OMG, I'M ACTUALLY UPDATING! YES, its true! lol, anywho... SO SORRY for the wait folks! i truly didn't mean for it to be this long, i just got kinda lazy and had a lot of stuff on my mind (still do actually). but fear not, i will finish this fanfic! i hope you enjoy :D

DISCLAIMER: i DO NOT own Felidae, or any of it's characters. i only own Julia

Clouds. Lots and lots of clouds. That's the first thing I noticed when I woke up. "Why is it so foggy?" I thought, standing up and looking around. There were what appeared to be Egyptian relics on either side of me, huge, towering statues of their gods. "Weird" I said out loud as I walked.

"Julia?"

I jumped and turned. "Franics!"

the grey tom was standing behind me. "What's going on here?" he asked, falling in step beside me.

"Heck if I know" I said. "But I think we're dreaming"

"The same dream at the same time?" Francis asked, sounding skeptical.

"I know it sounds nuts, but why else would we be here? We're obviously not awake and…"

suddenly Francis nudged me, nodding toward something ahead of us. I looked and my eyes widened. A golden cat was sitting atop one of the statues, his back to us. And beneath the statue were our friends (and enemies): Kong, Bluebeard, Joker, even our dear friend Felicity. The stunning golden cat turned to face us then, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. Francis smiled a bit. "We've been searching for you"

"yes, of course. Clever Francis… you too Julia, very clever for such a young female"

I blushed a bit.

"… I'm the prophet, I'm the human" the golden cat continued. "… I'm the beast. And I am also… Felidae. Come with us Francis, Julia… all that has been, all there will be has no meaning anymore. Come with us…"

"Come with us" the others joined in, speaking as one in an eerie monotone sort of way. "Wherever you go, you'll find something preferable to tell…" they all suddenly started to shrink down into tiny glowing orbs, like stars, and they shot up into the sky and descended into the darkness.

"Come with us on our long, wonderful journey" Felidae said before he too shrank down into a star and floated away with the others.

"What will we find when we arrive?" I felt the clouds beneath me sinking as their voices blended together. "… everything that we've lost…"

I awoke with a start. "Whoa" I blinked and glanced beside me.

Francis was just waking up. He opened his big green eyes and lifted hid head, turning to me. "d-did you dream that… that we were in…"

"…the clouds" we both said.

"Yes"

"And Felidae…" Francis breathed.

"He was there" I said, nodding.

"Wow" Francis said, sitting up. "I guess we really did have the same dream"

"yeah" I said, sitting up beside him. "That's so weird"

we looked at each other.

"Francis" a soft voice called.

I stiffened. "Oh no" I thought. "Not her, not now!" Francis' eyes bugged out of his head a bit, and he hurried over to the window. I sighed and moved to stand beside him. "Nhozemphtekh" I thought bitterly. Why did she have to show up? I shook my head. "This is the way it's supposed to happen" I thought to myself.

"Francis" she called again. Without even saying anything to me, Francis was out the window and outside.

I sighed and sat on the windowsill, glaring after him. "I guess I'll just stay here then" I mumbled, my tail twitching stiffly. I groaned and jumped down from the window back into the room. "Why is this bothering me so much?" I thought to myself. "after all, I should be happy, right? So far, things are pretty much going the way they're supposed to" I sighed and laid down, resting my chin on my paws. I felt so disgusted and… no, no I couldn't possibly be… I shook my head. "No, I am not jealous!" I said out loud, sighing. "I can't be, I'm not supposed to be!" I sat up, restless. I wondered how far along Francis and Nhozemphtekh's conversation had gone. "That's it!" I said, getting up. I couldn't stand it anymore, it was driving me crazy. I jumped out the window and around the corner, toward the yard where I knew Francis and Nhozemphtekh were. As soon as I turned the corner, I was surprised. No, scratch that, I was shocked. Francis was sitting down a few feet from the beautiful cat, just talking to her! That was it. I felt utterly confused as I approached them.

"Well well, who do we have here?" Nhozemphtekh asked, rolling onto her back.

