Cracked Moon

by TriggeredCogzy

Summary:

It turns out that after death there's a bit more that awaits the SmillingCritters, a place they can call home after they were pulled out of Critter Valley long ago to be put into those larger bodies they were surprised to find themselves back to their original homes, original bodies but with the added different that they could no longer die yet they could still feel pain, most of the critters try their best to forget the hell they’ve been through and return to a somewhat normal life, all until the last of the critters arrived at the valley after he had made a certain deal with a deity to offer him a second chance to earn their forgiveness, Will the other critters forgive him for his sins? Or will they make him wish he chose the option of eternal damnation? Only time will tell.

Notes:

• Inspired by Moonlit Sins by Vuldiinsah

(W.I.P)

This is my attempt at an afterlife AU heavily inspired by other similar AUs such as [Mourning and Mending] by @notglue9m on Twitter, [Moonlit Sins] by Vuldiinsah on AO3, [DelusionalAfterlife] by @ash4val on Twitter and Tumblr and finally [ Sentience AU] by Firepawz on Twitter and AO3, please check out all of these if you enjoy this one, It is my first ever long-form fanfic so I hope you enjoy

“—----------------------------------------------------—” are borders which mean, the ending of a chapter, time skips or scene change
<”this means sign language”>

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The End?

Notes:

This is not my favorite chapter, just bare with me on this first one

If you already know the story of chapter 3 you can actually skip this chapter

Chapter 1: The End?

Deep within the bowels of Playtime Co. was what was left of the rotting remains of a place once hundreds of orphans called home along with the SmilingCritters, However, now it only belonged to two, the last living creatures that still called this graveyard a home, wandering almost aimlessly through the halls, a large, skinny purple cat, treading past the cold and empty halls of Home Sweet Home, a long purple tail slithered along the ground, a large toothless smile permanently fixed to the critters face, eyes glowing bright enough to pierce through the crimson red poppy gas that surrounded him almost at all times, around his neck a moon crescent pendant hung loosely, Catnap did this as the only way to pass the time now since there wasn’t much left to do besides praying to his makeshift shrine to the one he had done this all for, the Prototype, well…almost the only thing.

 

He moved down to the last section he knew that even the prototype didn’t monitor, ambling past multiple empty cells that were once used to store pool supplies now the living space for one, turning to the last cell, where he hung the living upper half of the once called “Leader” of the SmilingCritters, guts only held in via a belt around his waist, his arms also tied via similar belts to keep him off the dirty floor while also somewhat mockingly mimicking arms in the air pose he was seen having in artwork and the cartoon, the defeated looking orange canine looked over at his captor, the one that slaughtered each of his friends either directly or indirectly before letting out a weak breath that could have at first be recognized as a sigh, before talking.

“I don’t want to hear it Catnap…” he said softly and shakily.

“W̵̆ͅḩ̴͊y̴̫̏ ̶̝͊d̶͈̆ȏ̵̺ ̴̩͠y̶͂͜o̵͓͝u̶͕̾ ̸̮͌s̷̯̊t̴̬͛î̷͓l̷̛̝l̷͎̿ ̶̢͑r̸͇̔ĕ̸̬s̵̖̓i̸̡͋s̶͕̏t̶͎͒?” The cat replied with its glitchy damaged voice box which Dogday had now become so accustomed too that he found it as normal as the broken air conditioner and the laughter of those damned demented mini critters that pass by from time to time, Dogday didn’t reply just hanging his head down in tiredness while waiting for Catnap to continue as he always did

To Dogdays surprise however the Cat didn’t continue, instead, he reached to the side and brought over his paw with some meat from an unknown source Dogday had a good idea of where it came from, attempting to feed the dog, he put his hand in front of his mouth, the smell of old rancid meat hit his still somewhat strong nostrils, just barely holding back the urge to vomit, a part of him wanted too however just to spit bile up at the monster that sat in front of him but he resisted before speaking once more.

“I’m not going to eat, anything from you..” he said with brewing anger which greeted itself along with the anger that was already in his system for the purple abomination that he once called a best friend and almost more.

“S̶͖̅t̴͎̄ȯ̵̪p̴͇̂ ̴̣͒b̶̙̏e̸̝͋į̶͊n̶̻͠g̷̲͊ ̴̺͝s̷̲̿t̴̼͝û̷̼b̶̙̆b̸̠̓o̵̢̽r̵̬͒n̸̰̐,̴̘̆ ̴̪͒d̵̤͋o̷̼̾ ̵̫̕n̴̤̊ŏ̷̹t̷͎̐ ̴̬͌w̶̭͂ḁ̸̈́s̷͙͒t̴̺͑ȅ̷̩ ̵͉̎t̸̼͝h̷̪͊e̶͚̿ ̷̪͂g̸̬̾ī̵͖f̴̠̍t̷̥͆ ̶̞̀b̵̮̀ỳ̸̬ ̶͙͆ō̶̺u̴͎̿r̸̰̓ ̴̦͆s̷͓̒ä̴͇́v̴̙̀í̸̲ơ̷͉u̶͙͆r̶̹͂” the cat beginning to become annoyed as he put the meat into Dogday’s mouth where he begrudgingly swallowed, the feeling of it slithering down his throat was even worst then it just being in his mouth, Dogday had just barely held back the need to gag.

“s̴͙̚ě̴̥é̴̳?̵̈́͜ ̸̤̔W̷͎̃a̷͚͝s̷͙̕ ̷̲͋t̷̙̄h̶̭͆a̵͖͐ț̵͛ ̵̦͊ş̷̈ő̶̮ ̸̩͗h̶͍̄a̶̱̅r̸̫̃d̴̨͠ ̵̥̏d̴̬̆o̶͇͘g̶̱̈́g̶̰͂y̷̼̓?̶̪̇,” the cat asked to no answer instead Dogday responding with his own question to the purple feline “Why do you still do this…” the cat's ears perking up while tilting his head at the dog “B̴͍͝ē̷̤c̸͉͊a̷̠̾u̶̺͆s̷̩͑e̸̘͛ ̸̖̌ỳ̷͕ó̶̝u̴̢̒ ̴̖̎s̸͖̅t̷͈̅i̸̡̾ļ̴͑l̴̘̈́ ̴̣̕r̵͘ͅe̸̢͛s̷̪̓î̶̗s̷̯̆t̶͚̀ ̴͎͋j̸̺̄o̴̜̿i̴̙͊n̵̨͆i̴̪̐ǹ̵̖g̴̰̽ ̶̰̔o̷͓̓u̴͍̾r̴̘̓ ̸͈̽l̴̢̃o̷͓͂r̶̫̍d̸̳̀ ̷̺̒ȁ̴̫n̷̯̕-” Catnap was interrupted by Dogday.

“No, Why do you keep *ME* alive? I am a heretic, aren’t I? You didn’t offer this chance to any of our other friends who you deemed heretics, why wouldn’t you have offered the same deal to Bubba? His intelligence could have helped you or your “god” Why not Picky? She could have prepared proper meals for you instead of you needing to scavenge for rotting bits of flesh, why didn’t you spare Hoppy? Kickin, Crafty, Bobby, ANY OF THEM, Why me? I failed as a leader, without my legs I wouldn’t even be able to chase down any of your so-called heretics, What makes me so different?!” The dog's whisper had morphed into outright raged screams, he was sure if he still had tear ducts he would have been screaming through tear-filled eyes after he had finished, the room went dead silent, only interrupted by the occasional loud bang from the pipes Catnap didn’t answer, he gets up and left without saying another word, Dogday continued to scream at Catnap to come back and answer him as he watched the purple feline begin to leave sight, until he was left alone once more, before going limp once more to try and rest.

 

Catnap couldn’t admit the truth being that the prototype never allowed Dogday to live, but Catnap even while under the control of the prototype couldn’t bring himself to do it, despite everything the feelings for Dogday still lingered deep within what remained left of his soul, he went back up to the upper floors of Home Sweet Home where he made his way to his cat bed before laying down curled up before trying to drift off into the cold embrace of sleep, the last bit of peace both of them would know in this life due to the soon arrival of an ex-worker of Playtime Co. the one that to Catnap called others foolish for addressing them as the “Angel”

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During the events of the “Angels” journey through Playcare, Catnap followed and stalked his prey awaiting the perfect moment to make his move, observing the ex-employee's actions and behaviour like a scientist watching a newly discovered animal in the wild, eventually the employee's found their way down to the very same cells of Home Sweet Home, that held the captive ex-leader, Dogday heard the “Angel” approach and prepared to offer the ex-worker a warning knowing that in his state it would useless to escape and frankly, when he thought to himself that wasn’t even what he wanted, he didn’t want to be saved by escaping, he had originally hoped for this day thinking that the “Angel” Would not only save him but all his friends, perhaps even the once best friend and former crush, now though he thought that even if he did escape what would there be to escaped too? An empty factory? In his eyes, without any of his friends, there was no escaping or being saved, the “Angel” found their way to the poor critter's cell and looked in shock at his poor state as Dogday wasted no time and all his strength left to begin speaking to them.

“You…you’re Poppy’s angel, come to save us…nothing left to save, not here…you’re in Catnap’s home now Angel, their home” his every breath and speech began to feel like a sharp dagger to his throat but never the less he continued “a million pair of eyes are on you now, watching, waiting…hungry, they want nothing more than to crawl beneath your skin and eat away at you bit..by..little..bit, fill what feels empty inside themselves, that thing…Catnap…the Prototype is his god and this is what he does to heretics These little toys follow Catnap to avoid that very fate- and in return, they are fed. We tried to fight it, but the Prototypes control, I am the last of the SmilingCritters.

” With that sentence, he wanted to tear up at the memory of all his friends but he had to continue past it “Listen to me, You need to get out of this place, you need to live, you and Poppy can fix this, end this madness the torment the-” The sound of skittering and familiar laughing, a deeply sinister warning of what was soon to come and he knew it was his time “Oh…no OH NO! Leave me! Please, Just GO!” he screamed as the minis rushed through the pipes of either side of his cells and they began to crawl inside of his body, going through his open lower half, squeezing inside of him through the belt like a rat crawling through a mouse hole, the feeling of the mini critters eating away at his organs left an unbearable pain as he felt himself begin to choke on his blood before the critters eat away at his lung, his pain only ending after a single critter crawling through his left eye, eating away quickly at his eyeball before eating away quickly at his brain and ending him then and there as they begin to puppet his lifeless body to chase down the so-called “Angel” using the dead critter's body as protection from the flare gun of the grab pack, after minutes of running they managed to escape the possessed corpse of the former leader, jumping over a pad using the purple grab pack hand the door shutting behind them.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

After the traumatizing events that just transpired of being chased by a possessed corpse, he leaves Home Sweet Home back to the artificial sky of the rest of Playcare, Catnap watched from afar as the ex-worker leaves Home Sweet Home, something stops him from striking despite knowing that it was the best time to do so due to they were most likely being exhausted from running from the Minis but something else kept him from attacking, a feeling of something he had not felt in a long time, fear and worry, he ignored the “Angel” rushing back down to the cells only to feel his heart sink to find Dogdays missing from the cell, he spotted and began to follow the trail of blood left on the floor from what looked like a chase, eventually getting to what he believed to be Dogday, clawing at the metal door that had shut him away from chasing the “Angel” Catnap began to approach his former friend as he thought that either the ex-worker had left Dogday making him more furious at them or that Dogday had finally decided to join the Prototype to kill a heratic, he believed it was the first thought and began to speak right as he got behind the leggless orange canine whos back was turned to him still focused on the door.

“Ì̷̝ ̵̧̉s̶̫̀ê̷͓e̸̟̎ ̴̥̊y̶̦̓ò̶̲u̴̪̅r̵̹̔ ̷͖̀A̶̤͠ņ̸̋g̴̗̚e̵̦͘l̸͎͝ ̸͚̅ā̵͕b̷̙͛a̶͕͘n̸̻̓d̵̲͆ȏ̷̩n̷̟̔e̴͖̎d̸̳͊ ̵͕͝y̴͔͠ö̴̘u̴̟͐,̸̩͐ ̷͓̆I̵̝̕ ̷̙͒ṯ̸̉ô̴̪l̸̫͒d̴̀͜ ̶͇͋y̸̠͑o̸͗͜u̸̖̅ ̷̺̏i̶̧͘t̵̞͠ ̶͍̂ẃ̴͇á̷͜s̶̟̿ ̸̮͛a̸͕͛ ̴͙̊f̴̯̆å̶̳l̷͉͑s̵̥͠e̵̗̚ ̴̥̌ṕ̵̭r̴͉͒ǒ̸̰m̸̧͠í̶ͅs̴̖̈e̵̠͒,̵̳̄ ̷̞́m̶̳̈a̵̖̕y̸̜̆b̸̦͘e̸̺͆ ̵̩̋n̷͚̐ó̷̘w̸̗̋ ̷͎̓y̵̯͌ỏ̴͍ṷ̵͆'̴̰̔r̸̫͛è̴̱ ̸̭̑f̷͉̋i̶̺͝n̷̺̎a̵̪̍l̸̠͂l̷̯͂ỳ̴ͅ ̴͎̽r̵̻̔e̷̠̓ä̷̰́d̶̩̐ȳ̷͜ ̷̮̈́ẗ̸̘́o̷͆ͅ ̴͎̐å̸̯c̵̡̊c̵̮͒ḙ̷͛-̵̖̈” He cut himself off as he noticed three mini critters crawl out from the lower body of him forcing the giant purple cat to stop in his tracks and freeze after realizing that what he was talking too was now just an empty puppet of somebody he once knew, the critters laughed and giggled only made Catnap’s blood boil as he stepped down on the head of the three minis, crushing them instantly, before going into a blind rage and kill any of the minis that were still in Dogday’s lifeless shell, only ceasing after the job was done and the mangled and destroyed minis were unable to even be recognized as a once living creature.

The cat used his tail to drag his former friend back to his bed before laying him down gently on the cat-shaped bed, he simply stood there for an entire hour, staring at his carcass before leaving the room, he did not care for the hunt anymore, normally he would stalk his prey before striking but this was the final nail in the coffin that made him only sure of one thing, that he wanted this all to be over so he could go back to sleep next to the remains of his friend, he didn’t care about anything else, not being a protector, not the heretics, not even his god, he had completely let his body take control to head towards the poppy gas production zone where he intended to end this with either, theirs or his death.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

The last game of cat and mouse had begun, “Angel” was close to finishing all they had to was load all the batteries into gas production, Catnap intruded, filling the entire area with the poppy gas, concentrating it to cause hallucinations instead of sleep, Catnap wanted the one who he deemed was responsible for ending the orange canine to be awake, scared and feel everything that he intended to do to him, he found a great deal of pleasure in seeing the scared human fire aimlessly into the gas, but as he got close enough, blending into the fake copies of himself, he didn’t expect to be shot in the face with a blast of steam from a vent that they had used to block the way, after attempting this, again and again, he had crawled into the upper vent and crawl down in front of the frighted ex-worker, not noticing the charged up green grab pack until it was too late, he felt himself hit with a huge burst of electricity causing him to fall to the ground and convulse like a criminal being tazed by police after trying to escape, he began to unintenoninally breath out the poppy gas causing a spark to light his entire body aflame, this had caused his body to get enough adrenaline to get up finally as he ran around the room making cries and wails in his now completely busted voice box that had melted inside of his throat due to the fire going down his throat from the gas and into his lungs, his once purple fur had become an almost ash grey resembling that of his nightmarish form he would use to scare heratics, after the fire finally dulled both the “Angel” and Catnap saw the same vent hatch he had just crawled out of, open once more this time a familiar long, metallic, hand lowered down, as it moved its hand in an almost inviting hand.

Catnap got up on his knees, believing the Prototype had come to aid him, but the hand reeled back before stabbing Catnap straight through the base of his skull, his limbs went limp, he had been betrayed by his so-called god, he closed his eyes as last thing he could think about was how he betrayed his friends for the same thing that had just killed him before he knew it…

It all went black…

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Notes:

Phew finally, as I said none of this will be my best work, and It is very apparent with how it's written and ended, but THANK PROTOTYPE, I can finally move on to the part I’m excited for, Torturing the kitty and later (the gayness) >:3 I will NOT be missing the factory, writing this sucked and was boring in my opinion, now I can get to proper work and if the text looks a bit odd at times I am using Grammarly to correct anything I say but it is not the best, the next part will be very similar to Moonlit Sins (Creator up top) for designs sharing similar traits with Mourning and Mending (Creator up top)

Chapter 2: Chapter 1.5: Introductions

Chapter 1.5: Introductions

Right after death, Catnap awoke in a seemingly empty white void, he squinted his eyes to look around but the bright white void hurt his eyes, as he looked around he slowly began to get up and wander in a random direction “W-where am I?” He said out loud before becoming shocked that he was not only able to speak but his voice was normal “What the..?” he was even more confused now than he was before, he continued to walk in a straight line until he saw a peculiar sight.

