Author's Notes Please Read!: Hello everyone. So after reading some of the comments that already came in from last time, I've decided to cut out the whole side story all together and just stick to the main story hence getting to the end of this story. If you already read the side story, sorry for the confusion. With it, I wanted to experiment and see how things would work out putting a side story in this story, but it turns out... not so well... and I didn't want to get rid of this story so...

With this last chapter you will find out how this whole thing really happened. As for the side story, I might make it into its own story. I hope that you will enjoy this last chapter!

Chapter 6: The Source of the Cat Frenzy:

After a long day of work, Hope headed over to Lightning's apartment. His eyes traveled along the ground tired. All he wanted to do was find somewhere he could lie down and rest. Her place was the closest one he could think of and also he still couldn't remember where his own place was so that helped going to hers. Nearby, a scent drifted across his nose. He closed his eyes as he breathed in the nice smelling aroma. It was almost enough to make his ears and tail perk up, but his body was too tired to respond.

Once he stepped in front of the door, it suddenly opened. He opened his eyes surprised. Once he stepped in, he became even more surprised.

"Welcome back." In front of him stood Lightning with a plate of food in her hands and a gentle smile on her lips. "How was your day at work?"

He blinked a few times. "Um? It was okay..." Then a smile came on his lips. "Whatever you got smells really good."

Lightning gave a faint smile. "I made it all myself."

When he looked over at the counter, he saw a ton of food made. His eyes lit up as he could feel his stomach delight. "It all looks really good!" He was about to step over, but soon heard a sound. "Meow…" Curious, he stopped and looked over. Nearby, he saw two girls and one boy. The girl that stood in the middle seemed to be the oldest, the boy the second oldest, and the little girl beside the older girl the youngest. All of them had cat ears and tails like Lightning and he did. His expression changed to surprise. "Who are you guys?" He was almost afraid to ask.

The two girls looked very similar to Lightning. A big grin came on the youngest girl. "Daddy!"

His eyes widened as he was stunned. "What?"

Lightning walked passed him. "You don't have to act so surprised." She stood behind the three children and smiled. "These are our three little accidents."

"What?!" He looked uneasy. Then his eyes lifted up to her as another thought came to mind. "Hey Light? How come you seem so happy?"

"Well this is your daydream isn't it?"

Hope's eyes snapped opened. He breathed in once he realized that he was still out in the hallway and in front of the door. "Wow that was a very…vivid dream..." A nervous look came on his face. He began to step backwards from the door. "Maybe this would be a good time to find my own apartment." He was about to run off, but Lightning opened the door to her apartment. She was a little confused as to why he was running off. "Hey! I thought I smelled you out here."

Hope froze and looked back. Lightning looked more confused. "Why are you running?"

Hope became nervous. "Oh! No reason." He headed toward the door. "I hope that was just a dream." He stepped inside of her apartment. Once his eyes searched around, a little disappointment came on his face. His head dropped. "At least there are no kids, but there's no food either." Down below, he could hear his stomach let out a growl. "She still won't feed me." When he lifted his head and looked over, he saw Lightning staring toward the floor as one arm held onto her other arm. "Something wrong?"

Lightning looked up at him, snapping out of her thoughts. "Hm? Oh nothing. Any luck on finding a cure?"

Hope shook his head. She let out a sigh and headed over to her couch. She sat down as she looked toward the ground. He went over and sat down beside her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Lightning's eyes drifted away from him. "I don't know..."

Hope gave a smile of comfort. "Come on. Things can't be that bad."

Her eyes glanced at him before looking back down. "I guess that I'm just…sort of…thinking about what happened the other day. The urges…they just won't go away."

"I see... Well you enjoyed it and so did I. There's no shame in that."

She closed her eyes as she became serious. "It can't happen again. We have to resist our animalistic instincts."

He leaned in and brushed his face against hers. "I think that it would be all right if we give in a little."

She pressed her teeth together as her cheeks flushed with a light red. "No. There's no such thing as giving in a little. We'll end up losing ourselves completely."

"Then if you lose yourself with me, won't that be all right?"

As much as she wanted to resist, he leaned his body against her making her lean forward until her body was lying on the cushions. "Don't."

"It will just be between the two of us. No one else has to know."

Lightning frowned. "That's not the point."

Hope shrugged. "Fine."

He was about to get up until he heard her again. "Wait…" His eyes traveled over. She was lying on her stomach. She tried to stay serious, but through her expression showed her uneasiness. "If you tell anyone I will kill you."

Hope looked a little surprised. "So? Does that mean-?"

Lightning looked serious to show that she was. "One last time and that's it."

