A/N:
So here is the part of the story where the majority of my A.U. background comes into play. None of the things you don't recognize from the 2011 movie happens in canon, though really, I don't think there's a lot about what happened between him leaving San Ricardo as an outlaw and his reunion with Humpty and introduction to Kitty the first time. However, I am putting it at a good several years between for this fic... let's say at least a decade, since we know Puss was still quite young when he leaves as an outlaw. I'm going with like14 years young which is probably an exaggeration of his age but, meh... I also have an idea I'm going to implement about his carelessness with his lives, since we don't have a proper timeline for those, with only Kitty being present at the fifth one being canon. I hope you can enjoy the chapter. Thanks to all the readers who have stayed with this fic. Remember, while not necessary, reviews are appreciated so long as they aren't abuse.
Also, I guess trigger warnings? I just realized I haven't put any, but I wasn't sure if I needed them. Basically, we're going to get some underage drinking. Manipulation, as well as maybe some domestic abuse? Nothing too detailed I think... I'm sorry, I'm really not sure. I don't think I've had to put any before, nor have I been told that I needed them... There's an obvious one that I know for sure will be in this chapter, but for the sake of spoilers I don't want to apply it since it's not detailed and is only mentioned a bit? Like, it's not graphic or explicitly stated, but it's also clear what he means when it's mentioned?
I also don't think I have anything that really affects me negatively, save a couple things that I relate to, so I don't recognize some things as a trigger. But I think I don't need to apply those to the stories I read because it's not something that affects me through reading... If readers will let me know if any Trigger Warnings are necessary, I would really, really appreciate that. And I'll put them in with an update to whichever chapter they're necessary in. Though I'm wondering if Puss's panic attack last chapter requires one... It wasn't a detailed one, but I also never remember the feeling after I've had one as few as they are now a days. I think I keep those memories blocked... I don't know. Again, if someone will let me know I'd appreciate it and follow through with putting them in. On with the story!
Puss reveals some things that had happened in his past. Things he had wanted to forget about. Had been successful with even, until their current predicament forced those to the surface. It's... helpful? So maybe it's, okay?
Chapter 5: Information Central
Puss sighed, getting his thoughts in order. He had honestly not thought about those years in his life in a long, long time. Or, more accurately, he had locked them away and forgotten about them. Successfully, he'll add and with no regrets. Until now, when he unfortunately had to dig them out again in order to figure out anything else that could help them with this mess. "How do you know about the Opening of the Gates and the Life Glass, gato?" Death asked, standing behind the foot of the bed and against the wall, as close to the orange cat as the ginger's two companions would allow. The trio were currently on the large bed with Puss right up against the headboard and Kitty and Perrito just at the foot, in front of Death.
He sighed, before Puss began to explain the best he could in his state. "This happened during the years that followed my leaving San Ricardo as an outlaw. During my travels to clear my name- a journey that was doomed to fail as I instead got more and more involved with criminal activity- I ended up pick pocketing the wrong guy. This put me on the wanted list for a rather powerful and influential crime syndicate that had most of the area under their rule. I was hunted for a while, but eventually they were able to corner me. However, after taking out several of his men, all without getting touched by their blades, their boss instead gained an... interest... in me." he paused, getting the next parts put into place so he could continue.
"What did you pick pocket? Oh, who was he to this syndicate?" Perrito asked curiously. Puss chuckled at Perrito's curiosity realizing that dogs really were just as curious as cats.
"I had pick pocketed an artifact that was made of an unknown material. Apparently, it was the key to the Lost City of Atlantis... He didn't take kindly to me taking it." Puss grumbled.
"You stole the key to Atlantis?" Kitty asked in disbelief. "What did you do with it?!" She demanded.
"I was going to sell it." Puss began, only to get interrupted.
"You were going to sell the key of Atlantis?!" Someone asked in a strangled voice. Puss couldn't be sure, as he was covering his face- and ears- in shame with his hat, but that sounded like a lot like Death.
"I was 15! I didn't know that was what it was! I was just trying to survive at that point!" He defended himself.
"Whoa. Whoa. You were only 15 when Humpty-" Kitty began. Puss sighed, shaking his head and interrupting her.
"I was 14, when that happened. I had gone around for just over a year before this happened." He sighed.
"What happened to Atlantis? Did you find it? Oh, can we go?" Perrito asked excitedly. Puss suddenly looked... pained. Mournful.