In the far distance of the white void was a Clocktower so tall that the hands were unreadable from his height at the bottom, the looming tower watched over the entire void while making the still audible ticking, skeptic but not having any other choice he approached the door and knocked, his first knock opened the unlocked door as it slowly creaked open with an eerie sound mainly heard in horror movies, cautiously he walked into the foreign structure, the inside of the tower was as expected large but resembled not an ordinary clocktower instead the entrance of a mansion, with a giant ballroom stairway leading up before splitting into two balconies overlooking the area they were in, a purple light came from the big chandelier in the center of the room, he was about to walk up the stairs before catching a glimpse of a large double doorway behind the stairs labelled above with the text “Library”.

He made a confused murr as he walked towards the door thinking perhaps inside he could get answers, he caught a glimpse of an orange light moving from within and began to move towards it, reaching a fireplace, in front of it were two leather reading chairs, between them, was a small three-legged side table, on the table was two cups of tea, both looked freshly made as if somebody was either just here or was expecting somebody to be here and a clear sign he was not alone, he approached still cautious but part of his defence dropped after getting a whiff of his favourite tea from one of the cups, Chamomile tea, in the small pearly white ceramic cup, on the one next to it was a blue ceramic cup with purple trimmings along the lip of the cup.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps is heard and approaching, he quickly turned his head looking towards the direction of the sound of where the footsteps were then followed by the sound of a male humming a small tune from between two bookshelves, Catnap kept his eyes glued to the location of the noise waiting for whoever was making that noise to emerge but he couldn’t have expected the actual one that showed.

Emerging from between the two large bookshelves was a well-dressed man, standing around 5,6 yet still looming over the tiny kitty in comparison, the suit he wore was blue with purple stripes, two triangular coattails attached to the back following behind the man as he walked, black gloves on either hand, it appeared his undershirt through the chest window was a magenta button-up, around his neck was a black bowtie with a magenta center, the most striking thing about him, however, was in place of his head was a semi-large helmet of a magenta cogwheel with a single missing tooth on the center far right of the cog with a blue outline, in the center was a large black “T”, on the right of where his eye would be only had a single eyehole disguised as a golden cog shaped monocle complete with a small golden beaded string attaching it to the side of the helmet between two cog teeth simply as decor.

The strange figure walked out to see Catnap and immediately stopped humming midsong replaced with a confused “Hm?” at his appearance before continuing to talk to the purple feline who had invited themselves into his home “Oh you’re here, I expected you to wander for a few hours before getting here”.

Catnap looked even more confused than he had ever been as he shakily opened his mouth to question the figure, “Who…Are you? Where are we?”

The figure softly chuckled before closing the book that was in his hand and walked past the confused kitty, sitting down on the leather chair in front of the fire, before gesturing for Catnap to do the same in the second empty seat.

Catnap was still very confused but he walked over and sat down reluctantly as the figure picked up the Chamomile tea on the small plate and offered it to him to take, again Catnap took the cup but didn’t sip anything, not trusting the stranger who had appeared to brush off Catnaps questions.

The figure picked up his respecting glass and took a sip through his helmet as if it wasn’t even there, to begin with, the liquid inside seeming to just vanish into the helmet before putting it on his lap and looking over to Catnap and beginning to speak “to answer your questions, first I can and have been called a lot of things, but I guess in this current situation I’m judgment…”

Catnap barely understood anything that was just said wanting to ask a follow-up question but was interrupted before he could by the figure continuing with the next answer.

“To answer your second question, to put it simply, this is the border, whenever a soul dies it is sent here to be judged before moving on to its next afterlife, normally however all you critters are a very special case for me, I do not get a lot of man-made experiments sent to my domain, but you are very different Catnap, all of the other critters each took at least three hours to get here, with even two of them taking an entire two days worth of time to even begin to leave the spot they were even in to get here”

Catnap's eyes lit up, his ears perking up at the mention that all the other critters were here too “Wait…others? As in Bubba? Kickin?...Dogday?” he slowed his speech with the last one mentioning the former leader “Are they okay? Where did they go? What happened to them?” Catnap proceeded to bombard the figure with questions about the other critters well being.

The figure responded after being silent for a few seconds “Yes, all the other critters appeared here after their early demise by…your paw” That last remark caused Catnap to lower his head down to look at his lap in guilt and shame, the figure continued not caring for the feeling of the feline “It was certainly a surprised when Bubba first got here, I will admit however, I did enjoy his short company, the rest of them who came through were mostly all the same in terms of discussion, as for their whereabouts you were all a very special case in terms of soul structure, I have never worked with a fictional soul given life through science and so to prevent them from appearing odd in the regular afterlife I had offered them all safe transport back to a recreation of their original home dimension, they are all together and last I checked doing quite well with the aid of Bobby”.

Catnap made a light and soft smile, hearing the fact that all of them were doing well before asking what would be the second to last question he felt he needed to ask “W…what happens to me now?....” he asked gently the figure thought about it before responding.

“Well…for you is a very special case, even compared to the others, I do not talk this long with any souls that come through here, by your second question I would have already cut it there and sent you to the eternal damnation I’m sure even you believe you deserve” The cat did not argue only nodding slowly but to the cats surprise the figure continued “However, I am willing to offer you another deal”.

Catnap looked back at the figure with another confused murr and a head tilt, once more the figure continued “I’m willing to send you to join them, You will be given the chance many other souls wish they did…a chance at redemption” Catnap couldn’t believe what he had just heard, he was confused on why of every other soul out there why was he being offered this chance “Of course, redemption does not come easily and I make no promises it will even happen to begin with, however, the choice is entirely up to you an-” the figure found himself cut off by the purple feline.

“I’ll do it…” the cat said stunning the figure and deep down even stunning himself that he took that choice instead, the man gently nodded his head in understanding before offering out his hand to shake Catnap's paw.

The cat looked at the gloved hand before him and with barely a second thought he took the hand in his paw and shook it “I wish you the best of luck, you will be needing it” the last thing he said before it all vanished away.

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Notes:

Lmao personal OC go brrr, don’t worry I won’t be appearing in the story again most likely, these next few chapters will include some add-ons to the already amazing story of [MoonlitSins], and I will not be claiming nor do I claim to be “improving” on it cause that would be an asshole move, I simply could not think of anything better then how amazing the original was so awesome so I wanted to add my own additions to it, once more PLEASE go check out [MoonlitSins] in case you continue finding this fanfic hard to read, if you choose to stay then I am happy to still have you here :3

Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Merely the beginning.

Chapter 2: Merely the beginning.

Catnap felt his weak body shake as he slowly began to wake from what almost felt like a year-long slumber, he awoke to find himself staring at the ceiling of his old cat tower house, lying on his cat bed, he slowly sat up still feeling incredibly tired as his entire body felt like it had just been through hell, the moment he sat up to view the rest of his house he was shocked to find the entire room looked like it had been flipped upside down, resembling that of a robbery, the window in his room had been shattered from some exterior force, causing shattered glass shards to litter the bedroom floor, hidden in the carpet but was still viewable, other furniture like his bedside table and closet pushed onto the ground and hacked at by what looked like a fireaxe, toys and various knick knacks snapped or broken and discarded onto the floor like trash, what little he saw he was already afraid to leave the safety and comfort of his bed, but he treads along, getting out of bed slowly to avoid the broken shards to go down to the main floor of the house to view the potential damage that had been done to the rest of the house.

Going down to inspect the main floor his worries were confirmed as the sight of the living room alone made the bedroom look intact in comparison, nothing left in the entire room was intact, from the carpeted floor containing even more broken shards of glass, mirror fragments, destroyed plates and bowls and even some upright nails that had just been scattered across the floor appearing purposeful, to the ceiling which all light fixtures had been torn off the ceiling before being tossed out through the also shattered window, which its curtain had been torn off with such haste that some bits of fabric remained hanging onto the pole for dear life, only occasional moving from winds coming in through the window.

The last and most important thing he noticed was a shattered picture frame lying face down in the mess near the center, Catnap tiptoed through the mess avoiding nails but was unable to avoid most of the other sharp objects littering his floor, he winced with every step that would cut and sometimes stab his feet, but he continued to tread towards the picture before picking it up and slowly picking it up to reveal the one of the only physically intact item in the whole room, the photograph of himself and Dogday hugging, Dogday having that same goofy smile that used to be as bright as the sun itself, he stood there in the mess as if his feet weren’t bleeding all over the carpet, tears begin to form at his bottom of his eyes, trying to hold them back but it was futile as some began to drip onto the glassless frame staining the picture with the salty liquid, a call before the rest of them followed suit as they continued to well up before coursing down his cheeks, he remained standing there hand shaking as he gripped the picture frame tightly as if his life depended on it and stayed there for minutes, only interrupted after his ears flickered to the sound of the downstairs door opening.

The sound of other critters becomes apparent when it is soon followed by two pairs of footsteps walking up the stairs, prompting Catnap to quickly rush back to his bedroom on the third floor, trying his best to both move as fast as he could while making as little noise as possible, accidentally stepping on one of the many nails placed, he held back the need to yelp for pain as he continued, getting to his bedroom he closed and locked the door before hiding the picture frame under his bed, getting on the bed staring at the door with fear-filled eyes, hoping whoever had entered his house didn’t hear or notice he was here, unfortunately, it would seem his luck only worsened as the door became to jiggle as he could hear the voice of two familiar critters a male voice spoke from behind the door “The doors locked” followed shortly by a response from a female voice “As if that is gonna stop me, step aside” the voice exclaimed before loud banging accompanied by the sound of heavy kicking as the already weak door began to shake at the hinges and buckle under the force being applied to it.

Catnap back up to the corner of his bed shaking in fear, there was nowhere for him to run or hide before he knew it the door had been kicked one last time, the impact causing it to fly open, and the door lock had completely snapped as standing in the doorframe was a familiar looking green rabbit and yellow chicken, both of them beginning to talk to each other Hoppy being the first to speak “I told you I saw bloody pawprints” she said in an I told you so tone.

Kickin responded shortly after “I ain’t cool enough not to admit when I'm wrong” After he talked both of them looked at the purple feline who was now shaking like a leaf, huddling in the corner of the bed while looking at the both of them, before both Kickin and Hoppy’s grinned, Kickin began to address the cat in a mocking tone “Aww don’t worry Catnap, It’s just your ‘friends’ we only wanted to give you a present we’ve been dying to give you~” Kickin said with a smirk across his beak Hoppy cracked her knuckles as she walked over and picked up the poor defenceless kitty by the neck, holding him up against the wall, Catnap instinctively tried to fight back but he found himself so tired and frail that even kicking at her barely even left an effect only causing her grip to tighten in annoyance, all the cat could do was grip her wrists with his paws trying in vain to get her to loosen her grip while also whimpering and shivering.

She quickly threw Catnap off the bed and onto the floor, landing atop a few of the glass shards right in front of Kickin’s feet, Catnap was unable to hold it back ending up yelping in pain as he felt the sharp shards stab into his chest, trying to get up not apply pressure to the shards any further, his arms shaking as he pushed himself up slowly, Kickin still in a mocking tone “Here let me help you get that out” before Catnap even had the chance to object Kickin reached his feathery winged hand down to one of the glass shards that were embedded in his upper chest, getting a tight grip and a slight twist he rips it out blood covering the glass shard.

Catnap let out another sudden pained yelp, imminently gripping at the wound before falling to his side in the fetal position tears flowing from eye ducts, Hoppy stomped on his long purple tail, he made yet another pained pathetic yelp before barfing up what little was already in his stomach it was mostly bile due to not having a single morsel of food since he got here, it stained the already messy carpet of his bedroom floor.

Hoppy and Kickin were looming over him lying on the floor before they could really start having fun a thought came to mind,, between the two of them Hoppy spoke first “Hey, if we hurry we can go get the others to join in on the fun it would be selfish of us to keep him all to ourselves, I’m sure the others would be thrilled at this” she said sadistically excited, Kickin liked the sound of the idea and responded in a very similar tone, “Oh yeah, we can’t leave the others out!” before they left however, Hoppy grabbed Catnap by the fur on his head and whispered in his ear in a serious and threatening tone “When we get back here, you better still be right here if you run away I will personally hunt you down and make sure you will never run again, do I make myself clear..?”

Catnap out of fear slowly and weakly nodded his head, agreeing to stay there, Hoppy smiled again and threw his head down against the ground before leaving with Kickin.

Leaving the poor kitty on the floor discarded like the other broken objects of his room, his tail wrapped around his badly hurt body, he began to slowly but carefully removing the rest of the shards in his chest, wincing and crying at every movement, after eventually getting them all out, he tossed them aside while continuing to stay on the floor in the same position, after a minute of whimpering he looked back under the bed to the picture frame, he used his damaged and shivering tail to pull it towards him slowly and hugged the photo closely to his chest, his mind filling with his own hateful and self-loathing thoughts.

“I deserve this…” He thought to himself, knowing he couldn’t blame the two critters for what they did or what they were probably about to do to him when they returned with even more critters, angry at him, after everything he did how could he blame them? He deserved everything that was about to happen to him, whimpering and damaged on the floor he held the photograph extra close to his chest as if wanting to put it directly next to his heart, as he tried his best to drift off to sleep, trying to ignore the pain his body was in, after laying there in pain his body finally began to give in, his eyelids beginning to get heavy as he drifted off to sleep.

Notes:

cliffhanger for a bit, next part will focus more on Dogday and what his first few days were like in the afterlife before I continue to torture the stupid gay cat

Chapter 4: Chapter 3: Back on my feet…

Chapter 3: Back on my feet…

As he felt the mini critters eat away at his body from the inside, his vision quickly went dim, the last thing he would feel would be his own blood and multiple biting teeth chewing on what remained of his lungs and throat, and the last thing he saw was himself being controlled like a lifeless puppet to hunt down the one he called “Angel” seeing them run away from him like a monster before his vision had completely dimmed out and suddenly…

 

It was all dark…

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Suddenly with a quick and loud gasp, he opened his eyes to see a familiar orange ceiling, his entire body felt as if it had been asleep for years, a blanket covering his lower half, as he slowly sat up to look around shocked and confused to see he was laying on his couch, rays of sunlight poured in through the two windows above him, bathing the entire room in a sight he had not seen in a very long, one thing caught him the most off guard, however, looking at the other side of the couch, he saw two bumps under the blanket on the opposite side of the couch, his eyes widened before slowly checking under the blanket to see his pair of legs, he quickly dropped the blanket back down to his waist, thinking he had not seen it right before checking once again, like an old friend who he hasn’t seen in so long, there were his two legs under the blanket, he had barely any feeling in them but he reached under the blanket slowly touching his legs, very lightly feeling the fur being rubbed against his paw accompanied by the very limited feeling from his legs feeling the patting.

“H-how? Am I dreaming?” Not understanding seeing the clock with bones for hands on the wall and noticing it was ten o'clock still very confused before getting flashes of memories, a white void, a clocktower and a man, he slowly came to understand “Oh..right..” remembering what had happened to him, he sat there for few minutes before moving the blanket aside and slowly moving off the couch, he was still not used to feeling the wooden floor against the bottom of his feet, he welcomed it though despite it being weird after ten years of having no feeling at all, trying to stand his legs shivered and shook under the newly applied weight, he tried his best to balance, taking the first step he fell down, putting his arms in front of him to catch himself, luckily landing on a carpet which helped soften the fall, he made a slight yelp followed by a thump upon hitting the floor.

“Ow..looks like this is gonna be harder than I thought,” he said to himself, deciding instead to use his arms to slowly drag himself across the room, getting to a chest where he kept his dog toys and what he was looking for, various sticks he used to collect, his friends always called it silly but at this moment he was relieved of his past self for doing so after he grabbed the biggest one amongst the collection and using it as a makeshift crutch, using the chest as support to get back up before resting his weight on the stick, the stick sat nuzzled under his armpit, he slowly used it to help him walk around the room, staying close to the wall to catch himself in case he fell again, he stopped abruptly after seeing the picture of him and Catnap hugging and smiling, almost as if it was mocking him, telling him that he actually used to call the monster that did this to him a best friend, he grew even more furious after remembering eventually he even started to grow more feelings for the cat, the thought alone made his eyes to well up with tears.

He grabbed the picture frame off the wall throwing it into his chest, deciding he was gonna deal with it later, wiping the tears that had begun to form with his arm, dampening the fur on it, he turned to face the entrance door to his house, working up the courage he limped over to it, turning the doorknob and cautiously opened the door, immediately feeling the cool breeze of the outside world hit his fur, a feeling he had not felt ever since he was put into those cursed bigger bodies, he welcomed the feeling like the embrace of an old friend, limping out beyond the doorframe, breathing in the fresh air he had gone years almost forgetting what air was like without having to smell the contaminated air of Playcare that always reeked of factory fumes, this quiet was interrupted by the sound of cheerful playing nearby, his ears twitched as he turned and began to move in the direction of the noise.

He could barely believe his eyes seeing all the other critters in a field, under a shaded tree and on a red and white checkered picnic blanket, Bubba reading quietly, next to him was Crafty painting, Picky eating strawberries out of a bowl she had brought for the group to share, Hoppy and Kickin were a bit further away from the rest of the group playing baseball with Kickin pitching, Bobby watching and cheering on Hoppy from the tree with the rest, it was enough to freeze Dogday in place, after years of missing his friend, thinking he would never see any of them again, there they were in front of him, as Kickin pitched the ball to Hoppy, she prepared to hit it but froze in place and letting the ball fly right by her after seeing the familiar orange canine “D-Dogday..?” she could also hardly believing the sight as the rest noticed and looked over to see what had caused her to miss the ball before all putting on very similar reactions to hers, the world felt like it stopped moving as Hoppy screamed out first “DOGDAY!!” she yelled out in excitement before tossing the bat aside and ran to Dogday others not too far behind her, tackling him into a hug that landed both of them onto the soft grassy field.