"All right." He leaned forward. A few seconds later, her white tail lifted into the air. She breathed out as her eyes were closed. A noticeable sound had escaped from her. The sound had brought a smile to his face. "See. This isn't so bad." Hope was lying beside her as his fingers stroked the top of her head and cat ears. As he continued, she tried to ignore the fact that she was purring at his touch. "You're still not allowed to tell anyone about this."

His lips curved into a smile. "But doesn't it feel good?"

"Yes…" she muttered.

Minutes later, she was sitting up with his head on her lap. Her fingers stroked though his hair and cat ears. There was a smile on his face. She placed her head on her hand that was on the armrest of the couch. "Don't you feel any sense of shame?"

"No. It's just something that I enjoy."

She sighed as she turned her eyes away. Her finger continued petting him. "Hey Hope?"

He opened his eyes hearing her concern. "Yes?"

"Do you think that we'll be like this forever?"

He turned around to where he was lying on his back and looked up at her. There he could see her concern. He sat up beside her. "Listen. I don't know if we will find a cure, but I know one thing."

She gave him a curious look. "What's that?"

"Despite the weird urges to mark territories, and easily getting distracted by strings and wires; I had to find some way to take those things down so that the scientists would get back to work…" He looked up as he started thinking. "And also ignoring the urge to ban all dogs..." He shook his head and returned his attention back to Lightning. "Despite all of this, something good did come out of this."

"What's that?"

Sincerely he stared into her eyes. "You." She was a little surprised to hear him say so. "If it wasn't for this, I'm not sure how I would've approached you, but now…I'm kind of glad that this happen."

Lightning turned silent. His words had made her think. Then she leaned over toward his face. Her lips curved into a little smile. "You know…I don't regret it so much either." Hearing her say that had caused a smile to come to him as well.

The next afternoon, Lightning, Hope, and Serah were walking through the streets of Academia. On the street, Yeul was standing behind a box filled with cats. She was holding one cat up in front of a business man who looked uneasy. She bumped the cat into the man's stomach several times. "Here. You will take this cat. I have foreseen it."

The man held up his hands nervously. "Sorry little girl, but I don't need a cat right now."

Suddenly a big, dark sword went in front of the man and stopped very close at his neck. Instantly the man's eyes widened, scared. "You heard what she said. Pay for the cat and go."

Shaking, his hand reached into his wallet as best as he could and pulled out all the money he had. With his hand still shaking, he held out the money. Caius took it from his hand. "You may go now."

"Here is your cat." Yeul held the cat out in front of him. The man nodded and took off running with the cat. He ran passed Lightning, Hope, and Serah screaming. They were a little confused as to what was going on. Serah placed her hands behind her back. "That was weird."

Noel crossed his arms. "Do you have to threaten everyone who comes to see the cats?"

"If it will help Yeul's goal of selling these cats then yes." Caius answered.

Noel pointed back behind him where there was a little girl crying with a cat in her arms. "Did you really have to scare the kids into buying too?"

"All cats must go. I have foreseen it." Yeul explained.

Soon Lightning, Serah, and Hope walked up to the three on the street. Noel, Caius, and Yeul noticed them as well. Serah looked worried. "Look! It's Caius!"

An angry look came on Lightning's face. She went over to him along with Serah and Hope. "What are you doing here? Trying to start something again?"

Caius looked over at her. "Ah! It's you."

"Don't worry Lightning. He's not here to start anything. I'm making sure of that." Noel tried to assure her.

Lightning crossed her arms. "Good. You still have some nerve showing your face around here."

"Loser of our fight says what?" he asked quickly.

Lightning gave a confused look as to what he said. "What?"

A smirk came on Caius's face. "Ah! So you have admitted defeat to me."

"You-!" She was ready to go over to him and use her gunblade to do the talking, but Hope grabbed her by her waist holding her back. "He's not worth it Light."

"Try as you may Fluffy." Caius provoked her.

Her eyes narrowed at the name. "Fluffy?! Who are you calling Fluffy?!" Slowly Lightning tried to reach him, but she was struggling against Hope's weight as he was struggling to hold her back.

Caius looked over at Hope. "I hope for your sake that she is housebroken and not running around scratching everything like someone with rabies."

Lightning became furious. Her eyes glared at him with intent to kill. "Oh that's it! I'll put you down right now! I'll pull those ears from right out of your head!"

"Lightning calm down! He's doing this on purpose!" Hope tried to stop her.

Noel leaned over toward Caius. "Do you really have to provoke her like that? I think she means it this time that she's going to kill you."

"Let her try. I'm getting bored selling cats all day."

Yeul looked over. "I heard that Caius."

"Sorry Yeul."

Lightning tried to pull Hope's hands off of her, but he wouldn't let go. "Let go of me Hope! He's so dead! First I'm going to start by cutting off his tail!"

