Please disregard all contents of the previous chapter 12... one of my friends kidnapped my computer and thought it would be funny to update one of my stories for me. Not.

I hurried along the country road, watching the fields on my left for the moment when I would regain sight of the barn. The waves of vegetation seemed to stretch endlessly on, as if they didn't want me to be reunited with Vail. I saw the roof of the barn in the distance, and I didn't wait for my usual spot to cross the field. I jumped across the ditch, full out sprinting through the waves of green.

The door of the barn was tightly closed as usual, but there were some boards in front of the gap in the wall. I pushed and pulled at them, but they wouldn't budge. "Taru!" I yelled. "Griffyn! Raena!" Nobody answered. I circled the barn, searching for another way in. When I made a full circuit, I found nothing. Then I noticed that the ground was stamped flat outside another gap. It looked like they'd run for it, and pretty quickly, too. I examined the gap; there was a board blocking it from the inside, so I pushed at it... but nothing happened. I examined the board more closely. It had a small arrow scratched on it, pointing to the right. Curious, I turned my head to the right. I saw nothing, nothing but endless fields. I sighed and looked back at the board. Maybe if I swing it...

The board gave way when I slid it to the right, and I slipped into the barn. It was dark inside, and silent. No horses snorting, no sound of the cow chewing its cud. I could smell them, but it was a stale scent. My fur stood on end as the silence pressed into my ears. I cautiously padded through the barn, wishing there was some indication of life inside the dark space.

When I reached the ladder, I smelled all the barn cats; it seemed like they'd gone up and down many times. I climbed the ladder. Up in the loft, the older cats' scents stopped just beyond the edge. I ventured into the center of the loft, where my fur really stood up. I could smell Macavity. His scent ended right where Vail's was heaviest; where she'd slept. I went numb. Macavity knew about Vail after all, and she was probably lying dead somewhere. I held my breath, trying to stop my tears from falling. And now the barn cats were gone to Everlasting Cat knew where. I hugged my knees to my chest, wishing none of this had ever happened. I tried to think back to when it all started... Macavity had come to Cassandra's and my den to take me away... Oh, how long ago that seemed. Now I was a mother of two, with no hope of seeing either of them again.

=^..^=

Vail was fascinated with Macavity's lair. It was full of cats, each of them looking more vicious than the next. Some of them looked like they wanted to lash out at her, but something stopped them. I look too much like my father, she realized. With that thought, she slowed her pace, adding as much strutting attitude she could for her young age. Macavity paused ahead and looked back at her. When he saw her new attitude, he grinned proudly. She took her time catching up to him, and when she did, he led her into his private room.

"I want to find out if you have any powers," he said, sitting himself in a large armchair. Vail looked at him, frowning. Macavity sighed. "Like this," he stretched out his paw and shot a bolt of energy at the wall, leaving a black scorch mark. Vail stared at the spot with awe. She then noticed many other spots, some with odd shapes in the center... she didn't even want to guess at what he'd shot at.

Picturing what Macavity had done, she closed her eyes. She could feel energy boiling inside her, and she tried to focus it into a stream. She stretched out her paw, and a blast of light filled the room. It didn't do any damage, but it did leave light spots dancing in Vail's eyes. Macavity looked impressed.

"It took me a while to get that far," he admitted. "You must have a lot of hard feelings bottled up inside of you."

"I just found out that my mother lied to me," she mumbled. She scowled at her paws, which were glowing slightly. "That's a good reason for holding anger inside." She noticed that she spoke with the same accent as her mother--as Kroova, she corrected. She didn't want to think of that queen as her mother--she mentally worked to speak more like Macavity.

Macavity hopped down from his chair. "This is the best way to let it out," he said, placing a paw on her shoulder. "Now, this time channel all your energy into your paw," he advised, holding her arm up straight. "You'll be causing damage soon enough."

=^..^=

I left the barn, not sure where I would go next. I exited the same way I came in, and once again saw the paw-prints. I looked at them for a moment before setting off along the path made by the barn cats.

...

I was nearing a house, probably belonging to the humans who owned the barn, when I was tackled by two small queens.

"Kroova, you came back!"

"We're so happy to see you again, Kroo!"

I struggled to get up, and hugged the two queen kittens. "I'm glad I'm back too," I said, smiling at them. "Where's everyone else?"

"They're in the shed," the brown tabby said. I wished for a moment that they had names... things would be so much easier. The two queens led me into the shed, where the other barn cats were gathered in a circle, watching the two oldest tom-kits play-fight. Taru and Rascal were shouting out advice to their son, while Griffyn and Breaker were doing the same for theirs.

"Don't let him see your back!"

"Keep your teeth bared. Make sure he knows you're serious!"

"Every time you blink, that is one more opportunity for him to strike; keep your eyes open, and stay alert!"

Raena noticed me enter with the two queen-kits, and trotted over to my side. She put an arm around her daughter's shoulder. "There's supposed to be a huge storm coming in a few days," She explained. "Our humans brought all the animals in from the barn to keep us safe."

"Where's Vail?"

Everyone had heard my question, and fell silent. The two in the center of the circle stopped, both of them looking solemn. Griffyn was the first to recover her voice. "Macavity came and kitnapped her." she said sadly. "He was here and gone in the middle of the night. We didn't know he was even there until we woke up the next morning."

I bit my lip. I had guessed that much, and now all that was left for me to do was accept the fact that I couldn't see Pike or Vail again. Better yet, pretend they aren't even my kittens. I slowly nodded. "Is it alright if I stay with all of you?" My voice cracked a bit.

Taru nodded, smiling sadly at me. "You're always welcome here."

[A/N] I think I might do a sequel to this... but I don't know. Obviously, this has ties to My Brother, Romeo, so that sort of counts, but not really because the focus isn't Pike and Vail, like a real sequel would be. Anyway... I think this is a bit more of a resolved ending than what my friend had posted, so I hope you like it!