"Atlantis... It... It doesn't exist. Not anymore." And Puss looked haunted. They chose not to ask about it yet.
"Who was it that you stole from?" Perrito asked, getting back onto their main question once more.
Puss winced, realizing he would need to answer. And it did have a lot to do with what had happened next. "He was the leader of the syndicate... and after they caught up to me... mí pareja." Silence filled the room at the admission. It was so quiet Puss could hear what was happening in the bar below their room. It made him wince.
"You became partners... with the leader of a terrorizing crime syndicate?" Death was the one to finally ask the question and break the silence. Death asked the question slowly... almost like he was in disbelief that Puss in Boots had partnered with a group. One or two other people on the road as an outlaw was common- examples being Kitty and Perrito and Shrek and Donkey. But an entire group? That was... And a syndicate? You didn't get out one of those easily. Yet, Death was positive that most of Puss's lives were spent alone without any partners other than his very brief partnership with Kitty after Humpty's death. Nor were any of them lived as prey for a large group like a syndicate. Come on, he never died to anyone. Much less a syndicate member! Which honestly, would have been a hell of a lot more forgivable than any of his actual deaths.
"Sí?" Puss answered, though it really sounded more like a question. Obviously, this wasn't what he was expecting from any of them. Was it a surprise? Sí. But was it really this much of a surprise? Surely not. "After they cornered me and I proved my... worth, I guess is the right word... I was basically forced into being a part of the family. It was that, or I would be killed. And quite ironically, I was infinitely aware of my mortality at the time. Especially as I was unaware that I had 9 lives." Puss shrugged. He then decided to rush on before Muerte said anything. The wolf looked rather incredulous at the notion, and it was likely to lead to fury, considering what he had become, if he didn't move on. "I obviously couldn't be trusted to the lower ranking members, and their boss was the best out of all of them, which led to me working directly with him on jobs and as a bodyguard. Mostly so he could keep an eye on me. I was a part of this group for the next few years." Puss continued, starting to look haunted as he did so.
He sighed, as he understood where he would end up going with this. And refusing to not be allowed it while dealing with this particular time in his life, he moved and grabbed a bottle of leche that was a compliment to their room. "Do you really think you should be drinking?" Kitty asked in concern, seeing what he was doing. Green eyes bore into blue and red.
"I literally forced myself to forget about this part of my life and succeeded. But here I am reliving it, decades later. I'm certainly not dealing with this completely sober." he told her. And the three present decided to not to say anything more at Puss's tone and words. Obviously this was a very difficult part of his life. They would allow it. In moderation, of course. Puss wasn't dying to alcohol poisoning on any of their watches. Although, his taking a swig directly from the bottle was alarming. "It wasn't fun. I was expecting to be stabbed in the back at any moment- most likely by mí pareja. So I was especially on edge." He shook his head. "Honestly, had I known about the 9 lives thing, I probably could have gotten out sooner by faking my own death. Would have saved me some pain and heartbreak." he muttered to himself, though Death and Kitty with their better hearing heard it. Perrito, not so much.
"Time passed and the jobs I did side by side with mí pareja were simple collections at first. Things got progressively more and more complicated and dangerous. There were collections. There were theft jobs that I did under the watchful eyes of mí pareja. Then there were the explorations. These started a year after I had been forced to join and had proven myself as not a threat to the 'familia'." Puss did quotations on the word.
"Oh, and how did you do that?" Perrito asked, rather entranced by the story they were hearing. Puss grimaced, like there was a bad taste in his mouth. This led to another swig. It was only his second, so they weren't too concerned... yet.
"I was young, okay? I had just been betrayed by my brother and forced to flee from my home where I had finally been able to get accepted the people in town. I wasn't considered a troublemaker anymore and mí madre was proud of me. But Humpty changed all of that and I was forced to flee. I... I wasn't used to being alone. That year on my own had seemed like the absolute worst part of my life. It was only later that I was proven wrong... I had tried escaping twice in the beginning, but mí pareja was rather adept in capturing me... But after that last attempt, he had sat me down with a drink and we talked. He was curious about my attempts, and I was truthful, more than I should have been. But leche has a way of making a 15-year-old cat not used to drinking be more honest. I admitted to my worry of it all being a trap. After all, if my own brother could lead me into a desperate trap and betray me... What was stopping this group I didn't even know from just luring the orphan and abandoned cat into a false sense of security, only so they could turn on him when his guard was down? My understanding was that syndicates were cruel and did some pretty heinous things. What if I was forced to do them too? What if I was abandoned again? Even worse, what if I wasn't? What did that say about me?" Puss shook his head as the negatives continued to build. He took a deep breath.