I narrowed my eyes at her as Francis turned to me. "Julia, what are you…?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright" I said stiffly.

"Is this your mate Francis?" Nhozemphtekh asked.

I felt my face heating up. "I am not his mate!" I snapped before Francis could say anything. "we're just friends"

"oh, I see" she said slowly, looking slightly relieved. I narrowed my eyes at her again, feeling my fur stand on end.

Francis seemed to notice my tension, because he quickly stood up. "Well thank you for your time" he told Nhozemphtekh. "but we must be going now" he turned and started to walk off.

"Bye Francis" Nhozemphtekh called softly. I rolled my eyes as I followed Francis back to the house.

"Julia, what's the matter?" Francis asked as I hopped up onto the windowsill of the bathroom. I didn't say anything as I jumped down to the floor and got in the dingy tub. I just wanted to be alone, but I should've known better then to assume that Francis would leave me alone like I wanted.

"Please go away" I grumbled when he leaned over the edge of the tub, looking down at me.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong…"

"Why are you even here?" I asked, looking up at him. "why aren't you out with her?" I was surprised at how mean I sounded, but right then I didn't care.

"Who, that female?"

"Yes!" I sighed.

"Wait, are you…?" Francis blinked, smirking a bit. "you're jealous, aren't you?"

"I most certainly am not!" I snapped. "I'm not jealous of her!" I hesitated. "well, maybe in some ways… after all, she's the most beautiful female around. And I'm, well I'm just…" I sighed. "… I'm just me"

"So?" Francis got down into the tub beside me. "I happen to like 'just you'"

I turned to him. "Yes, but not the way you like her"

"How do you know that?"

I felt my heart beating faster as I curled up, facing away from him. "I'm tired" I said softly, even though I was actually wide awake. But I did not want to keep up the conversation.

"But…" Francis sighed. "we should rest for a while then" I felt his back press up slightly against mine, and I felt tears in my eyes. No matter what my feelings for Francis were, I knew nothing was ever going to change.

...

I awoke to the sound of someone laughing. I groaned and opened my eyes, lifting my head to see Bluebeard sitting in the windowsill. "Hello Julia" he said, smirking a bit. "hope I wasn't interrupting anything" he laughed, and I was about to ask what the heck he was talking about when I remembered that Francis and I had fallen asleep in the filthy bathtub.

I sighed and sat up, stretching. I climbed out of the tub and jumped up onto the windowsill beside him. "So I take it you told him?" Bluebeard said.

I blinked. "Told him what?"

"Don't give me that bullshit, you know exactly what"

I felt my face heating up and was about to say something when Francis woke up just then. "Oh, hello Bluebeard" he said, standing up and stretching.

"I saw your little encounter with the new girl today" Bluebeard said, laughing. I felt my eyes widen. He did mate with her, just like I knew he would! I felt the fur on the back of my neck stand up.

"All we did was talk Bluebeard" Francis grumbled as he stretched again. "and I have a feeling that she can help solve the case"

Bluebeard blinked. "You feel what? the case? Solve it? Don't kid me, you're still interested" he jumped down into the room.

I followed. "I know I am" I said.

"Well then, let's go to work" Francis said, getting out of the tub. "right, now where can we find Joker?"

Bluebeard turned to him. "He's at home I'd think, getting ready for his next Bible class"

"where does Joker live now?" I asked.

"A couple of blocks from here. His can opener runs a store which sells china and hand blown glassware"

"okay" Francis said. "First I want to talk to Pascal again"

"oh great" I thought sarcastically.

"while I do that, you go and find Joker and tell him that Pascal and I want to talk to him about the murders"

Bluebeard's eyes widened a bit. "Wow, do you seriously think that Joker's the killer…?"

"Don't forget the story Jesaja told us, Joker is deep, and I mean very deep in this. The question is if I can pin it on him. And by the way, that lady I spoke to earlier, she was a female belonging to a breed that I've never come across before, sandy fur with blazing yellow eyes and she was sort of…"

"… Wild" Bluebeard finished. "I know the kind"

"Are there lots like her?" I asked.