Dogday laughed but made a slightly pained noise upon landing on his back and cheerfully spoke “Careful! I’m still hurt” Despite that he was also very happy to see all his friends, he heard slight sniffling from Hoppy as her hugging grew slightly shaky “You’re actually okay...We didn’t think we would ever see you again..” the other critters finally reach them, almost everyone joining in the group hug around their leader, the only exception being Bubba who spoke “I know we are all glad he is here but everyone give him some space, you all already knew the state we were all in when we first got here” The other critters reluctantly agreed all letting go of Dogday with Bobby helping him back up with his stick/crutch.

Dogday smiled at everyone, happy that they were all glad to see him as he was to see them after being apart for so long “Thanks Bobby, you too Bubba, I missed all of you guys too” Bubba nodded before speaking again “Looks like I’ll have to cut my part in the picnic a bit short, Dogday lets get you a quick physical checkup before we do anything else” Dogday didn’t want to leave so soon but he knew Bubba’s advice was the best choice so he agreed and went with the blue elephant, Bobby following and helping him with walking, it seemed all the other critters were also coming along, packing up the picnic for another time.

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Reaching Bubba’s house, as they all entered, Bubba asked the other critters to wait in the living room while Bubba gave Dogday a check-up, they reluctantly listened, waiting outside, Bubba had turned a previously empty room in his house into a makeshift hospital room, Bubba helped Dogday onto the bed, his legs still very shaky, Bubba moved his stick to the side, Dogday couldn’t stop staring at Bubba, almost as if he was locked in a trance, Bubba almost immediately noticed and spoke “Dogday, if there's something you want to ask me just go ahead, Ms. Delight told us it was rude to stare” he said with a hint of a playful tone in his voice” Dogday snapped out of his trance shaking his head like he just got out of the rain before speaking to Bubba “Sorry… it's just…you’ve been gone…for-” Before he could finish Bubba sighed, already knowing what he was about to say and spoke in a softer tone “I suppose it has been a very long time, don’t worry, all the others said the same thing when they first saw me too…I suppose being the first to die has its…questions..” he said as he continued fishing around his overhead cabinets finding his tools and walking over he gave Dogday a friendly smile “I missed you too”.

Dogday upon hearing that he gave a smile in return that lit up the room, Bubba soon began his usual check-up procedures, placing the stethoscope’s chest piece over Dogday’s lungs “alright, breath for me”

Dogday did so, breathing as he usually would, he became curious and started asking questions a little into the check-up “So what is the afterlife like?” He asked and Bubba gave a quick response as if he had been asked this before “It is a bit bizarre at times, however apart from a few aspects it is almost no different than how it was back in our previous life, the only key difference being, we are unable to die here” that last part surprising Dogday and he spoke again “Wait we can’t die here?” now his interest being peaked, Bubba was about to answer but was interrupted seeing Dogday’s left eye was moving a few milliseconds behind the right one.

Making a pondered and interested noise he went back to the side desk and pulled out a small flashlight, a few cue cards with pictures and an eye test, returning in front of Dogday he shined a light in his left eye “Try following the light for me”
Dogday following the instructions, Bubba noticed that it slowly lagged behind the light.

Making another pondered sound he turned it off and pulled out the cue cards followed shortly by the eye test he reached a conclusion and spoke to him “It appears you might have a bit of visual impairment in your left eye”

Dogday remembered that was the same eye the mini had crawled into and whimpered a bit at the memory of the events, alarming Bubba a tad as he asked him “Would it be too much trouble if I asked why that would be? If not that is fine of course” in response Dogday sheepishly shook his head not wanting to explain or reveal any of that, Bubba understood and didn’t force him to continue “Sorry for asking” Bubba apologized for bringing up possible bad memories, Dogday spoke up again “No no, it’s ok you don’t need to be sorry”

Bubba sighed “Well either way it looks like I’ll have to look into a possible fix for that eye of yours, lets finish up this check-up and I’ll look into any possible solutions, okay?”

Dogday responded “Okay..”

After finishing up the last of the regular procedures which were all being noted down every time one ended and a new one started, Bubba’s notebook being filled with a section for each critter to make it easier to help them in case of any situation in the future, “Alright, I believe that is everything, luckily just like everyone else your injuries while bad, can either be fixed or will heal naturally” Dogday making a relieved sigh before asking Bubba “So how long will it take for my legs to feel normal?” Bubba responded once more “With regular exercise and a healthy routine, I am fairly certain your legs will be feeling better in around two months”

Dogday was a bit disappointed that it would take that long but also still relieved that he will be able to walk normally at all, even if it will take a while “That’s good to hear”

Bubba went to open a storage closet in the room, pulled out a pair of crutches and returned to Dogday “I believe these are an upgrade from a stick” He said playfully handing them to the orange canine, thanking Bubba in response “Thanks Bubba” Bubba responding “No need to thank me, you’re still our leader, it's the least I can do to help, let me go get the others to help you, I will return shortly” Bubba leaving the room and Dogday being left with his own thoughts only accompanied by the muffled sounds and silhouettes through the fogged window on the door.

He slowly reached down at his waist, getting imminent flashbacks to the feeling of being cut in half followed later by the feeling of having those little minis crawling inside him, taking his hand away and began to breathe rapidly, before calming himself down, he looks over at Bubba’s desk for a few seconds, he gets off the bed slowly and shakily, using his crutches to walk over, afterwards opening cabinets, stumbling upon what he was hoping for, pulling out a roll of bandages he wraps around his waist to try and help with the feeling.

The others came into the room, Bobby being the first as the others followed in tow, Bubba had already explained to everyone their jobs in order to lead to Dogday’s quickest recovery, Bobby went in to gently hug Dogday, trying her best to not accidentally harm him or squeeze too tightly, the others except Bubba joining in turning it into a group hug to welcome their old leader back, Dogday’s tail wagging again at the feeling of all his friends hugging him again, he gave them all a wide smile, wanting to hug them back but was unable too without dropping his crutches, Kickin being the first to speak interrupting the silence of the hug “This is awesome! We have our entire party back together” as much as he was concerned Bobby upon hearing this spoke up in response to the comment.

“Well almost everyone, we’re still missing Catnap” That comment was enough to ruin the moment and start an argument between the two with Kickin quickly shooting it down.

K: “Don’t call him one of us! As far as I’m concerned this is the entire group” It quickly started a back-and-forth between the two.

Bo: “What do you mean? Catnap is still a smiling critter as much as any of us”

K: “No he is not, why would you even think to call that thing one of us?!”

Bo: “He is not a thing, he might have made a mistake but it couldn’t have all been his fault, we all knew Catnap, he would never have hurt a fly!”

K: (Enraged and feeling his blood boil) “Are we talking about the same Cat?! Because I’m talking about the one that killed all of us! All for some stupid god that we refused to follow blindly and here you are talking like he accidentally broke a cup”

Bo: “He was scared, we all were!”

K: (In a sarcastic yet still loud tone) “Oh I’m sorry, I guess that justifies everything he did!”

Bo: “I didn’t say that I just meant tha-”

The argument was interrupted by Bubba calming down Kickin and Hoppy stepping in front of Bobby to calm her down as well, Bubba speaking to the both of them “Both of you calm down, we don’t need a playback of what happened a month ago, you two can settle this in private if you wish but for now, Dogday’s health should be our to-” Kickin interrupting Bubba midspeech much to his dismay.

K: “Dogday! Of course, let's ask what he thinks, I’m sure since he had to spend the most time with that monster he would agree with me”

Bobby was going to say something but Hoppy put her paw on her shoulder to continue trying to calm her, she sighed and put her paw on Hoppy’s before everyone turned to their leader asking for his input on everything, Dogday froze at first being put on the spot, not wanting to disappoint either of his friends but he knew he had to make the smart and best decision as a leader for the group, after a few minutes of silence Dogday responded “Kickin is right...we may have thought we knew Catnap but clearly, we didn’t know him enough, if all of the critters do end up back here according to death, if and when he dies, he’ll end up here with the rest of us and I think it would be for the better case of the smilingcritters if we do not treat lightly..”

Bobby looked almost betrayed by the words coming out of Dogdays mouth and secretly beneath it all, even he himself couldn’t believe his own words, the thing he was saying, the one he was talking about, this wasn’t just any smilingcritter, it was the one he called a best friend and for a long time, wanted to be even more then that, but he knew that if the smilingcritters were going to thrive in their new life, changes had to be made, so he bit the bullet and continued with what he said, looking over at Bobby, he felt guilty in not taking her side but could only say one thing in response to her “I’m…sorry Bobby..”

Bobby sighed and hung her head in defeat, Hoppy immediately hugging her girlfriend to try and comfort her.

Bubba shook his head wanting to just move on from the conversation and topic as fast as possible and immediately trying to change the topic “...Like I said, Dogday will help with physical therapy and exercise if any of us including him, wants him to make a swift recovery” after reconfirming everyone jobs, they were all sent home, Bobby leaving with Hoppy to go home early, needing to mentally recover after that, Crafty ended up helping Dogday home.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Dogday felt his heart being slowly eaten away by the thoughts of what he said both to Bobby and about Catnap, he kept telling himself it was the right thing to do but he couldn’t shake the feeling, Crafty clearly noticed this and tried to calm him down “If..If it makes you feel better…we’ve all been through this with Bobby…she’ll forgive you” It did not help at all, Crafty was never really the best at cheering people up with only words, noticing she may have actually made it worse, she silently began to panic in her mind about how stupid that was before quickly speaking out “I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ I’m sorry!” I’m not very good at this and I..I just” Dogday responded “It’s fine, I know you’re trying Crafty and I’m proud you did..” she was just embarrassed now as they both decided to remain quiet till they reached Dogday’s house which was luckily not that far away.

After reaching the front door Dogday thanked Crafty “Thanks a lot Crafty! I’ll take it from here, it’s getting late anyways and I wouldn’t want to deprive you of the sleep you need to do your art” he said playfully trying to forget the awkward moment they had just had.

Crafty agreed and tried to leave as quickly as she could without making it even more awkward.

Dogday was about to enter his house but in the corner of his eye he noticed a familiar sight in the far distance, he saw the dark silhouette of Catnap’s cat tower house, standing not far from where he was, he couldn’t stop staring at it, as if his feet had become frozen to the ground and his eyes locked to the house, after what felt like an eternity at staring he finally shook his head and went inside, laying on his couch and tried to get some sleep, hours would past and all he could do was toss and turn in the bed, trying to sleep.

He would eventually just end up staring at the ceiling just like how he did not so long ago at Catnap's house, remembering a trick he learned in Playcare to sleep when Catnap was being ‘fixed’ by the scientist and wasn’t able to use his poppy gas to put him to sleep, he began to try and think of happy thoughts to try and sleep, although he kept trying most of the thoughts were tainted by darker memories as if they were all corrupted files on a computer until he finally began to doze off, his eyes feeling increasingly heavy and out of everything he could have thought of to help him, it was the last time he could remember being able to sleep comfortably…cuddling Catnap at a sleepover, although he hated himself for this of all things being his happiest memory to sleep too he couldn’t help but to completely give in and drift off then before he knew it.

He was sleeping

Notes:

I’ll be honest with yah, not happy with how this one turned out, I was stuck on Bubba’s house for a lot longer than I care to admit, and I just settled on not describing the exterior, so yeah, but also I was finishing this chapter late at night on a school night soooo YIPPIE for me am I right? (Sleep-deprived squad rise up B3)

Also Hoppy x Bobby canon O///O

Anyway, I am not happy with how this one turned out, especially the argument section, If you have any ideas on how I can improve upon it please do tell me, I am fresh out.

Buuut at least we got some juicy lore, and perhaps Daynap is still possible. You’ll just have to wait and see.

Chapter 5: Chapter 3.5: What time is it..?

Chapter 3.5: What time is it..?

Dogday was peacefully sleeping until it was interrupted and he awoke to the knocking on his door, it was incredibly early the sun was barely up and the birds had just started singing, he looked at the door and then over at the clock on his wall, it was already 6 in the morning, normally he would be the first to wake but today was different, he barely had the strength to get up, however, he still forced himself too, grabbing his crutches and getting off the couch before slowly moving to the door.

Reaching it, he opens it slowly seeing Kickin and Hoppy standing there, confused at how early they had gotten up he begins to speak “Oh, hey Kickin and Hoppy, what are you doing here? It’s not like you two to get up so early..” still working on the memories back in Playcare and before even that, Kickin spoke first between the pair “We were just about to head to the rage room and we were wondering if you wanted to join us since you need the exercise anyways”

Dogday was confused at the mention of a rage room and responded even more confused “Rage room?” Hoppy responded excitedly “Yeah! Me and Kickin turned Catnap house into a rage room for when we get annoyed, it’s super fun!”

A part of Dogday was a bit disgusted about what he heard but didn’t say anything against it “Oh..”

Kickin responded, “C’mon it will be fun, Hoppy even agreed to let you take it slow since Bubba said you needed to start off slowly, right Hoppy?” he asked and Hoppy rolled her eyes a bit “Yeah alright but that doesn’t mean I have to take it slow”

Dogday didn’t really want to go anywhere near Catnap’s house but despite that, for a reason, even he couldn’t explain he responded “Sure…” he said in a still tired tone to the other's surprise.

Kickin responded, actually surprised Dogday agreed to it “Wait really? Well dang, this is great! The chaotic trio is back in action!” he bawked loudly and was now excited as well.

The three of them with Hoppy and Kickin taking it slowly in order for Dogday to keep up with them, began to make their way to Catnap’s house, a feeling of instant regret brewed in Dogday as they reached the tall cat tower, now looking destroyed and abandoned from the outside, Dogday wanted to turn back but didn’t want to be seen as a party pooper so he swallowed his feeling of regret and followed them through the knocked over and broken front door, up the spile staircase, reaching the top his heart almost sank at the sight of what they had done to the interior of the house, he hid his feeling but a bit of it snuck past, immediately being spotted by Hoppy “Dogday, if this is too much for you, feel free to go home if you want..” She wanted to make sure Dogday wasn’t too uncomfortable being in the house of somebody who he was so close to.

Interrupted “Nah c’mon Hoppy he was the last of us to bite the dust right?” clearly seeing him dying as proof that Dogday actually fought back against Catnap instead of being held prisoner and being killed by little minis.

Hoppy was about to call Kickin out for thinking such a thing but was interrupted by Dogday “It’s fine, Hoppy I just didn’t expect the place to be so bad..I’ll have a look around for anything if you guys don’t mind”

H: “Of course Dogday, just watch your step, there is still some broken glass around from me and Kickin’s last visits, do you want us to come with you?”

D: “No I think I can handle myself Hoppy, thank you but I just wanna be alone for a tiny bit”

H: “If you say so Dogday, again be careful, Bobby and Bubba would kill both of us if they found out we let you get hurt in this place” She said kind of playfully

D: “I will..” He said before slowly walking off, it was a bit hard to avoid the glass due to using crutches but he still managed to, reaching the door to Catnap’s bedroom, he stood in front of it for a little bit before opening the door, it opened with a loud creek as it slowly opened, he was greeted by what he expected, a destroyed room with glass shards all over the ground, furniture knocked over or just outright destroyed with an axe, he closed the door and went in looking around the small room, memories rushing back of how many nights he spent doing private sleepover with Catnap since he didn’t normally like doing sleepovers with too many other critters.

He saw a picture frame left intact on the mangled and barely standing bedside table, he picked it up, viewing it and saw it was a group photo of all the smilingcritters, his paw shivered at the sight, but this time he held back the tears that wanted to well up and leak from his eyes, he quietly opened the drawer and put it in before closing it, looking over at the bed which was covered in nails and glass, some of them even rusty purposely to cause problems for Catnap if he tried to sleep on it, he couldn’t help but just stare at it is even more torn apart, one side of him thought that Catnap deserved to suffer for what he did to all of them but he couldn’t help but feel that this was still too far, he remembered back in Playcare, back in that damn dungeon he was kept in, despite how disgusting it was, Catnap still tried his best to take care of him, not letting him starve to death, at the time he hated him for it but now he wasn’t sure.

He sighed softly and grumbled to himself “Damn it…” he grabbed a still intact broom nearby and leaned against the wall to keep his balance he brushed everything off the bed onto the floor “There…now we’re even..” he said again quietly and leaving the room slowly, he saw the other two having fun trashing the place Dogday didn’t say anything addressing it just pretending he was still tired and needing to leave “Well you guys have fun, I’m gonna…go”

The others while a bit disappointed that he was leaving so soon understood and Hoppy offered to help him down the stairs “Do you need any help getting down the stairs Dogday? It is a pretty long way down”

Dogday declined wanting to just be alone right now “I think I can get down on my own, I’ll just use the handrails, thanks though Hoppy”

He left back down the spiral stairwell slowly and steadily using the handrails to support him, it was not long before he left back to his house where he tried to forget what had happened and just went back to sleep again.