Serah kneeled down toward the box of cats, curious. "What are you guys doing with all these cats?"

Yeul kneeled down and looked over at Serah. "We are selling them so that they will have good homes."

Serah smiled nervously. "Oh! That's very nice of you. With everyone around being cats themselves, I don't know if people are going to want cats..."

Nearby, Lightning struggled to get Hope off and managed to finally push him off. Quickly he reacted by grabbing onto her legs in another attempt to stop her. More, his body ended up being dragged along the ground. Caius stuck out his tongue at her which only provoked her more. Noel tried to pull him back, but he refused to budge.

"I think that people will want cats more after the experience of being one. By now, everyone in the city should have enjoyed the feeling of being one." Yeul said.

Serah lifted her eyes up to Yeul surprised. "Wait… You know that everyone has been turned into one?"

Yeul nodded. "Yes. I wanted everyone to be turned into one so that they could experience the joy."

Lightning looked over surprised. "So wait. You're the one who turned us into cats?"

Hope stood up. "Wait! You have that power?"

Yeul nodded. "With Caius help yes."

Lightning looked upset. "This whole time you had everyone going crazy because you wanted us to be your pets?"

"This just wasn't for my benefit." Yeul stood up. "I think that it has helped you as well. Actually he gave me the idea." she pointed toward Hope.

Hope looked surprised. "Me? How?"

"One day I saw you here on this very street. You were trying to think of some way to get her attention." She pointed toward Lightning. "I like cats and I knew she would too. I have foreseen this."

On the streets in Academia, Hope stood with his finger to his chin as his eyes stared toward the ground. "Now what kind of gift can I give to her?"

Yeul and Caius stopped nearby. "Maybe we should help him."

Caius sighed as he gave a dull look. "Do we really have to? He is working with those two sisters."

"This will help with my vision. Can you go get him?" Caius sighed again.

"Maybe this isn't the right time. I should just head back to the office." Hope placed his hand to his forehead as he searched out. "If I can find a way back through Academia. Why did I let them make the city so complicated?"

As Hope continued thinking, Caius held out his sword and was about to strike until Yeul spoke. "Do not kill him."

"What else am I supposed to do?"

"Knock him unconscious."

Caius sighed with his eyes closed.

"What's going on? If I turn around to see someone sneaking up behind me-" Before Hope could turn around, Caius hit him in the back of the head. He fell down on the ground unconscious. He looked back at Yeul. "Was this really a good idea doing this in broad daylight?"

"Just make it look not so suspicious." Yeul told him.

Caius grabbed Hope by his foot and dragged him along the ground. They pulled him into an alleyway. Once they stopped, Yeul kneeled down to Hope. "Now to use powers I didn't even know I had." When she looked over, she saw Caius reaching into Hope's pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Put it back Caius." He sighed and put it back.

After she was done, Hope opened his eyes. Through his blurry sight, he saw her until his sight became covered in darkness. Caius threw the sack over his shoulder. Hope let out a cat like sound from his body hitting hard against his armor.

Later, they stood in Hope's office. Caius emptied the sack and let Hope fall on his desk unconscious. He turned his attention to Yeul. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Soon everyone will be cats just as I have imagined."

"You do realize that you're the cause of this right?"

"It has been foreseen." They turned and started walking away.

Hope looked upset and surprised. "You were the ones who turned me into a cat?"

Yeul nodded. "Thanks to you, you completed my vision. We all get to experience what it is like to be a cat."

"But-?" Before Hope could finish, Lightning stepped forward upset. "But what about me? Why can't I get this collar off?"

"That was the connection between you two. Only he can hear it." Yeul explained.

Hope and Lightning glanced at each other before they looked at Yeul. "So it's like a dog whistle? Every time I heard it, it does something weird." Hope said.

"That was supposed to happen." Yeul replied.

Lightning tried to pull the collar off, but it wouldn't come off. "How am I supposed to get this thing off?"

"You cannot. It is stuck there until you turn back to normal."

Hope looked surprised at Yeul. "We'll change back?"

Yeul nodded. "It will wear off soon. Everyone will be back to normal again."

Hope, Lightning, and Serah sighed with relief. Hope smiled at Serah and Lightning. "Looks like I won't have to research any further."

"Yeah!" Serah agreed.

A thought crossed Lightning's mind. "Wait! How did you guys get this collar on me?"

Caius placed his hand to his face as he closed his eyes. "Do we really have to explain this one?"

Yeul looked at her. "Relax. You will be back to normal soon so… does it really matter?"

Lightning sighed as she placed her hand on her hip and closed her eyes.

That's it for the story! I hope that you liked it. The mystery is finally solved. As always, let know what you think and thanks for reading!

To read more behind the story, check out my Author's Final Notes on my blog that will be updated in the next few days!