alone in being manipulated into forcibly killing someone."

Upon hearing that his adoptive father was manipulated into killing one of his friends caused Little C's eyes to go wide in shock. "What? G-Gary was being manipulated into doing that?"

"Yeah, he told me so himself. And while we're on the subject on LC, you were right. I was scared to fight him. Scared and distrustful of him." Avocato revealed to he sat down on the floor away from his adopted son. "Listen, uh, I'll understand if you refuse to forgive me for what I've done. I honestly don't deserve it. And like I said back when the Lord Commander captured us with everyone else, I'll never forgive myself."

The room was silent for five long, straight minutes as Little Cato tried to process everything that he's been told by the one who's ruined and lied to him his entire life. Now he knows that he shouldn't be pissed at Gary for not telling him, he began wonder if he should forgive his so called father.

Letting out a sigh, Little Spider-Cat responded in a rather coldly. "It's going to take me a very long time to even consider forgiving you. I hope you know that."

"I know..." Avocato responded, guilt evident in his voice as he began to tear up at the prospect of his son never forgiving him. "I'll wait no matter how long it takes, even if you never do."

Hearing that caused the orange cat-like alien to smile a bit before he let out a small chuckle. "That idiot." He thought to himself before he then asked in a rather nervous tone. "Can you... tell me about them?"

Avocato smiled a little as he walked over to his "son" and sat down next to him.

"I hope you're ready for long stories, son. Cause I have a bunch to say about them." He said with a smile, wiping some of the tears from his face.

Little Cato sat down next to him as his father figure began to explain everything that he knew about the King and Queen of Ventrexia.

By the time that Avocato finished, two whole hours have passed. Little C took the time to fully process all of it.

"So..." Avocato began, bringing the child out of his thoughts. "Are you... going to be okay?"

"I think so." His son answered, although reluctantly. "I'm even more worried about Ash."

"So am I, in spite of her trying to kill me and Gary and taking you to Invictus." The older Ventrexian said.

"Not to mention draining Mooncake of his powers and freeing Invictus." Little C reminded him, sadly.

"Yeah, that too." The dark blue furred cat-like soldier responded. "I hope he's alright."

"Me too." The orange Spider Cat said before he then asked, rather reluctantly. "Do you think Ash is still in there? Like we could be capable of reaching her?"

"Well, if she is, getting to her is going to be one hell of a fight since she's filled with so much rage right now." Avocato said, slightly hoping that the real Ash was still in there somewhere behind that wall of grief and rage.

"I hope we save her, Avocato." Little C said with tears in his eyes. "She's been through enough as it is."

Embracing his adopted son as tight as he could, Avocato then said. "We will, son. And we're not going to stop until we do." He then recited Gary's quote when it comes to the Team Squad. "Like Gary usually says, "It's back to back. For life."

The two sat in silence as endless stream of tears went down both of their faces.

The End!

Hey guys, time for that bad news I mentioned.

Final Space got cancelled!

Despite me being really mad about this, I remembered this quote from Dr. Seuss that calmed me down almost every time that a show I loved watching got shafted by whatever bad not enough ratings, negative reviews, this pandemic (which is probably one of the major reasons), etc.

"Don't be sad because it's over, smile because it happened."

So, if anyone out has a show they like to watch that ends up getting cancelled for whatever reasons, remember this quote to quell your anger and sadness.

Thank you and have a nice day Final Space fans.