You Can Never Forget
"So, my friends, we sit on the edge of our seats while murderers commit their atrocities and then are beaten…well, I guess I'll say goodbye for now, ciao from Bluebeard and all the smartasses in the neighborhood, and my new friend here. Don't give up on the idea of a whole in which all animals and people can live together. Perhaps we all need to evolve, to grow a bit more, maybe we all need to grow into Felidae…"
Francis was listening to the sound of an acoustic tune playing from a radio next door. The black and white feline had been sitting on the windowsill outside of his master's bedroom, looking out at the evening sky and seemingly reflecting. Several months had passed since the event of the Claudandus Sect and he had returned to a semi-normal life since then, Bluebeard had healed from his wounds and now carried the scars on his back, Francis himself had also recovered from his wounds, the fur around his eye covering the scratches he had received from Claudandus. While the event was behind him, Francis couldn't help but think back to what went down several months prior, the things you find out moving into a new neighborhood. What was originally just an uneventful move turned into an adventure that sent the tuxedo cat spiraling into the very corners of his psyche. He remembered the bodies, the electrocutions, the catacombs, the videotape, the mutilations, the revelation, the battle, the fire. To say it was something he remembered fondly would be a false sentiment, but he was no coward, he had gone straight into the depths of hell and would have dug deep enough till it killed him.
"Mind you, I wouldn't try it again…" Francis murmured to no one in particular. The cat had a tendency to document his life in his thoughts, sometimes speaking out loud as he was narrating. It was an odd quirk of his, he would admit, as it sounded like he was trying to be an author, being a cat and all as opposed to a human, but Francis thought highly of himself regardless, after all, he stared the devil right in the face, it wasn't hard to see where his confidence came from. That, and his tendency to become frisky with others, a sly ringer one could say.
"Staring into the void again, smartass?" Came a gruff voice to Francis' left side.
"Well, I was until I got a visit from the cyclops", The two-tone feline replied pointedly.
"Oh, fuck you too", Bluebeard cursed as he sat next to Francis, "you came close to losin' one of them pretty lil eyes from what I saw."
"In that case, I guess it's lucky to have both still intact", said Francis, "I don't think I'd prefer wearing a patch everywhere I went."
"Pfft, patches are for pussies, yeah, my eye's fucked up, I ain't gonna hide that shit", the Maine Coon scoffed, "shows I've got balls."
"That can't get any", Francis teased slyly.
"Watch it, smartass, I might just let Kong tear it a new one next time", Bluebeard snorted, "now that might be entertaining."
"Yeah…" Francis trailed off as he remembered Kong, the large feline who without a doubt fit the definition of a pumped up jackass, yet at the same time, he couldn't forget his reaction to seeing what happened to Solitaire, not only for seeing Kong actually having emotions besides arrogance, but seeing what she had in…
"Hey! HEY!" Bluebeard yelled, nudging Francis several times.
"What?" Francis asked before attempting to recompose. "My apologies, I was just…thinking…"
"No shit, I think I can take a wild guess on what", Bluebeard murmured.
"Never mind, change of topic", insisted Francis, "what brings you by?"
"Oh, I dunno, just thought I'd pop in to check on an old friend", Bluebeard replied as innocently as he could.
"I'm not giving you any food", Francis deadpanned.
"Hey, a cat's gotta eat, you owe me anyway", snorted Bluebeard.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Francis asked meticulously.
"Well, the scrapes on my back ain't goin' anywhere, and I made the dumbass choice of comin' along", Bluebeard remarked as he turned his back to Francis.
"Oh, I haven't forgotten…well, since you'll probably stick around, I might as well humor you and that big stomach of yours", Francis murmured, "you're lucky we've got Cod tonight."
Francis climbed back through the window with Bluebeard following not too far behind. He hated how the dark orange feline used his scars as leverage against him, though he knew why. Francis knew he had gotten Bluebeard into that position to begin with, on that very night. Francis shook his head, he really needed to stop thinking about the event. It had come and gone, there was no need to dredge up old news.