"He was understanding." Puss whispered, not even looking at any of them anymore, but at something else they couldn't see. "Everyone there had been betrayed or abandoned, and despite me being the youngest, I wasn't special. He said I watched too many crime telenovelas because it wasn't like they went around mindlessly slaughtering innocent people. They could be extremely merciful. It was only when a member of the family were hurt or killed that they weren't. And if I fit in... It didn't mean anything except that I had found a place that would accept me for me..." Puss gave a hollow laugh at the memory. "His words had been pretty, and I was desperate enough to believe them. Just as he knew I would be. I've never been the smartest or the best judge of character... proven when I hadn't even realized that I was being groomed to be a piece on the chess board." his head thudded back against the headboard he was leaning against as he closed his eyes. Collecting his thoughts. "After that, I started to trust more and more. Before I knew it, a year had passed, and I hadn't been made to do anything particularly heinous. I wasn't a threat to the 'familia' and that was when the explorations started. We discovered ruins and old cities. All in the pursuit of something new. It was... fun. I was enjoying the life I was a part of. I was able to forget it was a crime syndicate that I was a part of."
"It was in an old city about three years after I joined that I had my first reminder of what he had said about the family's own being harmed." Puss swallowed another swig. "Mí Pareja had a business associate that we had been working with for about six months. We were after some knowledge about the location of a Crystal Ball that showed future events that would allow the holders to make a rather unheard-of amount of money. Our information had led us to this old, abandoned city. We found the Crystal Ball and were summarily turned on by our associates, even though the ball was destroyed in the fight." Puss scowled. "They tried to kill mí pareja with some sort of magical curse or something, but I was faster than their assassin. I saved him but got injured instead due to the destructive nature of the magic. Not enough to warrant death, but... It wasn't a pretty... I think that's when it all changed. And that's what would lead me and mí pareja to the Opening of the Gates and the Life Glass." Puss's voice cracked, as he remembered the events of the next three years that had led to the end of his time with the syndicate. In more ways than one and in every way that still haunted him.
Everyone remained silent when Puss took one last swig before passing over a half empty bottle to Kitty. Either A: despite his own feelings, he was trying to stick to what he knew would be best. Or B: he was making sure that he wouldn't be so intoxicated that he let something slip that he felt was best left on it's own. This was obviously where the worst of what had happened began and they were finding themselves a little concerned, since what they had heard was already depressing. "I'm going to be completely honest, I'm not as positive about everything from here on as much as I wish I was considering the circumstances we're in." Puss told them regretfully.
"What do you mean?" Death asked.
"I was unconscious after getting injured and only learned that the one who had hurt me wound up dead a few weeks later. As for the one who had hired him, his entire business had crumbled and as a result he... well, he wasn't a problem any longer." Puss looked uncomfortable and sorrowful at what he wasn't saying. But it was enough that they knew what he meant. "Mí pareja had changed after that night. He had also become more protective of my wellbeing and health. I appreciated it at first, but it had gotten quite frustrating very quickly. After my first rebellion three months later though, he finally let up on his controlling and I got back to work. After that night, he had started searching for... something. None of us in the familia knew what though. He kept it from all of us, and tried to keep us from worrying about him or finding out what exactly he was researching. Eventually, during a night of vulnerability about six months later, he confessed to me what he had been looking for. The Life Glass. Though I knew nothing except what it was called, I didn't learn it's use until much, much later. Of course, he begged me to keep it a secret, so I did. After all, I owed this person everything, so the least I could do was keep this secret. And of course, even before I was the legend, I was honorable enough to keep promises." Puss sighed, looking like he wanted to down the rest of the bottle. "I really wish I hadn't though."
"Due to me being the only one in on this secret, the responsibility of making sure he took care of himself fell to me. I didn't mind. It was usually just the two of us anyways. The two of us began traveling and exploring all manners of ancient, long forgotten tomes. Cities. Ruins. If there was even the slightest chance of finding something, we went there to find out if it had the information we were looking for."
