Intertwined

It all started as a normal eve in a world where everything felt complete and everyone got along. A small group of friends was sitting inside their big tree house, playing cards…

“Yes!” squealed one boy, with eye patch, throwing his arms into the air in celebration. The rest of his friends sighed, throwing away their cards,

“Congrats, Kubo.” Said a boy with dark spiky hair,

“Why are you congratulating him?” questioned a girl with medium length blue hair, “It’s his fourth win this evening.” She argued,

“Coraline, relax.” A boy with brown wavy hair told her putting his arm on her slender shoulder. “He’s just lucky today, doesn’t mean he’ll be lucky all the time.” He told her, trying to calm her down. Coraline let out a deep sigh,

“You’re right, sorry Kubo.” She apologized to her one-eyed friend, who waved it off with a smile.

A sudden swinging of the wooden ladder got their attention, a small red-haired girl soon climbed up, “Sorry, we’re late.” She apologized helping up a tall dark-haired boy, “Hope we didn’t miss much.”

“Just Kubo crushing us four times in row.” Norman told them with a chuckle once they sat down.

“What took you so long?” Wybie asked them, Winnie and Eggs looked at each other, before giving a nod each, much to their friends’ confusion.

“We overheard mister Lionel talking about another expedition.” Winnie told them with small smile, while Eggs nodded,

“Where’s he going next?” Coraline asked them, her eyes shining with curiosity,

“Well, he and Adelina were talking about a recent news talking about some strange shapeshifting creature living in a small country in central Europe.” Eggs told them in excitement, with Winnie nodding eagerly,

Norman’s eyes widened, “Do you think it could…it could be Her?” he asked them,

“Well Susan definitely hopes so.” Winnie told her friends,

“So does everyone else.” Eggs added looking up at the ceiling where a small picture hung depicting a happy feline humanoid female creature with long pink hair, smiling widely.

*******

“I’m telling you, Nat.” Aura said playing with her long wavy pink hair, “The theme’s not that difficult.” She argued with a shorter girl with long ginger hair who was busy cleaning her glasses,

“Sure, it’s not, but that doesn’t explain why you’ve spend two whole weeks doing nothing with it.” She replied looking up at her friend with somewhat annoyed expression.

“I haven’t seen my family since I turned fifteen, I don’t know what to do with it.” Aura argued, fighting the urge to summon her tail to lash it at her. ‘Control yourself, you can’t let anyone see you.’ She scolded herself

“Why did you choose that theme then?” Natty asked with raised eyebrow.

“Because…because I felt some urge and obligation to and I blurted it out before I could think straight.” The pink-haired girl admitted looking at her feet in mild shame,

“Why didn’t you choose a different one then, y’know just tell her it doesn’t suit you.” Natty exclaimed with a shrug.

“It’s not like me to go back on my decisions.” Aura told her in a stragely somber tone, sipping from her coffee, she and Nat were sitting in a small cozy café, enjoying their lunch break.

“Is that why you live alone?” Natty asked taking a sip as well. Aura gave her a reluctant nod,

“I…didn’t have the courage to go back…yet, and to face…them.” She muttered quietly, adjusting her black top hat which caused many people around them to stare.

Natty remained silent, slowly finishing her drink. Suddenly her gaze shifted toward the door as a pair and a third strange tall man entered, looking around curiously.

Aura followed her gaze, her blood running cold upon seeing the trio, ‘It can’t be,’ she thought cautiously, quickly finishing her drink, burning her tongue in the process, “Let’s go the lunch break’s almost over.” She said as Natty stood up.

She quickly paid for their order, trying to ignore the intense stares she was getting, taking deep breath, she waited as her friend left the building before turning to the man who blue eyes were staring at her, studying her, “What, never see a lady in top hat?” She asked him with smug grin before turning on her heels and hurrying away, hoping she didn’t give herself away.

“Man am I happy we got the coffee. These three last classes are fucking killer.” Aura groaned as she and her classmates exited the building,

“Yeah, Math sucks, but double class of Math, fucking kill me please.” Lenny groaned dramatically causing the rest to burst into laughing. She pouted at them a bit adjusting her long wavy blonde hair and waited for them to calm down.