Dinner went by as uneventful as one might imagine, Bluebeard wasn't one known for table manners and chewed into the fish like a savage beast. Francis found that he couldn't care less, he had come to expect this sort of thing from Bluebeard and found it oddly amusing to an extent, it fit the scarred cat's otherwise vulgar demeanor to a tee. Night soon fell and Francis' owner Gustav was in his office researching a new piece of architecture, the lamp shining on the desk as he looked through one of his books. Francis and Bluebeard were sitting in a corner of the room, having finished their dinner. Francis slowly closed his eyes for a few seconds before he heard the sound of creaking and opened them, seeing the silhouette of a cat walking out the door.
"Bluebeard?" Francis asked, noticing the lack of another cat to his right. "Oh, he's going to raid the kitchen…" The tuxedo cat gave an unamused expression as he followed the other feline down the hallway.
"I told you before, you're not getting any sec…" Francis trailed off as he noticed the kitchen was empty, no sight of Bluebeard to be heard or found. The door to the kitchen suddenly shut, grabbing Francis' attention. He found an open window and leaped up to see someone entering the basement through the small window at the bottom of the house.
"What on Earth…?" Francis murmured as he jumped down to the grass and squeezed through the window, landing on a box just a few inches below.
"Hello? Friend? Foe? Whoever?" Francis called out, there was no response, there was almost no light in the room to speak of, just a small lightbulb that occasionally flickered. Something could be heard falling over on the floor and Francis hopped down the box to investigate.
"I don't believe you were invited here…Kong, I swear if this is another trick of yours, you'll-"
"I've gone by a few names before…Kong, though…that's a new one on me…"
Francis suddenly froze…that voice…it sounded familiar…but it couldn't have been…at that moment, the lightbulb flickered on to full brightness, and there, standing just a few feet away, hidden in the shadows, was another cat…one that Francis couldn't believe was in front of him.
"What…no…no, you're dead…"
"Hmm…what an interesting observation…" The dark brown and grey mix replied, as if he'd just heard an amusing joke. "You're quite perceptive, aren't you…"
"I…I must be seeing things…you can't be…" Francis tried to speak, but couldn't articulate his words. He was still trying to process what he was seeing.
"Alive? Well…there must be a reason for my presence, isn't there…?" Claudandus mused, "Otherwise, how would I be staring right at the person who, for lack of better words, resulted in my fate…oh, that's right, I'm eternal now…I'm anywhere I want to be…and anywhere you don't…"
"You…what do you want?" Francis asked, trying to sound unfazed.
"Well…I was thinking, we're overdue for a long and thoughtful conversation…" Claudandus replied, slowly stepping forward so Francis could get a better look at his face, "you know, for someone who I should have the utmost contempt for, given they ruined everything I had built up, stuck their nose in business that didn't concern them…I'll admit, I admire you, Francis…you have a certain…intelligence that not many people, let alone cats, are gifted with…when you set your mind to something, you really commit…hmmhmmhmm, reminds me of someone I know…you and I…we're not so different in a sense…we could have been…companions per se, had we worked towards the same goal…what you possess is someone I know I'd have gotten on with…"
"Do not compare me to yourself…" Francis scowled, "we might have similar aspects in terms of determination, but that's where the line ends…I for one had no intention of joining up with a genocidal psychopath who was willing to burn bridges with anyone he had connections to just for the sake of making a point…you killed people for nothing more than gratification, you took the lives of innocents, you ripped apart families, you even went against the very people who looked up to you through that fake name of yours…you and I are nothing alike…I for one don't seek pleasure in others' pain and suffering, I saw things I didn't need to see, and yet, I pushed myself further because I wanted people to stop dying…people you saw as nothing more than to stick your claws in and cut their lives short…I saw a man break down over his dead mate and children still yet to be born…I saw a blind woman who kept her chin up with her head severed from her neck…what satisfaction do you get from inflicting such things onto people…?"