"But how did you find out about the Opening of the Gates and the Life Glass?" Death asked when Puss had paused to take a deep breath. This was what Death needed to know- even if he was looking at the gato just the slightest bit more kindly after the story they had heard so far.
"We were two years and three months into the search since I had joined it, so six years into my joining the syndicate, when we found something that had promise. Remember how I had stolen the Key of Atlantis?" Puss asked.
"Yup! It's what got you into the familia in the first place." Perrito answered excitedly.
"Yes, well, it was only a part of the key. We found the rest during our search for the Life Glass and went there with a group from the familia." Puss took a shuddering breath as he remembered the next events in a haunting clarity. "We found the city and began exploring. It was... it was honestly the most beautiful place I had ever seen, despite how ruined it had been. Like an explosion had happened that wiped out all life in the city. And it pains me that no one will ever be able to see the city for themselves. To know of it's history. Not even I can provide that, as I hadn't been allowed to read their books and tomes- at the familia's insistence, after they found a romantic play. I was an adult but they still treated me like a child in that aspect." Puss couldn't help the chuckle that left him, as he remembered their flustered faces, before he sobered. "I explored. And I found the highest point left in the city. I actually made a painting of the city... but it was lost long ago." He shook his head before continuing. "We spent the next week in Atlantis exploring and finding what we could. And mí pareja found what he was looking for..."
"Information on the Opening of the Gates and the Life Glass?" Death asked, sounding frustrated. But more with himself than Puss. The cat nodded. In truth, the Atlantians had all died in a devastating city wide massacre. It hadn't been murder, per say... But some of them had tried to be something they weren't. Gods. And all of their race had paid for their folly. Death should have known. He really should have. After all that millennia that he ignored it because nothing was left on it... He should have known something had been there when he found himself returning to collect... Oh. Oh, that would explain the haunted look in the gato's eyes when he said it had been destroyed. "You lost people there, didn't you?" He asked, just to be sure. Puss's eyes closing in pain was more of a confirmation than his nod was.
"He found what he was looking for, and awoke a dormant protective system that had manged to somehow survive when he did so... The Atlantians were advanced, considering their time." Puss said. "Not only did he find a single tome that held the information he was after, he had found... something else. And he wanted it, and a self destruct protocol the Atlantians had in place was activated." Puss's voice was strained as he got himself under control. Not wanting to cry even as a tear slipped free. "The two of us were the only ones to escape. It was that moment- as he ignored the literal explosion in the distance that took the lives of our familia that he had willingly left behind, even as he had dragged me against my will to escape- that I realized that mí pareja wasn't the same man I had known... or maybe..." Puss seemed to correct himself. "Maybe he had always been like that, but had just fooled me into thinking he was something he wasn't." his eyes weren't nearly as vibrant as they were before this entire conversation had started to take place.
"After that, things only got worse. Everything changed... His obsession changed him... He wasn't the leader of the syndicate that his people thought they knew. He wasn't mí pareja anymore. He was my captor. It..." he rubbed a paw down his face, hat forgotten beside him as he tried to continue. "They didn't know the traps and death sentences they had been led into by him until there wasn't any coming back for him. Over the next year, I would lose all of the familia to 'rivals' and 'rebellions' that just... they weren't real... Or they were, but on his orders? I was kept on an exceptionally short leash. Any attempts to escape to warn the familia led to... punishment..." he didn't elaborate, but they could all pick up on his implications.
"He beat you?" Kitty's voice was painfully hard and cold as ice. Green eyes wouldn't look at her as he refused to answer- that being an answer all on it's own- as he continued.
"One night, about seven months after his change and the loss of most of the familia, he left me alone in his personal quarters for a bit due to an emergency meeting... he had also left the book he had collected. I used it as a chance to discover more about what he had been researching. That was how I found out about the Opening of the Gates and the Life Glass. As well as the cost of such a thing as near immortality." Puss told them, still not looking at anyone. "Then I noticed his notes that were trying to decipher the next coming of the Opening of the Gates based on calculations in the book. He didn't find his answer by the time everything ended five months later. I had also learned that there was an artifact that was necessary, and even worked as a key, but it didn't mention what it was in the part I had read. I heard him returning and also realized that I had lost my chance to escape... But I had finally figured out his plans, and that was reassuring to me somehow. But, it was distressing too. Because I realized what I would need to do to stop it." Puss's paws clenched tightly.