"They sure are" Bluebeard said as he jumped back up into the sill. "the house and garden set take them in as designer pets, and I tell you, if we all watch out, they'll be taking over the whole district. still, by making them household members, the can openers have screwed themselves"

"what's that supposed to mean?" Francis asked.

"They're not the same as we are" Bluebeard said. "in lots of ways. But the main thing I've noticed that makes them different is that the normal, healthy way to domestication that we've got ain't in them somehow. And instead, this new breed are wilder, walk alone. In a word, they're…"

"What?" I asked when Bluebeard didn't finish.

"Unfriendly?" Francis guessed.

"Dangerous" Bluebeard said. Francis and I got up in the windowsill beside him, then the three of us made our way outside. I looked up for a moment as snow started lightly falling to the ground. Without saying anything, Bluebeard headed to Joker's place, while I followed Francis toward Pascal's.

"So we're not going to talk about earlier?" Francis asked as we approached the house.

"No" I said stiffly, a nervous feeling creeping up inside me as we slipped inside through the small cat door. We found Pascal in the living room, sitting in a chair.

"Oh, congratulations" he said when we told him everything that had happened. "I've lived in this neighborhood for years and haven't recorded a fraction of the albeit horrific information you've managed to unearth in the short time you've been here, well done, both of you"

"have you got data on brothers and sister who, for some reason or other, have left the neighborhood?" Francis asked.

"Of course"

"well let's take a look at the lists, and we should be able to find out who exactly has disappeared without a logical explanation and when. And I wonder why the murderer is suddenly leaving victims outside the temple instead of sending them to Jesaja?"

"yes, that's a very good point" Pascal said, standing and stretching. "as it shows the murderer is beginning to make mistakes we may be able to exploit" he got down from the chair and headed for the stairs, moving to sit at the top one.

"I hope you're right" Francis said as we followed after Pascal. "but I find it hard to imagine that this master of horror could make mistakes"

I nodded. "Yeah. I mean, whoever he is has been pretty crafty so far"

"perhaps he's sending us a message" Pascal guessed.

"That's what I was thinking" Francis said.

"Good, good" Pascal said, sounding impressed. "but what is it he's trying to tell us?"

"He wants us to know he's got power of life and death…"

"The general intelligence level of the area is so abysmally low…" Pascal interrupted. "… the brothers couldn't interpret his subtly expressed message anyway"

I couldn't help but agree. "Yes, many of the others around here don't seem to be very, well… smart"

"well supposing, uh… say he only wants one special brother to understand what his mission is" Francis said.

"excellent" Pascal said.

"Why?" Francis asked.

"Because for the first time, you're thinking in terms of a mission. Haven't you got it yet? He wants his motives to be known and understood, he's as complicated as a crossword puzzle" he moved to sit on the chair on a big, fluffy pillow. "no, the killer is the puzzle and he wants us to solve it"

"Joker, he has to be our key suspect" Francis said.

"Possibly" Pascal said thoughtfully. I sighed as I rolled over onto my side on the floor where I was lying beside Francis. "something wrong my dear?" Pascal asked.

I sat up, trying to act cool, although my back was starting to get sore from lying on the hard floor. "This, the floor I mean, it's… it's a bit uncomfortable"

"why don't you come up here with me?"

I swallowed hard. That was exactly the offer I was afraid he'd make. "Uh…" I sighed and hesitantly jumped up onto the chair, settling down beside him.

Pascal smiled a bit as he continued with his theory. "… now then, what if Joker witnessed the carnage Preterius created and saw it as a chance to build a religion on Claudandus' martyrdom to which he'd lead…"

"Sounds right" Francis said, nodding.

"Now tell me more about the lady you had the pleasure of meeting this morning" Pascal said.

"Well she's…" Francis hesitated. "… she's quite a unique young lady"

"I'm sure she's not as lovely as you" Pascal said, turning to me.