"It's not the satisfaction I get from what I do…it's all the natural course of things…I had the plan mapped out specifically, because I knew how I wanted things to play out…" Claudandus replied, his expression unchanged, "you see, being used as a lab experiment taught me a few things…you need to take charge of your own destiny…be an example to those around you…and so I did…I created an empire where I was in control, I had people who would listen to me, believe what I had to say, all under the guise of an alias so they wouldn't know who Claudandus truly was, the mystery cat who escaped the confines of that lab…escaped the clutches of those humans…creations of the Devil himself…you see, Francis, humans fail to understand emotions the way we do…we are creatures made from purity…they are creatures made from the pits of Hell…they might act like they care, that they empathize with us, they take you in, feed you, treat you like a guest…sometimes, you need to learn the truth the hard way…"
Claudandus paused, Francis eyed him from the other side of the room, with a sinking feeling over where this was going.
"You try to claim that Man has good intentions…tell me…what good can be found in reality…I had heard of the experiments done by Preterius, the stories of cats who came in, never to come out, used as nothing more than to be poked, prodded, cut, sliced, like nothing more than stuffed animals…I was one of the lucky ones, initially…they deemed me a success…until I became nothing more than an object for them to do whatever they wanted with my body…they never cared about me, nor any of our kin…we were mutilated, dissected like they could just cut us open whenever they felt like it…you can't even begin to imagine the pain…the slow, agonizing pain at the hands of those bastards…and I wasn't the only one, all around me I saw nothing but the brutal suffering of my cohorts…you claim to have seen things one can only wish they'd never see…I saw and experienced those events, it was nothing but torture in that laboratory, they thought they could use me as a pawn, 'a mascot' for their own sadistic endeavors…so you know what I did…I killed that disgusting professor…I tore and ripped his fucking face in! Give back to the world for what it gave to you, that's what I say…I knew what I had to do…the world needed to know the true evil that was Man's intentions, that they needed to come together under a new order, where Felidae was the superior race, to cleanse the world of Man's sins and mark the start of a new age!"
Claudandus' voice rose as he continued to speak, Francis meanwhile found himself unable to turn away from the Havana Brown's speech, it was exactly like their final confrontation, yet for some reason, Francis felt the elder male emitting a stronger presence than he did before, the events relapsing before his eyes; Deep Purple, Felicity, Solitaire, Joker, the cats that were hung as puppets by Mendel, Claudandus' face as he came in for the kill, the room blurred around Francis into a hellfire as the elder male spoke above him.
"What the?! No! Get out of my head! You don't exist!"
"You can never forget, Francis, embrace it, Francis, BE ONE WITH ME, FRANCIS!"
"NO!"
"EMBRACE!"
Claudandus' thunderous voice overpowered Francis as he found himself hung by strings, like a puppet, the twisted cat's eyes staring right into his, as if they were trying to pierce right through his soul, Francis unable to resist as their forms became one.
"I…AM…YOU!"
"GAH!"
Francis fell to the ground with a thud, breathing heavily. He looked around, he was still in Gustav's office, the human man had fallen asleep at his desk while Bluebeard had a look of annoyance on his face.
"What the hell you screamin' about, sounded like you were havin' a heartattack", the Maine Coon snorted.
"I…I must have nodded off…" said Francis, still looking quite anxious. Bluebeard noticed this and changed his tune.
"You alright?" He asked in a slightly concerned manner.
"...Yes…yes, I'm fine", Francis replied hastily, "I just…it's nothing really…"
"Whatever you say…" Bluebeard murmured, making himself comfortable.
"Yeah…" Francis looked down at the floor, still trying to process what had happened…another nightmare…it had been a while since he had one of that caliber…perhaps he hadn't gotten over the events as much as he thought…the sound of an owl caused his ears to flick and turn his head up…before giving a sigh as he tried to settle back down for the night…the thought still lingered on his mind, even as he began to go back to sleep;
"You can never forget…"