"Over the next few months, I became less of a problem. He thought maybe I was finally learning my place, as he liked to put it, and I let him believe it. I stopped fighting him. I stopped trying to escape. I did everything necessary to make him think his grooming was taking affect and paying off... It was an act of course... or at least... most of it." Puss didn't bother elaborating on that last, barely whispered part. And they realized that there would be no getting it from him.
"Hey Puss?" Perrito asked, sounding cautious about his question.
"Yes Perrito?" Puss asked, not opening the eyes he had closed a few moments before.
"Could this captor of yours... Could he be the one behind this?" The puppy asked, almost too quiet for any of them to hear.
"No." Puss said, a moment later. And there was such certainty in his voice- as laced as it was with self loathing- that was surprising.
"How can you be sure?" Death asked, curious about that certainty.
"Because I killed him and burned down the syndicate stronghold. And with it, what I thought was everything pertaining to the Gates and the Glass." Puss replied, getting shocked, wide eyed looks from everyone.
"You what?" Kitty breathed in shock.
"I killed him. Five months after I learned about his intentions- so a full seven years after I had first joined the syndicate- I put my plans into motion. As I was no longer an issue, my leash wasn't as short any longer, and some privileges were given. Among them, I was actually aloud to accompany him into a nearby town that he still had control over. He had allowed me to go pick up somethings from a market stall. I was cloaked so no one knew who I was. And I was mostly overlooked. It was because of this that I learned somethings from eaves dropping. Apparently, his behavior and actions had caused an actual rebellion to form among the areas the syndicate once had control of. And through this, I learned that in three nights time, the rebel army would hit that town and the syndicate's strong hold. I decided that would be when I would act. I tried to warn the few remaining members left of the familia in hopes of sparring them, but... it wasn't meant to be. I even risked a harsher punishment and still couldn't get to them." Puss's voice was broken as he buried his face in his arms. It took Perrito doing his therapy dog thing to help Puss move on to the rest of his tale.
"That night, I heard the rebels attack. And I knew that even if it was for my sake, the remaining familia would fight to keep me safe at the very least. And I knew I couldn't let them down by letting this continue. So, I used the distraction that caused to make my own move. He had gone to investigate and I used that time to light the whole place on fire, starting with the book and research notes he had. Then I began to work on the shackle that had me stuck in the inferno. That was when a member of the familia barged into the room, despite it being forbidden for anyone but myself and my captor to enter. The familia member that entered happened to be one of the very few that I was closest too within the entire familia. My captor had never been a fan of him. He saw what I had done, but he trusted me to have a reason for it. So he rushed to my side and helped me to get free of the shackle, as I was still too injured from my last punishment, to put the necessary strength into it. He had gotten me free, and as we turned to escape... He was there, more furious than I had ever seen him. And the look he sent to my savior." Puss shuddered, his fur standing on end as he remembered that look. "I felt fear. Not for my self but for someone who was so dear to me. I couldn't react in time. And my captor slaughtered my savior for his 'betrayal'." Puss spat the word, showing his feelings well on that.
"We fought for a while, and I got pretty beat up again during it."
"Didn't you say you were never touched by a blade before?" Perrito asked, wondering about that, thinking the fight would have taken place with blades.
"He didn't use blades on me Perrito. He never did." Puss grimaced. "At one point, he had caught me, then thrown me to the floor next to the body of my savior... He said something, but the ringing in my ears prevented me from fully hearing what he had said. And it was then that I noticed my rapier was attached to the belt of my savior. I didn't hesitate. I grabbed the blade and the fight renewed. It wasn't honorable- me with my blade versus him when he was unarmed... But neither was what he had done to me. To the familia. And after another long fight, I finally succeeded in shoving the blade through his chest, in addition to several other gashes I had left once the fight was more in my favor. At that last move of mine though, he had succeeded in backhanding me hard enough to send me and my blade flying across the room and slamming into a wall, just as the rebels broke into the room. He was already destined for death, but some of the rebels rushed forwards to ensure it while others collected me and my sword, apparently a few of the familia, before they died, had told the rebels that I was a victim that needed to be saved because they hadn't been able to do it themselves." Puss's breath hitched at that remembrance. "The impact with the wall had almost knocked me out. It didn't matter though, because by the time we left the strong hold that was burning to the ground, I had passed out." Puss took a deep breath, slumping against the head board utterly drained and exhausted.