“So, anyone up to come with me to the station?” Aura asked them,

“Sorry, gotta study for tomorrow.” Vally told her before she and Natty parted away from their little group. Aura waved at them before they disappeared behind corner,

“Lenny?” Her blonde friend shook her head, her curls swiging in the air,

“Sorry it’s too far.” She said causing Aura to chuckle.

“Understandable, see you tomorrow.” The two of them hugged before parting way. Aura swiftly walked toward the bus station, pulling her top hat off of her head, revealing a pair of cat ears beneath it, soon a cat tail materialized behind her, completing her feline look while she took off her shoes, setting her bare paws at the cobblestone walkway one at a time. She breathed a sigh of relief feeling the tightness around them fade away. Before plunging deep into a strange spiral of memories.

Unbeknownst to her, three individuals were walking behind her, smirking at each other as she revealed her cat parts, following her.

*************

“I can’t believe we finally found her.” Susan celebrated quite loudly while his two companions cringed slightly, eyes focused on the werecat walking before them, luckily she didn’t seem to notice.

“Be quiet, Mr. Link. She might hear us.” Lionel scolded his furry friend slightly,

“I’m sorry. I’m just so excited, we finally found her. She’s alive and she’s here!” The sasquatch apologized, still grinning widely, “I can’t believe it.”

“What Lionel means,” Adelina put in, with a stern look aimed at her partner, “is that if we found her this easily we might as well lose her just as easily if we’re not careful enough.” She explained, eyes pinned at the werecat walking in front of them, her tail flicking behind her. Susan nodded,

“So, what are we going to do now?” Susan asked looking between his friends.

“We follow her.” Lionel stated simply watching the werecat disappear behind a corner, “But we must hurry.” He said, signalizing to his companions to speed up.

“No! We lost her.” The hairy sasquatch panicked, as they ran behind the corner, but there was no sign of the pink-haired cat creature.

“Do not fret my fellow, we’ll find her soon.” Lionel said trying to reassure his hairy friend. “She said she’s going to the bus station, so let’s go there.” The other two nodded and walked in the direction they knew the station was at.

“Lionel, look.” Adelina said quietly, pointing to a lonely bench where a very familiar pink-haired lady sat.

“Good job, Adelina.” Lionel praised her, causing her to gave him a slight smirk.

Susan looked toward the bench, then started walking toward it, until Lionel stopped him with his cane,

“Not yet, Mr. Link. “ Lionel told him, much to the sasquatch’s confusion, “We must wait ‘til we’re in more seclude and cornered place before we confront her.” The cryptologist explained with a nod toward the werecat, whose ears were hidden beneath her top hat again with only her cat tail visible.

“So, what now?” Susan asked, Lionel and Adelina looked at each other, unsure what to do.

“I guess we wait, the bus shouldn’t take long to arrive.” Lionel stated leaning against his cane.

**************

Aura leaned against a wall, enjoying the cold feeling her feet were getting from the stone floor, ignoring all the stares people were giving her, her eyes were half closed, irises deeply focused on the trio that just arrived at the station, her tail swayed gently behind her as she sat still, strained and waiting.

‘Why? Why now when everything’s finally going decently in my life for once. What do they want?!’ She thought, trying to find a satisfying answer, but she couldn’t find any. A soft hiss escaped her lips as one of her three pursuers moved past her looking around the station in somewhat curious wonder, shooting her a confused, questioning look. Without a word she grabbed her things and scurried away, not carrying she was giving herself away at the moment, tail flailing behind her.

Luckily her bus has arrived at the very moment and she quickly hopped inside, sitting down beside the exit, clutching her things and breathing heavily. Her tail lashing, she prayed they didn’t follow her, but she was proven wrong when the exact same trio from the café entered the bus just as it was ready to leave.

Taking deep breaths, she tried to steady her breathing, taking out her earphones, she tuned the outside world out by turning on her music. She watched the trio taking seats close by, trying to ignore them as much as possible, she focused on the towns and villages they drove through, counting how many they need to go through before her destination.