Notes:

Just wanted to tie up some loose ends :3

Now back to our regular scheduled purple cat angst time >:3

Chapter 6: Chapter 4: Unhappy returns…

Chapter 4: Unhappy returns…

Catnap awakes to find himself back at Playcare, back in a very familiar corridor in the basement of Home Sweet Home, Catnap’s eyes widen slowly and tears already begin to well up, he was afraid to do anything, afraid to move, but his body had decided to make that decision for him, he felt his shaky legs begin to walk forward, despite his minds protest, he kept trying to stop himself as he got closer to the end of the room, he tried closing his eyes, not wanting to look at what he knew was in the cell at the end of the room, but once again, it was as if his body made that choice for him, he turned into the cell and there he was, a familiar orange canine, cut in half and strung up from the wall.

Catnap could only now see the horrific state, that he had put him in, the still fresh blood leaking from where his legs would be, dripping onto the floor and coating it in a deep crimson, the defeat in his once bright smile and eyes, Catnap slowly reaches his paw up towards his old friend but suddenly as if being electrocuted the once seemingly sleeping Dogday sprung to life and shook violently, screaming so loud the tearing of his vocal coards could be heard, tears filling the dogs eyes as the belt holding his organs in fell off, instead of organs however, to Catnaps horror hundreds of minis begin to flood out of his lower half, and like a tidal wave begin to flood him, the feeling of hundreds of mini bites was all he could feel, the last thing he saw was his once best friend going limp once more, before…

He awoke back in his room, and it quickly became apparent that it was just a nightmare…he was still holding the picture frame in his paws, he continued laying in the fetal position in tears hugging the picture frame close to his chest he was sure he was going to fall apart right then and there but while he was laying he heard the ground floor door open once more, his ears twitched and he already knew that the others were here and his mind flooded with thoughts of what they were going to him, he quickly hid the picture frame back under the bed right before Hoppy kicked the door open again “Oh good, you’re still here, I won’t have to chase you down” she said smugly before yanking Catnap by the pendent string around his neck, causing the cat to painfully yelp as he is dragged out of the room by the necklace.

Just like before he was thrown out of the bedroom and onto the floor in front of all the other critters, most of which looked disgusted by his existence, he hung his head almost burying it in his head trying not to look at any of them, Hoppy forced him onto his feet by yanking the string in the air, putting him up against a pole in the corner of the room, that had functioned as a scratching post, Picky tied his arms behind the pole, the rope around his paw, quickly became too tight and he felt it cut off blood circulation in his wrists causing his paws to quickly go numb, a cleaver is gently rested on his shoulder from behind him, the cold stainless steel brought a shiver up his spine, as he heard Picky speak to him “Try anything with your tail and I cut it off got it~?” she said in an even more sadistic voice then Kickin and Hoppy from earlier.

He nodded standing there and just let his tail go limp out of fear of moving it, Picky saw this and responded in a mocking voice “Good kitty” She came out from behind the pole and went to join the others who were all standing in the center of the room looking at Catnap, they quickly began to discuss what to do among themselves, with Kickin speaking first.

H: “So what do we do to him first?” She asked the group with Kickin being very quick to respond

K: “I say we pay him back for what he did to each of us, I’ve been itching to try out the extent of our immortal bodies~” He said with a sinister tone to his voice

H: “I like the sound of that”

P: “Me too” Before anything happened though, Bobby spoke up against it

Bo: “Absolutely not! do you hear yourselves right now?” She said frustrated with the three of them.

K: “Oh come on not this again, Don’t tell me you’re actually gonna defend this thing!”

 

Bo: “Yes, because despite what you two seem to think, Catnap is still our friend.

K: “Correction, You’re the only one stupid enough to think he’s still your friend”

Bo: “Excuse me? What did you call me?!”

K: “I think you heard me, or are you deaf too, actually you might be because you’d have to be to not hear how we DON’T LIKE CATNAP!”

H: “Hey! Don’t talk to her like that!” Even though she agreed against Catnap, she wasn’t gonna stand by and let her girlfriend be insulted like that.

K: “But I’m right! She doesn’t seem to be able to get through her skull that we don’t like him!”

As they argued Catnap watched them fighting, the feeling of guilt filled him, seeing that him being there alone caused issues in the group, he tried to say something, but when he opened his mouth to speak, nothing came out, Picky saw this and thought he was about to try and gas them, without a second thought she quickly threw a butcher knife next to his head, cutting off a bit of his fur and stabbing into the post, the entire room went silent from that.

Bo: “Picky what was that for?!”

P: “He was about to use his gas on us to try and escape!”

Bo: “I didn’t see any gas!”

P: “Yeah because I just shut him up, be grateful”

Bo: “He could have just been yawning!”

The arguing only got worse until Dogday finally barked loudly “Everyone calm down!” the loud canine’s bark caused the entire room to go quiet once more, Dogday let out a tired sigh and began to speak in a softer tone “Cleary this is going nowhere, I think for now we should take turns watching Catnap until we can figure out what to do” the whole time he spoke he didn’t look at Catnap at all, not wanting to see his face right now.

Bubba spoke after Dogday had finished “Dogday is right, The best course of action is to discuss a proper plan and most likely best if not within earshot of Catnap..” they all then agreed to leave Catnap tied up for now and go to Dogday’s house to discuss this further but as everyone was leaving Dogday lagged behind the rest of them catching the attention of Hoppy “You coming Dogday?”

Dogday looked back at Catnap still tied to the pole, who’s head was still hung low looking at the floor so he didn’t notice Dogday looking at him, Dogday turned to Hoppy “I’ll catch up with you guys, I just need a moment alone, I won’t be long..”

Hoppy nodded and understood, leaving the two alone, Catnap finally looked up at Dogday, the two of them locking eyes, Catnap wanted nothing more than to be able to say he was sorry, but a part of him knew even if he could it wouldn’t matter, Dogday had so many different emotions swirling around in his head, he got closer to Catnap, the now much shorter feline looking up at him while still tied to the post, Dogday took the butcher knife Picky had thrown out of the wall.

He clutched the knife with a tight grip, his paw shaking but his face remained the same, a mostly tired expression not wanting to show Catnap anything, Catnap stared at the knife and then back at Dogday, unaware of what Dogday was about to do.

Dogday was split in his emotions, he thought back to when he was still hanging in that damn cell, what it felt like to spend ten years hung from a wall by only his arms, what it felt like to be cut in half, what it felt like to go through every bit of the pain he was in, back then he couldn’t remember a day he didn’t spend wanting to do the same to Catnap, to cut him in half the same way he was, to have him be the one begging for mercy at Dogday’s paw, but here he was, Catnap was almost completely subdued, he was sure the other critters besides Bobby wouldn’t mind if he got his proper revenge against him, it wasn’t like he would die and he held in his hand the most painful way to perform the task.

He could make him feel every little pain he felt but yet despite almost every voice in his head telling him to do it, there was one small piece of him…that still loved him.

It all was quiet, not a peep or word spoken, only for Dogday to eventually break the silence with his head hung to stare at the floor.

“I really didn’t want to see you…none of us did, I hoped that we could all just live our lives in peace and away from you, but for some reason, I don’t know why, you were allowed here, You must have offered death something very good to be here and I don’t even know why you wanted to come here and honestly, I don’t care but listen to me very carefully, you are not, never will be and don’t even deserve to imagine yourself as one of us, because as far as I’m concerned there are only seven smilingcritters..”

He used the knife to cut off the crescent pendant around his neck, he began to walk away with the pendent in one paw and the knife in the other but before he did he stopped by the stairs, not even turning his head he spoke again “I’d enjoy this moment of peace Catnap if I were you Catnap because we can’t seem to be able to die here, I don’t know what the other critters have planned for you but I know this moment will probably be the most peace you will have in a long time..”

That was the last thing he said to him before departing the room, going down the stairs, still using the handrails to slowly descend leaving Catnap alone once again with only his own thoughts and the words that were just said to him to keep him company, listening carefully, he waited until he was sure nobody was there, before letting his body completely break down, tears flooded through his eyes and trickling down his cheeks then sprinkled near his feet, staining the carpet with his tears, it was at that moment that the emotional pain almost rivalled that of the physical pain.

He wanted to fall to the floor and huddle into a ball to hide from the entire world but his restraints prevented that, all he could do was close his eyes so tight that they felt like they were gonna rip, thoughts and memories flooding his mind, tormenting him and causing his own head to become his own personal hell…

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An undetermined amount of time had passed, and there were no working clocks left in the room Catnap was in, all he had to tell the time was the broken window that would blow cold air into the room causing him to get a chill up his spine, it had gotten dark which has caused it to become very cold, despite the unideal and uncomfortable position he was in, he tried his best to fall asleep, however, awoken very easily by the slightest noise or gust of wind that sneaks in through the open window and whenever he did eventually sleep it was haunted by nightmares some of which are bad enough to wake him.

It didn’t take long for his already weak and tired legs to start quivering from being forced to stand, his body wanted to sit down but once again his restraints prevented it, he tried desperately to ignore the burning pain in his legs and feet, his stomach growled since he had not had a single morsel since he arrived here and he tried to ignore it since he knew that he would be hungry for a very long time.

He closed his eyes, hanging his head low letting his body go limp as he somehow managed to drift off to a light slumber.

Notes:

Sorry for the pretty short Chapter and sorry again for the bad writing this, expect the next chapter to take some time, I wanna make up for this one and also I have a lot of school work to juggle at the same time, I also have a hard time writing arguments.

Chapter 7: Chapter 4.5 Cracking...

Summary:

After that day, despite Bobby’s plea against it, the Critters voted and decided that Catnap would be watched by a critter every day to make sure nothing happens, sadly for Catnap, Hoppy was the first to pay him a visit

Notes:

I hated how this chapter turned out, It is probably the worst one in the story so far but I intend to put more work into the next chapter so stay tuned

The sun slowly came up, shining over the valley and bathing the critter's homes with rays of light, Catnap had been awoken to the sound of birds singing, after all, he was in no position for long-term sleeping, there wasn’t much he could do but stand there and wait for whatever the day had planned for him, time felt like it was moving so slow that at times it almost felt like it came to a halt, the silence was interrupted by the sound of the downstairs door opening.

He looks at the stairs and he feels his body tense up and the fur on his body stands up, at the first sight of two familiar green bunny ears slowly rising from the stairs, more of her body begins to form, all being followed by a metal baseball bat in her paws.

Hoppy gets up the final step, looking over at the now fear-filled and shaking cat, she finds a bit of pleasure in seeing the one she used to be scared of now frightened by her very presence in the room, she puts the bat up to his chin before she begins to speak in an almost mocking but intimidating tone.

“You feel it, don’t you..? The feeling of helplessness? the feeling of not knowing what is about to happen to you?” she asked him keeping the bat at his chin, the cold steel chilling him down to his spine, he frighteningly nodded, she then spoke again soon after he answered.

“Good, now you know I felt, all those years ago, don’t worry, I intend you to feel exactly the same way I felt” she said with a hint of anger in her voice as Catnap’s eyes widened, knowing what she meant by that, he felt his legs quivering and tighten in fear at the thought.

“But first, let’s get you standing, it won’t be fun if you’re just tied up to the post like that, but don’t even think about running away, you know I’ll catch you, you will only move on my say, got it?” She said in a somber tone with the bat pressed tighter against his throat almost shoving his adam's apple inward and choking him, he quickly nodded and the bat was lowered.

She walked around and untied his paws, his body's first reaction was to try and move and stretch but he held still waiting for Hoppy to tell him what to do “All right, go to the center of the room” she ordered him as his shaky and wobbly legs began to move to the center of the room, slowly as not to alarm Hoppy or make her think he’s going to try to escape, once in the middle of the room he would stand there.

Hoppy grows a smirk on her face “Alright, we’re gonna play a game, you are gonna stand still, if you fall, you lose, and if you want to keep most of your limbs unbroken, I suggest you play along, got it?”

Catnap nodded sheepishly his legs now even more wobbly, standing without any support he already felt like he was about to fall over and the game hadn’t even started, Hoppy made sure she had a good grip on the bat as Catnap tried to brace himself, she swings the bat, hitting his abdomen, the one hit alone was close to knocking him down but he kept trying his best to stand, despite the pain.

The beating continued, Hoppy would repeatedly bash Catnap over and over again, each blow causing more and more pain until one swing finally did it, Hoppy would swing lower, towards his left leg, the blow creating an audible CRACK it was then where it finally became too much for Catnap to bear.

He fell over, gripping his shattered leg, curling into the fetal position before coughing up blood onto the carpet, staining it with the red liquid, tears quickly began to stream down his face, mixing with the already stained carpet.

She kicks him onto his back “Hurts huh?” she asked sarcastically “Yet when you did it to me, you were all smiles and laughs, always blabbering about that stupid god of yours…well where are they now?” She stomped down on his already shattered leg, twisting her foot around and grinding the shattered leg, Catnap cried out in agonizing pain as Hoppy only continued to mock him.

“C’mon Catnap, why aren’t you laughing?” Mockingly mimicking his old sadistic smile as she continued “Tell me about your stupid god now! Go on laugh you stupid cat!” her mocking laughs had turned into enraged screams halfway through, however, Catnap could barely notice over the excruciating pain he was in, only beginning to dull as he quickly went into shock before passing out from the pain much to Hoppy’s dismay.

“Damnit and here I was thinking I could have a little more fun…you really ruin everything don’t you..” Her tone still showed aggression as she moved her foot, she went to the kitchen and filled up her water bottle before taking a long drink.

She splashes herself in the face before going back to the room and tying Catnap's unconscious body back to the post after she finishes, she picks up her stuff and leaves the house once more.

Notes:

Yeah once more not my finest work, something about this chapter in particular stumped me so I had to end it short once more, I wanted it to be longer but something has been stopping me, expect the next chapter to take a bit, I don’t want this to be an exact copy of moonlight sins so I’ll be working on the next chapter with the intent to set it apart from the other story,

Chapter 8: Chapter 4.7: Don’t be so Picky…

Catnap awoke suddenly to the spiking pain of his stomach growling in hunger, he hadn’t had a single morsel since he arrived and he had already arrived to the valley on an empty stomach, he could almost feel his body begin to eat at what little reserves it had left, looking incredibly malnourished he moved his right leg to his chest, trying his best to not accidentally bump the left leg which had become a sight that almost made him vomit.

He gently and weakly wrapped his tail around himself before making soft mumbling cries into his leg, soaking his disgusting and dirty fur with his tears, he didn’t know what there was for him even to do, his body ached of both physical and mental pain, he couldn’t decide which one hurt more, all there was for him to do was sit and wait for whomever the next critter was supposed to ‘watch’ him.

His ears flinched at the sound of the door opening and walking up the stairs, the strong smell of citrus hit his nostrils, he knew who it was and he was more than terrified.

It seemed that the world became slowed as each footstep creaked up the stairs, followed by the sound of an eerie humming, finishing at the final step, stood there the familiar pink pig wielding a cleaver in her hoof, she looked over at Catnap before slowly trotting over to him, looming over his small and injured body, she spoke in a tone he did not expect, a voice of…worry?.

“Catnap?” she said with a soft reassuring tone catching Catnap off guard, he timidly looked up at her, his frame quivering in fear and still in slight pain before she continued to speak.

“You poor thing…Hoppy did a number on you, you have to be starving..right?” she continued to speak in a kind tone, as if nothing had even happened between them, despite still being shaken up about the sudden change in mood he sheepishly nodded.

Picky smiled and used the cleaver to cut the rope effortlessly, Catnap quickly felt the relief of feeling his blood flow in his paws again, gently massaging his paws but making sure Picky still had a view of his paws to not alarm her.

She walked in front of him and sat down “Does that feel better?” Catnap responded with yet another sheepish nod, his stomach growling again, catching the attention of Picky before she started talking while pulling out a small bag she was carrying “You still like tuna sandwiches right?” she asked him gently.

Catnaps eyes lit up almost bright enough to see stars and nodding once more, she pulled out two sandwiches from the bag, offering one to him, Catnap nervously reached but stopped half way before looking at her with questioning eyes before moving his hands to his side and weakly began to use sign language, hoping she still remembered how to read it.

<“Are you sure?”> he was a bit rusty but it seemed it got the message across since Picky immediately offered him a reassuring smile “Of course, It’s my job to make sure all the smilingcritters eat right after all”

Catnap sheepishly reached out and took the sandwich slowly, the smell of his favourite sandwich hits his nostrils, the crisp and toasted bread in his paws still giving off a bit of warmth, he could barely hold himself back as he quickly began to stuff it into his face, trying to savour every single bite he took, the first taste of food he had gotten since he got here and it tasted like pure heaven.

As he ate Picky started on hers, she kept looking at Catnap however, her kind smile slowly turned a bit sinister by the time Catnap noticed he had already finished the whole sandwich, looking at her expression his ears fell down.