"I woke up a week later to learn that there was nothing left of the stronghold or those that had been inside. I slipped away from the clinic and confirmed it. And shifting through the ashes, I found nothing remaining of his notes or the book I had set alight. I had hoped that it was enough to keep such awful and heinous knowledge out of others hands, but I guess that isn't the case. Afterwards, I left a bouquet of flowers for my familia that even in the end had risked everything for me. And then I disappeared, unable to handle being in the same place as where I lost the last place I had ever belonged. Even now, I wish that I had never pick pocketed him. Because the pain of their loss has never been something I've gotten over. It was bad enough that I finally made a decision that set me on a path that you all know too well." Green eyes, tired and dull, looked at the three others in the room.
"I stopped caring about my own mortality. I knew what would happen if I stopped in the middle of the running of the bulls. That was how I discovered that I had 9 lives- eight after I revived. And after that, I threw everything away in the most ridiculous ways possible, trying to do anything to make that hollow feeling just, go away. The poker game with the dogs admittedly was rather painful though. I forgot by this point where I had come from. Who I was. The original reason I had left in the first place. Then I returned to San Ricardo with Humpty and Kitty two years after that nightmare ended, and it all sort of came back to me. Then everything with the magic beans and mother goose happened. I lost my brother who I had just been able to forgive and reunite with. Then I left with Kitty. We later went our separate ways, as I realized that I was afraid of being close to another again. Especially with something like marriage of all things, so soon after the last family I trusted myself with had only met a horrific end bathed with betrayal. Then I heard news of Mother Imelda passing. And I hadn't even been there! She hadn't even told me in her letters that she was sick... That was when I drank so much that I jumped from a tower, claiming that I would land on my feet despite knowing it was a lie. As I fell, the last thing I thought was that I just wished that I could lock away those seven years away as deeply as I could when I returned. In hopes that I wouldn't feel that hollowness so starkly... And I did. By then though, I was a legend that had no regard for his own lives. Claiming to be immortal and laughs in the face of Death. So I continued to throw them away. Everything after that is well known history." Puss told them, before he could no longer stay awake with the emotional exhaustion and leche in his system. "That's everything I know. I promise." He whispered, eyes locked onto glowing red before slowly closing in a slumber so deep, one would think it was a curse.
The other three were left to their thoughts as they attempted to process the absolute tragedy they had just heard. It was silent, for the rest of the night. Kitty and Perrito cuddled on either side of Puss, as they tried to provide some comfort. And Death watched over the three mortal animals, even going so far as to cover them with a blanket so they wouldn't catch a cold. As the darkness grew, Death was lost further and further in thought of what the gato had told him. He remembered that particular massacre all those years ago. He had felt the negative emotions of betrayal, sorrow, loss, and too much more even in the death. None of the souls he had to move on went willingly. Not until one soul in particular informed the others that their menor had had his blade. That had seemed to reassure the others that their youngest had survived. And now knowing that it had been Puss, it made sense. After all, even to this day, Death had been the only one who had ever touched the gato with a blade. But, he was also positive that something was off, in relation to the gato's story and the results. But for his existence, he couldn't place a claw on it. He put it behind him for now. And he resolved to tell Puss the next day that Imelda and Humpty had both passed painlessly. Out of everything, Puss at least deserved that closure. Decision made, Death returned to watching over the three mortals that he had decided to work with. Maybe, he could put things off for another hour. Just one more hour.
A/N: There we go! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and the back story that I gave Puss, even if it isn't too long. Just 8 pages or so. I hope it wasn't too confusing. I hope you'll leave a review to let me know. If it is confusing, I'll try to clear things up with an A/N in the next chapter or something. I'm sure plenty of you picked up on the obvious trigger I had mentioned earlier. The rival who had committed self-un-existing. As well as Puss's own attempts. The abuse Puss had no doubt suffered towards the end of his time there. I'm also pretty sure some of the readers are figuring out where I'm going with the story. But remember, if you are shh. No spoilers for the ones who haven't figured it out.
Also, I'm wondering if I should make Puss's background its own story at a later date or not. If any of you are curious about that or want to see that, let me know and I'll see what I can do... Although it would be after I finished this story if it happened... Anyways reviews are not necessary though greatly appreciated. Especially with my questions about triggers and a Puss background story. Until the next story.