“How long we’ll we wait now?” She heard a question in very familiar voice as she was changing her song,

“Be patient, Mr. Link, there’s too many people.” That sentence made Aura smirk, seeing the bus slowing down as it came to another stop and a lot of people gathering their things, she grabbed her things and without hesitation jumped through the exit just as it opened not bothering to hide her feline features.

‘I’ll take a taxi.’ She thought seeing she was few miles away from her home village, pulling out her phone, she was too busy scrolling through her contacts to notice the trio stepping out of the bus as well, slowly approaching her as the people thinned out.

“Steve won’t be happy if we bring her back hurt.” Susan’s voice brought the young werecat’s attention to her back and with ears pinned backwards, turning around she saw a slowly approaching Lionel, looking like a predator ready to pounce at its prey. Though that wasn’t what she was focusing on,

‘Steve? Did the Avengers send them to hunt me down?’ she wondered stepping back a few inches, her eyebrow arched slightly, until her back was pressed against a spiky fence. She hissed lightly as her spine collided with one particularly sharp one.

Suddenly a memory entered her mind,

panic, heavy breathing, hyperventilating, she was packing frantically, “Aura, please open the door!” a soft voice called out from behind her locked door, “we can still talk about it.” Another one joined in. She looked back towards the door, whose handle was shaking frantically, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Please don’t do anything stupid!” She closed her eyes, sobbing and sniffling, her heart aching terribly, pushing away the though reality, she threw the last pieces of clothes into her bag and zipped it up before walking to the already open window.

“Open the door, or we’ll break in!” A threat came before the first cracks appeared on the door, gulping loudly the young werecat looked down beneath her before jumping out just as the doors fell onto the floor. The last thing before impact she saw was bunch of disappointed faces staring down at her.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Lionel’s voice brought her back into reality and she realized she’s been sidestepping this entire time, her back bleeding from being exposed to the spikes. He was stepping closer to her with each word, “You’ve got nowhere to run now.” He reminded her, as Susan abd Adelina approached her slightly at each side, cornering her.

“What do you want?” She asked, her voice breaking, but for what reason, she wasn’t sure, her tail lashed around behind her, her claws were slowly coming out of their sockets, ready to strike, her teal eyes were wide, pupils rounded in mixture of fear and anger.

“To take you home.” Lionel said in softer tone this time, after seeing her getting into defensive stance, Aura shook her head,

“I don’t have home there anymore.” She sighed, ears falling along her head.

“Of course you have.” Susan said visibly confused by her statement, he then looked at his two human companion for support, the werecat shook her head again.

“What do you mean?”

*****************

“I stopped having a home there the moment I left, do you get it now?” Aura asked Susan in a rather sharp tone, making the sasquatch back away slightly.

“Others don’t feel the same way.” Adelina told her with a weak reassuring smile,

“But I do.” Aura replied softly looking at her hands, unable to bring herself to lift her gaze up. Turning around, she smirked weakly, noticing a thick bush growing few inches from her. “I recommend you return. I’m not coming back and there’s no way you’ll persuade me otherwise.” She informed them, her eyes drifting from one member of the trio to another, with a dip of her head, she leapt into the air, landing in the bush just as Lionel did the same to catch her.

By the time he reached the center of the bush, she managed to wriggle her way out of it, slipping into the adjacent garden, leaving only some ripped cloth behind.

“She’s gone, isn’t she?” Susan asked watching as Lionel crawled out of the bush, leaves stucked in his hair.

“Yeah.” The cryptologist sighed in defeat, “She was long gone before I get there.” Shaking his head he composed himself, “Well we found her before, we can find her again. Let’s return to the hotel for now and try tomorrow.” He extended his hand to Adelina who gladly accepted it just as another bus arrived.

Through tiny gaps Aura watched them get on from behind the fence, she waited for the bus to start off again, finally as it’s rear lights disappeared behind another house she crawled from her hiding place, her fur bristling wildly. She sat down, staring at the grass, gasping for air she didn’t know she was holding. Thoughts were racing in her head,

finally after several moments, she pulled out her phone she hid in her pocket out of instinct and called the taxi.