Picky began to giggle a bit before speaking “Wow Catnap, you really are easy to manipulate, aren’t you? Haha!” She began to laugh as suddenly Catnap felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, he quickly threw up all the food with bile and blood accompanying it, the food had no time to digest and could still even be recognized as what it was, he began to cough more and more feeling his throat close up and nearly choking him, his eyes welling up with tears before quickly streaming down his cheeks, he scratched at his throat causing blood to pour from it.

Picky gets up looming over the suffocating kitty “Did you really think I actually cared about you?” she began laughing more “No wonder you actually believe that god of yours, let me give you some advice kitty~” She said mockingly as she got down on one knee and closer to him.

Catnap's vision was going blurry as both the lack of oxygen and the tears filling his eyes made it almost impossible to see anything.

“Nobody here likes you Catnap, You were a freak then, you turned into a monster and now you are a nuisance here, the only reason you’re still alive is because we can’t kill you if it was up to me, you would be next week's menu item, I hope you like the special ingredient I put into your food Catnap because that’s all you’ll be getting from me, and I think we both know nobody else will give you anything to eat~” her every word felt like a heated dagger stabbing into his chest, he had begun to hyperventilating which only tightened his throat even more before eventually, he blacked out once again.

Picky didn’t see a point in tying him up since in his state he wouldn’t be able to go anywhere anyway, she packed up her stuff and left.

Chapter 9: Chapter 5: How bad could it be?...

5:00 AM The sun barely had even gotten up, the black sky had only barely turned to blue, while most of the critters were still asleep in their homes, however Dogday just couldn't.

He would be lying on the couch staring up at the ceiling, listening to the rhythmic pattern of the ticking clock, as if lost in thought, since Catnap arrived he hadn't wanted to visit him.

Who could blame him for not wanting to right? Why would he want to visit the one who's responsible for everyone being in the afterlife in the first place? Why would he want to give that monster the honour of seeing him in his state, Why…would he want to see the one who he almost confessed his feelings too…

That last thought made him put both his paws on his head covering his face before letting out a loud annoyed groan, slowly sliding his paws down his face and back to his chest as he slowly turned his attention to the clock.

Following the seconds bone hand with his eyes trying to keep himself distracted but after a short bit he sighs again, getting up off the couch, he began to pace around the room, mix of emotions brewing in his body and his mind swirled with thoughts.

The world felt slow with every step he took, he looks over at his chest which he hadn’t opened since the first day he got here, after staring at it he would slowly tread towards it, he crotches in front of it and open it up to reveal that he still hadn’t gotten rid of the pendent or the pictures of him and Catnap, he tries to ignore both, grabbing a stress ball and closing the chest as quickly as it was open as to not look at the contents.

He grabs a crutch and prepares for the day, attempting to keep himself active as to not think too much about a certain purple feline, squeezing the stress ball repeatedly in one paw, as he walks out the front door to greet the day.

He walks down the path that leads to the rest of the critter's homes, deliberately taking a path furthest away from Catnap’s house, thinking he was the only one to be awake at this time he was sure he could get some fresh air without running into any other critter, however to his surprise, he would notice lights on at Bobby’s house.

He would hesitate to visit however, the last time they would interact was at the meeting three days ago and it was left on quite a sour note, not sure how she would react he would still decide to go, thinking that he would have too interact with her again sooner or later so might as well rip off the band-aid as soon as possible, he would make his way slowly to her, reaching the large bee hive shaped house, as he approached he would hear the sound of chatting on the other side, he knocks on her door, immediately hearing the chatting halt and soon followed by the sound of steps towards the door, as it opened Bubba would answer to Dogday’s surprise.

Bubba also seemed a bit surprised to see him but the reaction faded quickly as he spoke “Oh, hello Dogday, are you looking for Bobby?”

Dogday would respond shortly “Yeah, Is she home?”

Bobby would respond from behind Bubba sounding a bit tired “Yes, I'm here, come in Dogday” She didn’t sound mad but as Bubba let Dogday in, he saw a small plate of cookies and tea, Bobby was sitting on the couch.

Dogday noticed and replied “I’m not intruding am I? If so I can come back later”

Bobby replied in a kind voice “No No, Come in Me and Bubba were just…chatting about recent events..”

Dogday sat down on a chair and Bubba sat down shortly after.

Dogday was still a bit surprised to see these two up so early but to interrupt the silence Bobby spoke “Is there something you wanted to talk about Dogday?”

Dogday being knocked out of his thoughts and quickly responded “Yes, I just wanted to make sure you were okay and not mad after what happened a few days ago”

Bobby looked down at her tea as she responded “I see..well, I will admit, I still don’t think that was the right decision..”

Dogday replied “I know but you need to understand, we can’t take any chances, we had to do what is best for the smilingcritters an-” Bobby swiftly cut him off her paws now slightly shaking

“But what about Catnap? Did you not even notice how he looked when he looked at us? Can you honestly tell me that the way he looked at us was with the eyes of someone who was proud of his actions? That he would try any of that again?!” Tears were already welling up.

Bubba didn’t say anything he just observed quietly

Dogday would reply trying his best to stay calm “Bobby..I know.. it's just..I-” he would be stumbling over his words before Bobby replied in a serious but still shaky tone “Do you even know what is happening to him..?”

Dogday would go silent staring at Bobby, Dogday hadn’t set foot in that house since he took his pendent.

Bobby already getting her answer from the deafening silence, she continued to speak “I didn’t think so…well I do, yesterday was my turn to watch him, I went to go bring him something to eat…” Her paws would shake even more and tears started slowly falling down her face as the thoughts of what she saw remained fresh in her mind “He…I could barely even..”

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Yesterday, early in the morning, Bobby woke up to the sound of birds singing and her alarm clock blaring, she put it on snooze before sitting up in her bed and began stretching before getting out of bed, after finishing her morning routines she went to the kitchen.

She would begin to start mixing batter for a small plate of cookies, placing them in the oven she would then start making a tuna fish sandwich, remembering it as Catnap’s favorite and luckily for her, very easy to make, the cookies were a bit more difficult, they didn’t come out looking as good as she would have wanted but they still smelled and looked delicious.

She packs everything up in a little lunchbox, putting it into a bag, after getting ready she leaves her house, and makes her way down the path leading to Catnap’s house.

Reaching the tall cat tower house she would feel her chest become slightly heavy, standing at the front she worked up the courage to enter, reasoning with herself that Catnap wouldn't hurt her and he isn't the same as the monster they all say.

Entering slowly she made her way up the spirals stairs, once she got to the final step, she called out to Catnap “Catnap? I brought you something to…” she froze in her tracks once she saw it.

Catnap huddled in the corner, shivering like a leaf, his leg completely shattered, due to lack of food his body had become incredibly malnourished and it showed with his ribs showing through his skin and fur, seeing Bobby he immediately covered himself in shame.

Bobby was almost lost for words at what she saw, so many different emotions tried to act at the same time that it ended up overwhelming her and she didn't know which one to let take control, she slowly began to approach him “C..Catnap?” She asked him as she got closer and closer, holding back tears from the sight that was before her

He continued to cover himself, wrapping his tail around himself weakly, the soft sound of crying can be heard from the poor purple cat.

Avoiding his leg, Bobby slowly and gently pulls him into a hug, trying her best to not accidentally hurt him, tears were slowly forming on her face but she kept holding him

Catnap was frozen for a bit before continuing to cry harder, his eyes feeling as if they were going to fall out of his head, lacking the strength to hug her back he weakly rested his head on her shoulder, crying more into the rose scented fur.

This went on for what felt like hours before Catnap slowly began to calm down, still not being able to face her however he would still keep himself wrapped in his own tail but he was no longer crying

Bobby would slowly begin to let go of the hug before she quietly asked him a question “are you feeling better..?”

Catnap was quiet but he sheepishly nodded not wanting to worry her more then she already was.

His stomach growled a bit catching Bobby's immediate attention before she grabs her back and pulled out the sandwich she had made for him.

“I knew you would be hungry, so I made your favorite” she offered it to him but to her shock Catnap looks at the sandwich before immediately gagging and turning away.

Bobby stared in shock and confusion, not understanding since she was sure this was his favorite, she didn't know what to say, words floating around her head but nothing seemed right for the situation.

Catnap began to tremble again, the mere scent of the sandwich enough to cause his stomach to form knots, his body remaining curled up as if trying to vanish into himself.

Noticing this she put the sandwich away and tried to regain his attention “Catnap..” she called out softly in the same tone a mother would give her child.

This seemed to work as Catnap would slowly begin to reveal his face again, still not ready to look her in the face however.

“You don't have to eat the sandwich if you don't want too, just please, calm down…” she gently pets his head while whispering to him, still keeping her soft motherly tone the whole time, Catnap leaned into the pat, doing something he hadn't done for a very long time, it was as if the pain in his body vanished as he began to close his eyes and purr softly, causing a temporary smile on Bobby, seeing he was feeling slightly better.

She reaches for her bag again and brings out the small container of cookies, slowly bringing it over when she notices Catnap had calmed down once more “I..I know they're not as good as Picky’s but I tried to replicate her recipe, they were going to be dessert but if you want, you can have these instead” she saw Catnaps eyes slightly light up at the sight of the cookies, turning to a worried face, he finally looked up to face Bobby, he weakly began to lift his paws and sign to her.

<”Are you sure?”>

Bobby found a sense of ease seeing Catnap communicate with her, even if it wasn't audible, she quickly and kindly responded “yes, you can have as many as you want, they're all for you”

Catnaps ears twitch while hearing this, he weakly picks one up and nervously hands one to her and signs again <”can you eat with me?”>

Bobby nodded understanding why he did this and smiles at him to try and ease his nerves, Catnap picks another one up for himself and they both take a bite at the same time, Bobby noticing it wasn't as good as Picky's by a long shot but to Catnap, she saw the cats eyes light up and grow so wide it could outshine the sun itself, the same goes with his smile which grew massively on his face, despite the cookie not being the best it looked like Catnap had bitten into a million dollar cookie.

She continued to eat hers, smiling along, seeing how happy Catnap was, made the cookie almost taste slightly better.

However as they ate, Bobby could help but keep staring at Catnaps leg, she thought about if she could try and convince Bubba to help him, regardless of what the other critters would think, she went through multiple scenarios in her head, most of them ending with failure, Catnap later notices the way she was looking at his damaged limb and gently reaches out, putting his paw on her shoulder.

Bobby caught slightly off guard, snapped out of her trance and looks back at the owner of the arm who had reached out to her, looking at Catnaps weak frame and almost broken body she couldn't help but try and do more, she breathed in and began to spoke.

“Catnap..” her voice sounding cautious to not alarm him “I think we should bring you to Bubba..”

Catnap hearing this his eyes widened as he felt his body tense up and quickly shook his head before quickly signing at her <”No please don't”>

Bobby seeing this she frowned and quickly responded back “Catnap, this has gone on for long enough, just look at yourself, if it wasn't for the fact we are immortal, I'm not sure you'd even still be alive right now” trying her best not to yell.

Catnap hung his head down quietly and signed back <”they're just mad, I don't blame them”>

Bobby becoming more annoyed now “being mad doesn't excuse this Catnap!, look at yourself!” her frustration bubbling to the surface as she stared at Catnap’s frail body, tears welling up again at the sight of his ribs being visible through his fur, noticing how Catnap clearly looked uncomfortable about her anger, she tried to take a deep breath and calm down.

“Catnap please…this has gone on for more then long enough..” she spoke softly again with worry in her voice.

The room went silent, it felt like the world came to a stop before Catnap slowly raised his paws again and signed once more this time tears visibly dripped from his hidden face down to the carpet <”I still deserve more…”>

Reading his signs Bobby felt her heart ache a bit, she slowly responded back “no..you don't Catnap..”

Catnap quickly and frantically signed back <”yes I do, I did such bad things, I hurt everyone, I almost killed everyone, I locked two of them in the freezer to die, I watched and saw what Crafty and Picky did, to Bubba, to each other, to”> his hands stopped moving, they had begun to shake so much that he was unable to move them, it was as if they were being frozen as cold as the freezer he was describing, tears sprinkling onto his paws and arms as well as the carpet.

The room became quiet once more, Bobby now also shaking slowly reaches out, taking Catnap's paws and spoke “Catnap..please, listen to me…do you regret the things you've done?”

Catnap nodded slowly to answer the question.

“Do you want to make everything right?”

Catnap nodded once again.

“Would you ever do any of that stuff again..?”

Catnap shakes his head still sniffling.

“...then you are not that monster..” she said softly “so please…I'm begging you..” asking him once again to get help from Bubba, but before we could get the answer.

Bobby ended the story

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After the story, the room was completely quiet, Dogday wanted to say something but before he could Bobby spoke to him again.

“Dogday I can’t even begin to imagine what suffering you were put through and I am sorry for what you had to go through…but I thought you would be mature enough to try and listen to somebody who we all called a friend..and you called your best friend..”

 

Dogday didn’t say anything in response, getting up he would only say his farewell for the short time and then walk to the door “Thank you for having me” he said before opening the door and leaving the house.

Notes:

sorry this one took me so long, life has been a pain in my ass, once more I'm terribly sorry for the bad writing, I wrote this on my phone, writer's block kicks my ass through most of the day and I get the Inspiration to write at like 3 in the morning so yeah, anyways here's your wholesome food, much like the cookies it was terribly written by me so sorry ;-;

Chapter 10: Chapter 6: Questions...

Dogday finds himself back in his house once more, the only company being his ticking clock which he had become far too familiar with, squeezing the stress ball in his paw rhythmically along with the clock’s ticks, occasionally speeding up, each squeeze feeling tighter and tighter till suddenly, the quiet was interrupted by a loud.

POP!

The stress ball had popped after he accidentally flexed his paw’s muscles to reveal his claws and punctured into the ball, “Ugh…” the tired groan leaves his lips before he looked down at the popped ball and threw it in the trash, He sees a glimpse of the familiar tall cat tree house through his window, he swiftly goes to close it, gripping either curtain but before he did, he would freeze suddenly, noticing the silhouette of a figure in the window, it was hard to make out but he had to assume it was Catnap, he stares at the silhouette assuming he was staring back, he closes the curtains before turning around and walks away from the window.

“Stupid cat…” he mumbled to himself quietly making his way to the kitchen and deciding to make himself something to eat to get his mind off the deafening silence and thoughts swirling in his mind, opening his fridge he saw it almost empty, only exception being some leftovers from Picky at the meeting, he didn’t mind though, grabbing the leftovers and reheating it in the microwave, the sound of it starting up and the loud humming of it was a welcome distraction from the silence, even if it was a bit depressing, after a bit of waiting for the beep of the microwave, it goes off and he pulls out the leftovers, sitting down at the table and picks at his food for a bit before beginning to eat, the food was still a bit cold inside but it honestly didn’t bother him enough to put it back in the microwave, he was noticeably slow eating however, his mind wandering seemingly at random as he ate, each time however they would always came back to one thing, he lets out a sigh and rubs his eyes before resting both his arms on the table and silently mumbling to himself “Shit….”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Meanwhile, Bubba finishes the conversation with Bobby, he packs up his plates and before leaving he thanks Bobby for the evening then leaves, returning to his home, he sits down at his desk and pulls out his notebook from the shelf and begins to write however this did not last as his mind and eyes would slowly begin to drift towards the window which through it, over the trees a certain cat tree just barely makes it over the top, he looks down at the empty notebook page before turning back to previous pages which included new medical history about the other critters with each having detail on any and all conditions they were assumed to have, all up to Catnaps page which remained blank.

After a bit of thinking he gets up and begins to pack his bags preparing to fill the page, he finishes and begins to make his way to the door but the moment he opens it he is surprised to see Dogday standing in the doorway with his paw raised as if he was just about to knock on the door, it would seem Dogday was equally as surprised “Oh hey Bubba I was just about to knock, am I intruding?” He asked anxiously, Bubba not wanting to let Dogday know what he was about to go do he played it off “Not at all Dogday, I was just getting some fresh air, did you need something?”

Dogday responds “Can we talk?” he asks somewhat nervously but Bubba looks at the clock and sees it's still early “Of course, come in” he responded before stepping aside for Dogday to come in and sits down on the couch, Bubba joining shortly after.