I couldn't help but blush a bit. "th-thank you for saying so, but she's much more lovely then me. She's everything a tom could want in a mate"

"a product of Professor Preterius' species engineering?" Pascal guessed.

"Why not?" Francis said, shrugging.

"Hmm, I'm not so sure. You're forgetting evolution" Pascal continued. "a new breed could emerge quite by chance sometimes"

"is that so?" Francis asked.

Pascal nodded.

"then you're saying that that wild lady and any others like her are actually the result of natural selection. sounds logical, I admit"

"And more probable" Pascal added. He looked back and forth between Francis and me. "you two are quite intelligent creatures" I smiled a bit. Even though I knew what Pascal was, I couldn't help but feel a bit flattered by the way he treated me.

"You clowns mind if I b-b-butt in?" Bluebeard stammered, shivering from the cold, snow covering his whole back.

I giggled. "Been out building snowmen Bluebeard?"

he grumbled to himself, rolling his eyes as he shook snow from his fur.

"Where's Joker?" Francis asked.

"He's g-gone" Bluebeard stammered, still shivering.

"You mean he's disappeared?"

"That's what I said baby"

"perhaps you'd like to eat something before you carry on" Pascal said to Bluebeard. "My owner, Ziebold, left some freshly cooked liver in my dish"

Bluebeard's eyes lit up. "Ooh I love fresh liver!"

"Get back to the point" Francis said.

Bluebeard nodded. "I looked inside the house Joker lives in, and it's a mess. But still I went through it, bottom to the top, and I found no sign of him"

Francis looked surprised. "So Joker's been murdered…"

"No" Pascal interrupted. "maybe he just realized you were close to catching him, so he ran"

Francis shook his head. "I really can't agree there, I can't believe that a maniac like that would just run away…"

"Hold on, hold on" Pascal said. "tomorrow we'll go back to the computer and try to identify any possible survivors who were subjected to Professor Preterius' experiments"

"uh, good idea" I said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"I'm glad you think so" Pascal looked pleased, as though he wanted me to be impressed.

"We'll come back first thing tomorrow" Francis said as he got up to leave.

I nodded and sat up, stretching. As much as I hated being so close to Pascal, I'd gotten pretty warm and comfy on that pillow. "goodnight Julia" the older cat said.

"Goodnight Pascal" I said. He leaned over and nuzzled my cheek before I jumped to the floor and followed after Francis and Bluebeard.

...

"You've got to watch your tail a little more carefully, both of you. Or you'll get hurt" Bluebeard said as the three of us ventured out into the snow.

"What do you mean?" Francis asked.

"think about it, the killer ain't gonna be pleased with you two on his trail. And might try to do something about you"

"yeah" Francis said thoughtfully. "and Pascal as well. He knows even more then us"

A shiver ran down my spine. "Are you sure about this Bluebeard?"

"Absolutely Dollface. And don't you two worry about Pascal. If what you've found out about the murders is right, he just kills the brothers who've got balls. Good ol' Pascal had 'em cut off years ago, and besides, he isn't gonna be around that much longer"

"why's that?" I asked.

"He's got stomach cancer. They've given him six months. It's only recently the news got around the neighborhood" Bluebeard said, turning and walking off.

Francis and I just sat there in the snow, each in our own thoughts. I had completely forgotten about Pascal's illness. I couldn't help but feel bad for him, even though I knew I didn't have to. I had every right to hate him, to despise him, and part of me did. But part of me also pitied him, pitied the poor creature he used to be who had been transformed into a twisted monster.

well, i FINALLY updated this story like i've been wanting to! how was it? i'm considering writing a sequel once i finish this one. i know that there are already multiple sequels to the Felidae books, but i don't plan on reading any of them since only the first and second books are available in English, which is the only language i speak. i think that sucks dude, why don't they just print ALL the books in English instead of just the first two? oh well, now i'm ranting. i hope you enjoyed this next chapter and i'm going to try and update again soon. PLEASE review!

-FreddysNightmare1984