Bubba starts off by asking Dogday “What do you want to talk about?” Dogday seemed a bit nervous as he looked around and responded “Bubba, you are the only critter left I can trust to say this so can you promise me that what I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room okay?” Bubba seemed somewhat confused about that response “Well that would entirely depend on the nature of the infor-” Dogday looks at Bubba, cutting him off he speaks with a hint of worry “Promise me..” Bubba thinks for a second then sighs softly “ok, I promise”

With that Dogday proceeded to take a long sigh and continue “Did..Did I make a mistake agreeing with the plan?” Bubba was surprised at the question before responding “what brought this up?” Bubba asked back, Dogday went silent after hearing the question, the silence went on for what felt like forever before responding softly “I..I visited him..”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

After Dogday had just left Bobby’s house, he was making his way home, thoughts swirling around in his head, continuing to squeeze the stress ball in his paw, though due to the thoughts he hadn’t realized he was walking down a path he hadn’t walked in a while, the path home that passes Catnap’s house, he tries to speed walk past it but something stopped him as if under a trance he stopped in his tracks and stares at the doorway into the house, he gazes back at his house then back up at the cat tower, he sighs and slowly and cautiously enters, the smell immediately hitting him, he covers his nose and wanted to leave but something compelled him to keep going, walking up the steps slowly, using one hand on the handrail to keep his balance “how bad could it actually be?” He thinks to himself, finally getting up to the final step he looks around, confused not to see Catnap in the living room, he begins to check different rooms finally getting to the bedroom where he finally finds Catnap, curled up in a ball sleeping, he stood there frozen for a second, working up the courage he slowly approaches but as he got closer he couldn’t help but notice the horrible shape he was in, Bobby’s story described it as bad but he couldn’t have imagined it was this..horrible, he saw the shine of something that Catnap was huddled with, he gets as close as he could without waking him and his eyes widen to see Catnap huddled with the picture of Catnap and Dogday hugging, his eyes fixate on the picture for what felt like minutes on end, so many different thoughts swirled around in his head, he slowly reaches his paw out to the sleeping kitty, slowly his mind started to finally decide which feeling should take center stage…disgust, he retracts his paw clenching it into a fist.

At that moment he wanted to grab that picture away from him, anger filled him more thinking that the same cat that hung him up was doing such a thing, tears slowly began to form, it was at that moment Catnap’s ear twitched as he slowly began to wake up, he blinked looking around noticing Dogday, his eyes widened and was about to try and move away but he noticed the tears on Dogday’s face, Dogday had not noticed him awake yet, Dogday was calmed by the familiar feeling of a purple fluffy tail gently brushing under his chin, Dogday snapped out of it and looks down to see Catnap awake and seeing the weak, shivering tail attempting to comfort him, he looked at Catnap and couldn’t help but to be frozen in place at the familiar and comforting feeling, even through his state Catnap weakly gives him a smile to try and ease his nerves.

Dogday finally pushes Catnap's tail away before his face returns to that of annoyance and aggression “No..I didn’t come here for this…you don’t get to act kind, not after what you did” Catnap’s ears went back down, Dogday takes a deep sigh and as the room went into silence he asked him “Why did you do it..?”

Catnap thinks and begins to weakly sign <”I was trying to save us-”> Dogday grabs Catnap's paw mid-sign “No..why did you keep me? And don’t lie, you know I can sniff out when you lie..” Catnap didn’t answer, he just stared, trying to think of a response.

“You can’t answer…can you..?” Catnap looks at the picture and slides it over to him before signing <”This is why”> Dogday looks at the picture before he gets up and begins to leave without saying anything more.

But before he fully left he could have sworn he heard a pained and raspy voice that was almost that of a whisper speak but he ignored it.

“...I love you Sunshine…”

Notes:

This took a while and it turned out bad, writing by myself is hard

Chapter 11: Chapter 6.5: Check up

Chapter 6.5: Check Up

Dogday finishes his story, Bubba seemed interested in the last bit but tried not to draw attention to it “well at least you didn't do anything, I'm sure Bobby would be happy you didn't do any harm…more then I can say for her and Hoppy right now..”

D: “Are they still fighting?”

Bubba didn't want to intrude too much on their personal business, knowing Dogday he'd probably make a big deal out of it and most likely make it worse: “..that's between them right now, I think it's best we let them handle it on their own right now…”

Bubba looks at his clock “Well it was nice of you to stop by Dogday but I have to go run some errands.”

Dogday nodded and got up to leave but was stopped right before he did. “Wait, Dogday. I almost forgot. I have something for you.” The elephant went to his desk, grabbed a small eyewear box, and brought it over to him. “These should help your vision impairment. It took me a while to get a pair,” he commented humorously as he handed them to Dogday.

Dogday takes the small box and opens it, seeing small round lens glasses with orange frames to match his fur, he tries them on for his vision to become much clearer, looking out the window, his sight could stretch for miles, it had felt as if he had been looking at the world through a fog this entire time and it only just now cleared away, he turns back to Bubba to thank him but by the time he did Bubba had just left to go run his ‘errands’

Bubba had begun to slowly make his way to Catnap's house, hiding behind bushes whenever another critter came near, knowing if they knew what he was doing it would become a whole hassle, eventually making his way to the tall cat tower, he quickly heads inside and up the stairs, returning to normal speed when he thought he'd be out of sight of anyone, reaching the top floor he begins to make his way to Catnap's bedroom, Catnap was surprisingly awake, curled up after hearing the noises but began to uncurl and calm down after seeing it was Bubba.

“Sorry I was late, I was held up,” he said apologetically as he sat down in front of the cat and began to unpack, Catnap weakly sat up before signing <”It’s ok”> Bubba knew he couldn't help him too much or else the others would react poorly, as he tries to put together a plan, Catnap begins to sign again <”do they know?”>

Bubba shakes his head as he begins to look through his bag, Catnap watches silently, feeling a similar sense of guilt to that of the guilt towards Dogday, Bubba noticed a familiar feeling of being watched, he looked back at Catnap, who was currently left in an almost trance-like state, just like most of the other critters who came here before him, then as if he could read Catnap’s mind he began to speak.

Bu: “Catnap..if you have something to say, staring isn’t going to help..” Catnap was snapped out of the trance, immediately signing to apologize.

C: <”I’m sorry..”> Bubba was awfully quiet, continuing to look through his bag and talk without even giving him eye contact.

Bu: “The others did similar, however, If I’m not mistaken, you have a different reason for staring at me” Catnap slowly and sheepishly nods in response, “well?”

C: <”Why did you agree to help?”> he asked the elephant as he grew increasingly annoyed, being unable to find what he is searching for in the bag.

Bu: “Bobby has already been through enough trouble, the last thing I would want is to cause her more stress then need be, believe me, I wouldn’t be here if not for her..” that last part was said with an uncaring tone, Catnap curls up in response of the remark, Bubba pulls a bottle of painkillers out of his bag “here they are” he takes out a small dose and gives him the pills “This was the only way I could think of helping you without drawing attention” Catnap slowly takes the pills and nervously puts them in his mouth, after a bit of trouble dryly swallowing, he eventually gets them down, at that point Bubba had already begun to pack up “They will take effect in about half an hour, if nothing bad happens we can try something else”

C: <”ok, thank you Bubba”> Bubba notices and silently makes a mental note seeing Catnap’s breathing seemed struggled the entire time, he would respond before leaving.

Bu: “Don’t mention it, seriously” he would leave as soon as the ordeal was over.

Notes:

another short chapter, I still struggle writing for multiple characters, while also noticing a decline in my mental stability, reading has gotten worse, speech has become more slurred, I'm still trying to get it all under control but I'm beginning to get worried, the decline had only happened a few months ago, I do not understand.

Chapter 12: Chapter 8: I wish...

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Chapter 8: I wish…

Dogday had just returned home, getting through the front door into his house and after closing the door he stood silently in the doorway for a bit, his mind contemplating something..after the time had passed he looks back over to his toy chest and after a small mental debate with himself he approaches and opens it, seeing the discarded picture frame with the identical matching photo of him and Catnap, next to it, Catnap’s pendant, he picks up both things, his paws now beginning to shake slightly, the new clear vision didn’t help in this case, after staring at the picture for what felt like hours, he slowly begins to build up with anger, gripping the picture frame tighter and tighter in his paw.

He would begin to talk to the picture frame, staring at the cat in it “Stupid..Stupid cat! Why did you have to end up here!? You shouldn't be here! You..you..” he pauses before letting out a loud annoyed groan as he tries and relax his body, the room returned to silence that would not last long as he interrupts it once again, this time he fully sat down with the picture frame and pendent in his lap, hanging his head down and looking at the items, tears slowly drip onto both.

“I..I was going too…that day I was…” stumbling over his own words, as he spoke through a very shaky yet somber voice “I just…I wish that day could have gone different…”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Traveling back all the way to the factory, Dogday and Picky were just finishing up cleaning the kids dishes.

P: “thanks for staying behind Dogday! I know this isn't really your most favorite activity”

D: “are you kidding? What is a leader for if not to set an example to help clean up?”

Picky seeming a tiny bit suspicious: “really? Because this is the first time you've ever openily volunteered to help me, heck most of the time you're talking about how you need to go home to check on that sleepy kitty” partly making a joke and teasing Dogday but she wasn't lying, it was almost as if Dogday was purposely avoiding something.

D: “well as the leader of both the critter and the kids, I need to learn to act more like an adult, because with power comes responsibility”

P: “you've been reading comics with Kickin and Bubba again haven't you?” she humorously asked

D: “only a little” he responded

P: she lets out a small sigh as she turns off the sick and drys her trotters “you're nervous about tonight aren't you?”

D: caught a bit off guard and tries to play it off “pfft what? Nervous about what, why would I be nervous tonight?”

P: “you know the kids sometimes listen in on yours and Bobby's ‘private’ talks right? And kids blabber, like a lot, we know about your plans tonight” Dogday now turning slightly red in the cheeks at the mention.

D: “uuuggggh Fine! I am nervous because…I tonight's the night I finally admit my feelings to Catnap, during our ‘play date’ but it's actually a real date In disguise!” Dogday only gets more red while explaining his plan but also excited at the thought with Picky smirking a bit in response.

P: “took you long enough”

D: “wait how long have you guys known?!”

P: “Dogday, you hide your feelings towards that purple sleeping fluff ball as well as the kids trying to hide their vegetables, we've known since Catnap and you started hanging out, even before we got to this new world and in these new bodies” Dogday had gotten embarrassed enough to cover his face with his droopy ears “Dogday, you're just wasting time, I'll handle the rest of the cleaning just go and get cleaned up yourself, you smell like wet..well you” she giggles a bit before putting the dishes away.

Dogday sighs and leaves the kitchen, back to his room, trying to avoid the kids, worried the kids would want to play with him and waste what little time he has, successfully getting back, he pulls a box out from under his bed, looking similar to his toy chest from his past life, he would open it to reveal a little get up Bobby and Crafty help prepare for him, a purple lavender flower made from paper and sprayed with Catnaps perfume which Crafty so gratefully got somehow, he pins it to the center of the clip on orange and copper-red spotted bowtie he was also given, he gets up and looks in the mirror, fixing his pendent he tries and nervously practices in the mirror a few times, before getting too embarrassed and leaving to go meet Catnap, ’today was going to be the day that changed everything’ Dogday thought to himself…sadly he was right.

They had agreed to go to the pool room, since it had been shut down due to maintenance work being done there and thus would be unlikely for anyone to interrupt them, Dogday gets down there nervously, constantly adjusting his bowtie and his pendent, wanting to look perfect, then there he was, a familiar looking thin purple cat, laying near the edge of the pool room, many found Catnaps appearance unsettling even most of the critters at first, but Dogday never saw any imperfections, it was due to this blindness however, he failed to notice, red stains on Catnaps paws.

Dogday approached the cat “Hey Catnap! Sorry I'm late, I didn't expect you to actually be here on time sleepy kitty, you must have been excited for our playdate too right?” He asked excitedly.

C: ‘D̴͉͇̞̪̤̄͒͒̊͋͝ö̶̦̼͉́̽̈͝g̴͖̈́͌ḑ̸̡͍̭͚̣̹͗͆̋͗͒̋͝ã̶̧͈̼͔̍̈́͌͊ỹ̸̛͖̟͓̏͋̅͘.̷̡̲̱͎̳̍̊͗̇͝.̶̹̝̥́͒̌́͝ͅ.” his broken voice box echoed through the pool room, Dogday had grown very used to it however and simply replied as normal.

D: “Yes Catnap?”

C: “T̸͙͖͍͇̎͊ͅh̶͈̘͋̊͠e̸̩̗̙̽̎̅͛͝r̴̛͍͙͌̉̎ȩ̴͚̪͉͖̇̐̕͝ ̴̤̌̈̿͘͠i̵̻̔̓̅s̵̰̠͍̮̠͋͌ ̴̪̠̿a̷̭͒͆̃͝ ̷̖́̂r̴̡̺̦̹̗̀̚ȇ̷̢͕́̕͘a̸̞̿s̴͚̳̑̿ò̴̜̍̌̿ṋ̴̝͆ ̶͓̖̬̅́̋Ḭ̴̙͈̌ ̸̠̻͚̰͑̇s̴͚̼̐̈́ͅu̴̢͂͝ğ̷̘̤̟͊͛̽ͅǧ̶̝̝e̸̡̳͆s̷̘̱͆̊̓͒͠t̴̢̜͒̄è̵̲̬̅͆d̴̩̙̗̼͌̀ ̶̛̼̫̹͇͋̓̇͒f̶͙̹̟̙͐̉̕͝ö̵̭́̇̈̀̒r̷̢̻̠̤̐͛͆̕̚ ̶͍̜̘̗̱̓̒y̶̥̦̞̓̌̓̀̄o̵͚̥͍̕u̷̘̜̗̥̓̔͂͋ͅ ̴̘̺͕̖̯͒ț̶̢̢̭̹̽̊̀̆o̶̡̼͈̍ ̸̩̜̑̄͋͜͜c̸̤̣͉̉́o̷̱̳̅̃͆̓m̵̻͈̪̗̈ẹ̸͖͚͑͗ ̵̩̩͈͒̄͜͝͠d̴̡͉͋̇̍ơ̸̠͉̳̭̘̾̏w̶̖̭͓̳̕n̶̤̈́̀̀ ̶͔͎̘̋̈̿ͅh̸̼̋͌e̴̺̟̟͗̈̈́r̷̛̛̭̫̬͉̅̃͛ë̵̩̲̲̑̀̈͌ ̷̟͔̬̂̂̾̓͝w̸̢͓̎̽i̶̭̔t̸̪̦̰͋̚͘h̸̜͍̩̞̔̓̚ ̴̪̙̓̅́͝͠m̴͈̄̕ȩ̸̈́̆̽͝” Dogday was surprised at this, misunderstanding the situation and thinking Catnap was also going to admit his feelings.

D: “Actually..Catnap I also had a reason and It's very importa-”

Catnao interrupts him which he had never done before: “N̷̹͌̉̈́͋̆o̸͕̳͂̐̾͑ ̴̘̩̱́̑͜D̵̛̫͖̥̈́̐͒ͅo̸̤̩̾̿̃ͅg̵̛̫̫̙̖͗͌d̶͚͔̞̠̈́́͘͝a̶̡͑̈́̓y̵̨͙̖̆͜ͅ,̸̟̳͒̈́̆̚ ̸̭̘̯́͛̀́̊ṯ̶̈́h̷͔̫͎̳͌i̴͔̾̆ś̴͖̼̌̇ ̷̨̇͆̌͌͘ͅì̴̦̻̖̤́̆ͅs̴̱̼̐͒͂ ̴̬̎͗̏͝m̸͕̤̣̠͂̅͜o̷̟͋̀̈̕r̴̲̉͒̃͝e̵͖͂̆̀̑͊ ̵̘̖̀͑͌͘i̶̡̼̟̰̬͑̑m̴̮̥̻̊̆p̵̖̣̺͈̉ȯ̸̤̮̫̾́͂r̷͓͔̗͍͈͌̏t̸̤͔̞̻̖͗̍̈́a̵͔̤͙̞̰̋́̏n̷̳͖̥͑̐t̸̡̙̙̎͊̔̕,̴̡̡̛̺̠͊̂͌͒ͅ ̵̛̟̤̠à̸̧͗͌͛ṋ̶̺̀̃̓͘͜d̷̖̳͖̖̓͋̄̉ ̵͓̞̗̊̒͝Į̸̛̝̜̟́̈́͑ ̸̢̤̬̼̲̾̽͝n̵̛̠̲̽e̴̹̼͑͛̃e̸̡̡̜͉̠̋͌̑d̴̰̋̓̔͛ ̴̢̹̦͔͎̈́̌͝ț̵̢̛̝̅ŏ̴͔͕̮̻̟̈́̑ ̴͚̺̥̙̊̑t̸̻̙̻̙̓e̵̗̟͈̎̀̑̐͜ļ̴̙͉̔ĺ̸̙͖̖ ̷̰͍͋́̆̕ỳ̷̰ȏ̴̭̲̘́u̶̡̝̺̺͙̎́͂́͌” Dogday felt a bit taken aback but still decided to listen to him.

D: “ok Catnap, you can speak first”

C: “Ỷ̵͔̉ó̶̜̜͋ư̴̻͇̳͂̎͋̓ ̴̪̊̅r̶̢̹̖̦͉͐e̴̢͋̓͊̃̑m̸͙̮͖̳̈́͊̄̂ẻ̴̢ḿ̵̡̿͆b̴̛̞͇̰̮͗̀́e̸̡͐̋̓̃r̵̨̺̾̎̂͘͜ͅ ̶͉͍̳̯͗͝w̷̧̩̮̝͖̋͂ȅ̴̽̽̃ͅ ̴̭̮̙͕̏́p̴͔̞̹̈́̏́̚͜r̸̢̪̞̦̳͐̉ọ̸͋̇̾m̴̦͔͆̇͊̈i̷̱͕̗̘͌̓̅̌̄s̵̻̀̀̏̓͠e̷͈͛̏̈́̐̋d̵͙̝̣͐͊̏̓͝ ̶̧̭͓̱̘̊̈́̔t̵̛̝̤̬̔̒̃̿ͅo̸̡̞͈̖͙̒̿̈́͑ ̷̭̰̤̀̏́̀̂ͅb̵͕̖͍́̾͜é̶̳ ̶͖̭̪͑̉̃̃̒f̸͖͎̝̘̻̊͊ṙ̴̨͉̫̤͉̄i̶̫̹̖͗̀͐è̶̻͚̾͋̄̊n̵̡͉̠̿͒d̴̫̑̋̂̏͜ș̷̛̾͑̎ ̴͔͆̏͆́ͅf̶͉̹̬͐͘o̴̭͆̊̾́͝ŗ̵̹͔̬̒̍̚͘ͅe̸̫͈̙͌̔̔̃͘v̵͚̼̊̈͘̚ȩ̴̺̦͐r̴̩͚̙͋̐͝ ̸̨͙̻͛r̷͍̋̄̑ͅi̴̺̮̍́̋͊g̶̺̘͖̜̅ḩ̸͔͓̫͓͊ť̴̤̺̬̹̮̈́͒?̸̜̥̫̯͕̍̐̋̓”

D: “Of course and that will never change Catnap”

C: “Ị̵̢̋ ̸̙̟̺͕͂̍͛n̷̠̭̾͂̓͌ȇ̵͉e̸̫̿́̈́d̷̟̜̓̀̾̀͛ ̷̰̳̹̓ý̷͕̦̱̾̇ó̵̰̠͈͗͋ǘ̷̟̪͓̞͂̒͝ ̵̝͓̱̖̅̓͐̕ṱ̴̢̜̠̙̐ǫ̴͑̋̈́̒̊͜ ̷̢̟͙͚̅̌̋́͘ͅd̶͓̈͂̾̂ǫ̷̡̛̠͓̘ù̵͕̭͍̯̦͝b̵̛̛͈͙͝ͅl̶͇̔ḙ̵̽͑̓͝ ̷̫͑̌p̸͈̹͚̉̀͂̕ͅŗ̷͖̫̣̖̽́o̴̥͉̲̓m̸̼̼̃̈́̿͠ͅi̴̫͇̓̔s̵͓̹̙̀͜e̵̘͔̙̓͒ ̸̰̂̾m̸̤̝̮̖̳̏͑͗͗͝ḙ̶͍́̄̒” Dogday seemed confused at the request.

D: “what?”

C: “P̴͇̽r̴̡̗̞͗o̴̧͙̗͌͗̈̈͘m̴̪̒͘ì̷̛͇̤̯̊s̴̞̹͛ȩ̵͖̙̗͈̈́ ̴̢̹̟̈́̑́͌͠m̸̜͔̰̐̊̅͆e̵̙̬̝̟̅̆̾͗̎”

Dogday not quite understanding the reasoning behind this but never the less trusting him, he would do so however he did have a strange feeling in the back of his mind: “Ok Catnap, I promise” With that, the large purple cat slowly sat up from his corner, revealing what he was hunched over was the cadaver of an employee, their blood covered Catnaps fur in a deep crimson red, the body was mangled, Dogday’s eyes widened backing up slightly, in shock.

D: “C..Catnap..W..what have you done..?” His tail moves between his legs as he felt as if he was on the verge of throwing up at the sight.

C: “I̶̠̔̂̚͘'̴̯͉̦͇́͑̒v̵̢͇̗̂͗e̴̫͛̈ ̸̝̟̦̣̺̀̀d̶̢̜̳͉̙̒̆̽̾̚o̶̗̖͈͋̆͜n̶̢̹̳̹̉̋̃ȩ̷̭̂̍ ̶͖̈́̊̃͌̀͜ẉ̸̳̬̔̃̍͜͝ȟ̴̺͖̔́̄a̷͙̯̻̱͆̈́͒͘t̴̡̡̮̫͉̐̂͆̊͠ ̷̨͕͚̀̈́n̶̤̽é̶̟̯̻̉e̷͚̿d̸͈̻̑e̸̱̖͇̬̎̆̀̅͜͝d̶̡͇͙̬̔ ̸̼̈͐̋̄ṱ̶̝̭͎̲̊͝o̷̳̻̮̽̏ ̷̡̱̺̅͠͝b̷̯͊e̵̢͓̫͖̋͘ ̷͕̣̫̪̯̋̄͝͝͝ḏ̶̍̓o̶̡͈̗̮̿ͅn̸̹̟̺̎̎̀̈e̶̼̐͝.̷̡̰̗̻̩́͗͌͝.̸̨̦̟̞͆̑͛̑̏͜”

D: “Why..why would yo-” Catnap would interupt him.

C: “W̸̹̐͌̾͆h̴̞͖̓y̸̜͋͝ ̴̝͍͑͝d̶̦͋ŏ̵̟̖̙̜̓̏̍̊ ̴̢͕͒̏̄͂y̷̦̯͝͝ọ̵̡̟͖̙́͐u̴̳̠͈̙̪͗̆̅͝ ̵͔̲̆̉f̸̛͉͈̮̭̹̔͌̇͝ḛ̵̠̊͝a̵͉̮̬͇̯̅͝r̸̡͚̲̪̓͛͘?̷̼͒̃ ̵̡̬͖̂̀̚͝ḥ̶͓͙̝͉̒̾ä̸͕̰̮̊͘v̷̱͍́͒́͆͒e̴͕̳̮̅͐͒̈́ ̶̜̬̹̈́̓̀ţ̵̡̯̲̓̄͋̕h̶̹͚͙͙̉́ȅ̶̬̕y̷̝͑ ̸͖͇̭̮̃̋̚ͅn̶̥̜͚̈o̶̺̭̦͈̒t̴̡̮̘̍͊́̓͋ ̵̠̹̟̹͇͐h̶̜͑͝a̵̘͙̥̜̚ͅȓ̷̡̹̹̙̮̀̿̎͠ṃ̸̱̤͍̚e̷̪̤̊̐̎͘d̶̡̑̈́͠ ̵̪̦͋̏ū̶͖́́͆͠s̴̨͈͍͆ ̵̨͇͕̎̓̑͒͠b̸͙͂̏̏ě̸̜͈͖͓͙͛͐́f̸̧͈̼̃͝o̸͇̹̭̳̽͆͠ṛ̶̊̒̕e̶̛̤̓̒́̍?̸̳͙̪̜̓̎”

D: “This is wrong, I..I have to tell-” interrupted once more this time by the large cat lunging upon him “Catnap! Get off me!” trying to push the somehow now much stronger cat off of him

C: “I̸̻̎ ̸͍̏h̸̻̕a̴̫͋d̴̪̔ ̷̙̐h̵̩̋o̷̫͝p̷͇̏ȇ̴̗d̴̢̓ ̷̡̓y̵̜͋ö̶̠u̶̡̒ ̵̹̐w̸̛̖o̸̧̓u̴̜͂l̷̜̆d̶́ͅ ̷̼̾n̵̺̈ô̷͓ț̸̒ ̶̼̀b̴̟̽ẹ̶̽ ̵̞͂ẗ̶ͅḩ̸̿ḭ̷͒s̸̻̉ ̴̜͛w̸̼͑a̵̡̍y̷͕̿” he would begin to breath red poppy gas in his face, Dogday holds his breath but his body soon grew tired, his eyelids begin to feel heavy.

D: “C..Cat..na..p” he forced out before weakly reaching up to Catnaps face before passing out.

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His memory was interpreted by a knock at his door, looking at the clock it seemed he had just been sitting in his house alone for five hours, he slowly got up and moved to the door, opening it he saw a familiar looking green rabbit standing in his doorway, seeming more quiet then usual “Oh hey Hoppy wha-” he stops when he notices reddish circles around her eyes, as if she'd been crying “Hoppy..? What's wrong?”

Through a much more tired tone then usual she responded “Can we talk..?”

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Notes:

Slightly longer, not really happy with how some of the writing turned out however.

Chapter 13: Chapter 8.5: Suggestion

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Chapter 8.5: Suggestion

“Uhh” Dogday muttered slightly as he looked back into his house and saw that he had already hidden everything before turning back to Hoppy “Sure, come on in”

Hoppy walks in and sits down on the couch, Dogday closes the door after she enters “Is something wrong? It's not like you to still be up at this hour..” He asked her, going to sit down next to her, he addressed the reddish circles around her eyes and began to ask her “Have you been crying..?”

Hoppy was unusually quiet for a bit before speaking in a soft tone “Yeah..” Dogday pats her back gently as she continues to speak “It’s just..I miss Bobby..I know we haven’t spoken since the meeting and…I..I” tears begin to form as her voice slowly raises “I just don’t understand..Why would she defend that stupid cat! It’s all his fault! Even here he decides to ruin everything!” Dogday would remain quiet and just listen to her vent “And yet..Bobby has made me begin to think…Dogday you were Catnap’s closest friend..did I go too far?” Dogday nervously rubs the back of his own neck as he tries to think of an answer “well..Hoppy” he hesitates to say anything but Hoppy persists “Dogday..please I can take it, you know I can just please…”

Dogday goes quiet before sighing, looking over at his closed chest and thinking about the picture inside he begins to speak “I don’t…I think.. it's been hard for all of us, I’m not even really sure what exactly happened to you all, everything I’ve heard is from Bubba telling me what you all told him..but from what I’ve heard..you were all given a reason to hate him sure, believe me, when I first saw Catnap the first thing I wanted to do was cut him in half just like he did to me..but, something stopped me, something in the back of my head, something..” He gets a mental flashback to Catnap “odd..” that last part he mumbles to himself.

Hoppy wipes the tears from her face “well what do you suggest I do?”

Dogday “I think it would be best if you just go apologize to Bobby, maybe you should take a break from watching Catnap for a while, or maybe better hide if you hurt him more”

Hoppy: “wait..you’re not gonna tell me to stop?” she seemed a bit surprised.

Dogday: “Hoppy..I” He looks out the window at the tall house in the distance “I still don’t think we should trust Catnap..and the more I think about how much we..how much I..trusted him, and despite all of the love and support we gave him..what he did..I can’t forgive that Hoppy, I’m not sure if I ever can..you should still apologize to Bobby but I’m not gonna say you did the wrong thing either..” he could barely believe the things he was saying himself, it almost felt as if something else was talking through him but it was not, he was actually saying this.

Hoppy seemed a bit shocked, not quite expecting this reaction from Dogday, she was sure he was gonna tell her to at the very least stop what she was doing, but no such reaction, she nods “ok, thank you Dogday” She gets up and pats his shoulder before beginning to leave but Dogday asked her one last thing before leaving “wait, why didn’t you go to Bubba? I feel like this is more his expertise besides Bobby of course”

Hoppy looked back and responded “I did go to ask him, but he wasn’t home” Dogday seemed confused by this and asked a follow-up question “he wasn’t home?” Hoppy responded again “Yeah there was a note on his door saying he was out running errands, it is odd though, who goes running errands at 2 in the morning?” Dogday was wondering the exact same thing, however he didn't want to hold up Hoppy so he brushes it off for now, letting Hoppy leave both saying their goodbyes for now.

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Notes:

another short chapter

Chapter 14: Chapter 9: Others..?

Chapter 9: Others..?

Deep in the forest, Bubba was studying the environment around them, writing down everything he discovered in order to better understand this new world, at the same time he was picking berries and other ingredients as per Picky's request, he uses a flashlight to stumble around in the dark, making sure to mark his tracks in-order to not get lost in the dense forest, despite this however, he had been doing this long before the others had arrived, he had only put it all on hold with the mess that has been going on recently with Catnaps arrival, tonight though he had decided to continue from where he left off.

As he continues he finds his way to a cliffside overlooking the vast landscape he couldn't help but pause his studying in order to take it in, the glistening star formations in the distance, the beautiful full moon overlooking the forest, he places his bag down next to him before moving down to sit, his feet hanging over to cliffside, just below him he notices a long river hugging th side of the cliff bottom, following it with his eyes he sees it leading into a medium size lake reflecting the night sky so clearly as if it was a portal to another world only interrupted by the ripples created by the gorgeous waterfall which flowed into the lake, as he looks around he begins to think to himself.

“I wonder if the others would like it here, I know Crafty would love for the Inspiration, it's certainly a sight”

As he thought to himself he keeps looking around until his interest was shifted by a peculiar sight, in the far distance while hard to make out he could see what almost appeared like the roof to a cabin, he stands up and squints his eyes trying to better see if what he Is seeing truly is another possible house or simply just the darkness and the trees tricking his still slightly sleep deprived mind, however it was no use, the object was much too far for him to recognize anything besides trees, he looks along the cliff trying to see if there's a possible way down, however no such thing.

“Perhaps I should return in the morning, it will be easier to see” he thinks to himself before letting out a slight yawn and picking up his bag before marching back into the forest to make his way back, however as he walked he couldn't shake the odd feeling he was being watched, he stops in his tracks and looks around suspicious of his surroundings, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a bonesaw for safety and continues to walk, deciding to turn off the flashlight as to not attract anything, luckily he didn't really need it to find his way back, his memory may not be as good as it was but it's still as sharp as the bonesaw in his pad.

Eventually he made his way back to critter valley without issue, returning to his house he places his bag onto his desk before going to sleep on the hammock which he called a bed, but not before closing all his windows blinds and curtains, as he still couldn't shake the strange feeling, as if it followed him from the forest, that night he needed to sleep very lightly and with one eye open, not trusting to sleep fully, even if he needed it, little did he know, his suspicions were all but unjust.

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Notes:

I will be entirely honest, I forgot to post this, it was completed two days ago and I forgot because I hadn't slept in 48 hours

Chapter 15: Chapter 10: Shivers

Summary:

Looks like winter has finally hit the critters

Chapter 10: Shivers

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As the night progresses and as the critters sleep a colder breeze begins to find it's way through the shattered glass windows of the tall cat tree, Catnap's fur which had already lost chunks of fur couldn't protect him from it, as he begins to shiver from the cold, he attempts to curl up desperate for warmth, he didn't know it was going to get a lot colder, as he didn't notice a single snowflake falls in through his open window and lands on his nose, a calm before the storm, thick clouds begin to drift in, the storm is about to begin…

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The next day, the critters, sheltered properly shielded from the elements and so were unaware of the sight that awaited them, each critter awaking one by one each eventually finding themselves looking out the window or opening their door to quite the sight, a blanket of snow had seemingly formed overnight, despite the previous night not being cold at all, Bubba jots down remarking that it would appear the weather in this new world seems more sporadic then the real world, a new bit of knowledge for the critters, the cold winter breeze felt fresh on their fur, as if a none of the past existed most of the critters apart from Bubba, Hoppy, Bobby and Dogday shifted, for a fleeting second all of them felt an ounce of relaxation as they fetched their winter clothes and headed out to the snow day, however Bobby immediately packed some supplies to go check on Catnap, remembering the poor condition of the house, as she started to march through the thick snow, her each step crunching under her feet, she heard a familiar voice calling out to her “Bobby!”

Turning around to see the bunny clearly slightly shivering but attempting to ignore it, running towards her, appearing she was in such a rush she didn't even put on anything more then the scarf, despite her still be annoyed she stops in her tracks and responded when the bunny approaches “Hoppy..you shouldn't be out in this weather without anything warm on” sounding worried

“Can we talk? It's important” Hoppy replied not caring about how cold she was, “Hoppy I can't talk right now, we can talk later” as she was about to turn around she felt Hoppy grab her much bigger paw, cupping it with both of her paws she asks again this time sounding much more desperate “Please?”

Bobby looks back at Hoppy and then back at Cat Tower contemplating what she is supposed to do, she knows the right choice is to check on Catnap but it was difficult with her partner's face staring at her with pleading eyes “I..I” then suddenly as she was stuttering both of them heard a third voice join “I can go check on him..”

Dogday says begrudgingly, Bobby quickly responds “Dogday I couldn't-” Dogday trying to reassure her “Bobby, I won't do anything, you have my word as leader, just please, I can't stand you two arguing anymore, I just want you two to settle this between you two as quickly as possible, I promise” Bobby looks back at Hoppy then lets out a reluctant sigh before handing him the bag filled with stuff for Catnap “ok..Dogday…I trust you”

Dogday takes the bag and watches as Bobby nods and follows Hoppy back to their homes in order to talk, Dogday sighs and goes to approach Catnap's house and begins to go into the house, it was only just barely warmer on the inside than the outside, it was still very chilly inside, walking up the steps into the living room he finds his way back Catnaps bedroom door, opening it slowly to peak his head in first he was surprised to not see Catnap huddled on the bed for warmth but instead sitting at the broken window, looking over the other critters play with sadness in his eyes.

Catnap didn't notice the canine's sudden intrusion into the room, seemingly lost in thought, Dogday felt a familiar feeling in his stomach rising to his chest, a feeling he hadn't felt for a while, he sheepishly took a step accidentally creaking the floorboards, the moment he did, he would back up and duct behind the door, Catnap shot his head back to the now empty door frame with a confused murr.

Taking a deep breath and working up the courage, Dogday steps out from behind the door, putting back on an almost annoyed face as he stares back at the cat “I'm just here to watch you since Hoppy wanted to talk to Bobby” he hid his care behind a begrudging tone.

<”You don't have to do that, go play with the others”> the purple feline signed with clearly chilly and shaking paws, Dogday noticed the shaking paws “Come on le-” he was interrupted by a snowball coming through the broken window and nailing Catnap in the back of the head, causing him to fall over onto the floor, Dogday instinctively rushes over to check on him “Catnap!” He was about to help him up but temporarily froze when he saw a bit of red in the snow, nervously he begins to brush the snow off of Catnaps head but noticed a small sharp rock stabbing him in the back of the head which had been accidentally left or purposely put in the snowball to cause more harm “Catnap are you okay?!”

Catnap shakingly sits up and lays against the wall, keeping his head off of the wall to prevent the rock from hurting more then it already is, Dogday looks in Bobby's bag and finds a stolen first aid kit from Bubba's house, he takes it out, as he was about to open it however he felt Catnaps paw on his arm, stopping him he looks backs the weakest cat he had ever seen, still with blood dripping down his head and onto the floor from the rock, he begins to sign <”It's fine Dogday, I don't need help”> Dogday’s ears twitch in frustration “Catnap, you are bleeding and if Bobby see’s you like this she will kill me” making up excuses.

Catnap signs back <”I’ll just tell her it happened after you left”> Dogday seemingly getting more annoyed but there was a hint of concern in his tone “Don’t be stupid just let me help you before we both end up with a bloody head” not wanting to argue anymore, Catnap reluctantly agreed, nervously turning around so Dogday could gently remove the rock before preparing to disinfect “you’ll feel a slight pain just relax” Catnap nods slightly as Dogday rubs the cotton swab onto the wound, as he does he notices slightly above it was another scar, four evenly spaced stab wounds slightly above the base of his skull, curiosity got the better of him and he lightly touches it, the moment he does, Catnap rushes out of Dogdays reach and into the corner of the room, hyperventilating which in turns causes a sharp pain in his chest, causing him to cough violently, his paws shot up to his chest, clutching the fur there as he gasped for air, his breaths came in shallow, desperate gulps, his body trembling with each desperate attempt at air, his throat producing a faint wheezing sound.

Dogday seemingly starting to panic as well rushes off seemingly out of nowhere, the pain was starting to become too much as his vision begins to fade and tears well up, the last thing he saw was Dogday running away, suddenly…until suddenly it all went black.

Notes:

Don't worry, he ain't dead, as if I'd kill him off that easily, >IF< I am to kill him, it will be torturous, Id hate the idea of this cat having proper rest and joy

Chapter 16: Chapter 11: blurry

Chapter 11: blurry

His eyes slowly begin to open back up, his breathing also slowly begins to steady, his vision was still blurred, two blobs of colors begin to form, one orange the furthest and the closest one being blue, the blobs slowly began to take shape, as a familiar voice speaks “Ok he's coming around” when it does, he sees Bubba removing the inhaler away from his mouth as Dogday watches from the doorway with his arms crossed, giving a face of anger and annoyance almost as if he was annoyed by the fact Catnap actually woke up.

Bubba puts the inhaler back in his medical bag before speaking “Catnap? How do you feel?” Catnap slowly moved his still weak paws and began to sign <”what happened?”> to the quick reply from the elephant “well..It seems you had an asthma attack..” Catnap didn't seem all that surprised, he has had trouble breathing for almost a month now and but he never said anything, Dogday seemed to leave the room shortly after Catnap awoke, Catnap lowers his ears as Bubba began to perform a few minor tests to make sure he was breathing normally, he heard the sounds of footsteps, likely Dogdays, going down the stairs and leaving, the moment he thought it was clear Bubba spoke again “Catnap, did you know about this?”

The cat responded by acting naively <”what do you mean?”> Bubba squinted before relaborating “did you know you had asthma? No less this bad, I mean you had too, not exactly something you don't notice”

<”No, I knew I had a hard time breathing but I thought it was just due to injury or perhaps there was harder for everyone to breath here”> Catnap continued lying for reasons he didn't even know “I see…do you at least have any idea on what caused the asthma attack?”

Catnap remembering Dogday touching his wound, however worried he might get him in trouble he lies again <”no, It just suddenly happened”>

The room fell silent as Bubba had a gut feeling that he was not telling the truth, however decided against perusing it right now, worried that if he accidentally started an argument of some kind, so soon after Catnap woke up, it could cause another asthma attack “alright Catnap, well, you'll be happy to know the next person to look after you tomorrow will be me, for now, I suggest you just get some rest, okay?” Catnap proceeds to give a sheepish nod, after that Bubba proceeds to pack up and prepares to leave, but not before putting an inhaler on the still broken bedside table “if it happens again, you know what to do..” the elephant leaves after that, coming down the stairs and was slightly surprised to see Dogday waiting outside the front door of Catnaps house.

“oh, Dogday there yo-” Dogday interrupting him with a slightly worried tone “how is he?” Bubba slightly taken aback to the interruption but responds non the less “well, despite it being bad, it's not going to be too much of a problem, he'll just need to use the inhaler and any form of straining activity is out of the question, but it won't be too much of a problem anyways with that nasty leg”

Dogday goes silent for a few seconds before asking another question “did he say what caused the panic attack?” Thinking he was about to get in trouble but to his surprise Bubba gave an unexpected answer “no, it was perhaps a result of his injuries mixed with the sudden weather change, I've asked him to get some shut eye, I suggest you do the same, it's getting late and bursting into my house like that must have been tiresome” he pats his back as he walks past to return home.

Dogday looks up at the house in the tower, he stared for a few minutes before lowering his head, before Bubba left earshot of Dogday he spoke once more “by the way…”

Dogday turned around in the direction of the elephant.

“Did you smell anything that smelled like…gasoline..?”

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Chapter 17: Chapter 12: Breaking Point

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Chapter 12: breaking point

3:00 am, the moon high in the sky and not a sound to be heard, although most critters were sleeping, Dogday was unable to, once more his only current company was his own thoughts and the ticking of the clock, he was no stranger to spending late nights lost in thought, he had hardly gotten a good night sleep since he got here, this time though, he couldn't get the thought of that scar on the back of Catnaps head out of his own, ‘what could have caused it?’ ‘should I tell the others?’ ‘should I care?’ the thoughts were swirling and as fresh as the image of the scar itself.

As he continues to wonder he heard a sudden loud clank noise from outside, it sounded like a trash can falling over, looking up and out the window he saw the lights were on at Kickins house, he gets up from his couch and moves to the window to get a closer look, however the house was still a far way, he gets an idea before quickly looking and moving to his chest, opening it and pulling out a pair of binoculars he used to go bird watching with Bubba a long time ago, technically still being used for bird watching in this moment, as he returns to the window and looks over to Kickins house, he watches as Kickin sneaks out of his front door carrying a duffle bag he's never seen before, confused he continues watching as Kickin makes his way to Catnap's house.

‘What is he up too..?’ He thinks to himself as he drops the binoculars and just decides to check it out himself, trying his best to sneak up the tall cat tower, his each step crunching the snow beneath his feet, he makes his way to the doorway, however he was not prepared for what he saw, before him still not noticing the dogs presence, Kickin grin across his beak as he pours gasoline and lighter fluid at the base of Catnaps stair.

Finally speaking up “What are you doing?” He barks with a subtle hint of anger in his tone, surprising the chicken and causing him to accidentally drop the tank of gas and pouring the rest all over the floor, staining the purple furry flooring “Dogday gee, don't sneak up on somebody like that dude!, what are you doing up at this hour anyways?” acting more as if he was just caught with his hand in a cookie jar apart from commiting arson

“Kickin, What. Are. You. Doing?” He repeats himself this time sounding a lot more serious

Kickin sighs a bit and replies “well..I wanted it to be a surprise till the morning, but as you can tell, I'm burning this place down, no real need for it, it's too destroyed for the rage room anymore anyways” he continues acting as if this is a joke.

D: “excuse me?”
K: “Oh! Well while you're here, you can help me surprise the others, here” *he tosses him some lighter fluid as Dogday instinctively catches it, looking at it for a moment before returning his attention to the yellow chicken “Are you crazy?! This isn't ok and I'm sure as hell not helping you!” Barking back this time sounding more annoyed

K: “shhh! What do you want to wake the whole valley?”

D: “no Kickin this is..this is insane, I'm not letting you do this”

K: “Don't worry, if you're worried about that piece of shit furball upstairs, he'll most likely survive, we're immortal remember? We'll just stuff him in a cage or something” Dogday could hardly believe the words coming out of Kickins mouth.

D: “No! We are not doing this, and I'm not letting you do this!” He snags Kickins duffle bag

K: “Hey! Why do you even care?! Give it back!” Trying to grab it back but Dogday even in his still not fully recovered state is much stronger then him and able to keep him away from it “I don't have to explain myself to you!” In his anger he accidentally shoves Kickin, causing him to slip and soak his feathers in a puddle of gasoline and lighter fluid”

Stopping, he drops the duffle bag and tries to help him up “Kickin I'm sorry I just-” the Chicken shoves him back and gets up “Fine! You care about this stupid cat so much then so be it” he begins to march past the dog “the humans were right about you…you are boring and pathetic..” he says one last remark before continuing to march back to his house to clean his feathers, Dogday sitting on the floor, tears slowly beginning to form both at the remark and at what he just did, he gets up and was about to walk to Kickins house but decided to just return home to take a shower as well.

 

little did they know, at the top of the stairs Catnap had just seen and heard everything that just happened and at that moment he felt…guilt, another sign that his existence here is only causing issue.

 

Dogday walks into his house and closes the door behind him and slams his back against the door, sliding down it slowly and curling up, ignoring the smell of gasoline in his still wet fur and slightly whimpers, as he sits there whimpering with his own company again being the clock ticking, his whimper slowly and steadily evolved into angered growls before he slams his face down in his knees and screams loudly before getting up and throwing his crutch at the clock on the wall shattering it onto the floor “WHY DID I FUCKING DO THAT?!” he grabs his head with one paw, slowly making angered laughs “Why did I care?! I shouldn't have cared about that stupid cat, hell I should I have helped, why haven't I been doing everything in my power to get revenge on that stupid cat?” He pants in anger, looking back over to his open chest, he marches over and picks up the picture of him and Catnap.

He stares silently at the pictures before finally coming to a decision, he grabs everything in the chest that had any memory of Catnap attached to it, the final item he grabs being the moon amulet.

Back at the cat tower at the same time Catnap reaches down the stairs with his very much still injured tail slowly and painfully dragging the heavy duffle bag which had been left there by both Kickin and Dogday up the stairs, each tug being a huge strain and pain on his tails muscle, feeling as if at any moment his tail was gonna snap in two like a rubberband, finally doing it he messes through the bag before pulling out a Molotov cocktail and a lighter.

 

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Chapter 18: Chapter 13: the Cold, the Hungry and the Anger

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Chapter 13: The cold, The hunger and the anger

Catnap turns on the lighter, bringing the open flame closer and closer to the oil soaked rag sticking out of the bottle but before it could light he retracts the flame, too scared to do it, his paws shaking as he gets memories of burning alive from the electrified hand, his body being engulfed in the sparked flame, smelling his own singed fur and feeling the fire travel down his throat, he puts the bottle and lighter back in the back, crawling backwards away from the bag and curls up crying, now hating himself even more.

‘You selfish coward..you couldn't do one thing to make everyone happy…not even this, can't you do anything right? You owe them this.’ he covers his face continuing to cry even more as his mind is bombarded by his own thoughts.

Continuing to cry and sob into his own fur he couldn't help but wish this was all fake, that this whole thing has just been one long nightmare, the beatings, the blood, the cuts and bruises, he could only just wish this was all fake, that maybe he could just fall asleep one of these times and wake up in his normal body, in a world that was still perfect, he could only wish…Dogday would see him in this pathetic state and comfort him..wish that he would approach him softly and hold him in his arms, allowing the cat to bury his face in his vanilla scented fur, while he continuously assured him everything was ok…as catnap thought of this fantasy he would slowly crawl back to his still destroyed room, dragging the duffle bag behind him.

Laying down in the fetal position once again he uses his tail to grab the picture of him and Dogday and bring it towards him, curling up, tears continued to pour down restraining the carpet which had only just dried from his last tears, holding onto the one of the last things left that brings him any form of happiness in this place.

As he cried he would suddenly feel dizzy, his vision grew blurry and his eyelids felt heavy, unsure of what was happening but he did little to nothing to prevent himself from dozing off, holding onto the picture as he did.

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Back at the orange dog house, Dogday finishes gathering the last of everything that has any reminder to Catnap before putting it in his backpack, once done he takes the bag and grabs a shovel which was left in his garden and proceeded to make his way into the woods with only a flashlight he borrowed from Bubba to guide the way and a shovel for self defense, the forest felt colder then the valley, the winds felt somehow slightly stronger despite the trees being highly condensed, he continues however not letting a small chill prevent him from doing what he has planned, once he felt like he had made his way deep enough into the forest he drops the bag onto the ground, gripping the shovel with two paws and begins to dig, intending to bury it all.

However as he dug, the sudden feeling that he was being watched befell him, he ignores it at first thinking perhaps it's just in his imagination his ears twitch at the sound of a sudden crunch in the snow, similar to that of a footstep, he looks up and darts his head around to try and figure out the source of the noise, nervously calling out into the darkness surrounding him “hello?” He waited for a response only to be met with yet another crunch, he grips the shovel tightly holding it in a ready to swing position before loudly barking into the forest “hey whoever it is you better show yourself, I'm in no mood to be played with right now!”

He hears more footsteps, this time more consistent and repeating, it begins to get louder as the source gets closer, Dogday’s tail goes between his legs out of fear but he attempts to disguise it, seeing a tall silhouette approach him, squinting his eyes to try and make the figure out, before he could react more the strange creature lunged at him with inhuman speed attempting to slash at him with razor sharp claws, Dogday uses the shovel to keep the creature back, during his scuffle he notices a familiar smell, the smell of…lavender?

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Back at Catnaps house, he awakes from the cold breeze, mixed with his wet fur due to the tears he could feel his body begin to freeze over, his stomach growls again, it was slowly becoming too much for him to manage, he would carefully to avoid hurting his leg and make his way over to the duffle bag hoping to find at least something safe to eat, but luck as usual was not on his side, only finding the supplies to start a fire.

However he would come up with an idea, he slowly starts crawling his way over to the kitchen, one of the rooms he hasn't went into since he got here, using his tail to drag the bag behind him, eventually the carpet feeling was replaced by the feeling of freezing cold porcelain tiles on his body, he shivers at first but continues, as expected the kitchen was also destroyed yet surprisingly the oven and fridge seemed the least broken, he crawls on top the only chair that wasn't completely destroyed and uses his tail to switch on the stove tops miraculously still somewhat worked, only giving off gas, Catnap grabs a box of matches from the duffle bag and lights one before using it to fully light the stove, it wouldn't take long before the feeling of freezing to death slowly went away, replaced with the feeling of the room warming up slowly, he enjoyed the new and almost alien feeling for a few seconds before his stomach growls and ruins the good feeling.

Again using his tail he slowly uses it to open the fridge door.

Empty, aside from some rotten food, looking at the empty fridge his stomach growls more causing him hunch over grabbing his stomach in pain, after staying hunched over for a bit he weakly looks back at the fridge using his tail to grab all the rotten food the kitchen out of it and lays it on the table which was moments away from falling apart, desperately he looks for whatever seemed safe to eat, deciding on some slightly moldy pizza, he was just gonna try and avoid the moldy areas, but before he hesitantly took a bite he saw a slight shine from the top of the fridge, looking up he saw some canned food which he didn't see at first,

He discards the pizza immediately trying to reach it with his tail but it wasn't long enough, he stretched his tail out desperately trying to make it reach but no use, determined to get it however he carefully stands up using the table to keep him off the broken leg, his arm shaking immensely but he didn't care, he uses his tail to push the chair over to the fridge and carefully climbs on top of the wobbly chair, reaching up to try and grab it, he successfully uses his tail to push it off the fridge but the can hits him on the top right corner of his head and causes him to fall off the chair, blood slowly leaked from the fresh wound, he would however ignore it and quickly crawls over to the can which was slightly covered in his blood, looking at the can, his eyes lighting up reading it was canned beef stew, immediately grabbing the tab and opening it, the smell hit his nostrils immediately, although it was quite cold, so he pours into pan and puts it on the stove, the smell fills the kitchen.

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Dogday had continued to wrestle with the creature, the creature ends up slashing the bandages off of the dogs waist and leaves a nasty scar across his stomach, this caused him to let out a yelp in pain giving the creature the opportunity to pin Dogday to the ground preparing to finish him off, Dogday reaches grabbing the shovel and hitting the creature on the right side of its head, causing blood to bleed onto the snow, letting out a ear piercing screech causing Dogday to let go of the shovel and cover his ears in pain, when he opens his eyes again the creature had run off back into the forest, he quickly gets up, leaning up against a tree, he looks at his reflection in the shovel on the ground, observing the scars left behind on his stomach.

Images flash in his mind, memories begin to flood in, tears begin to form in his eyes from the memories, he puts his paw against his forehead before starting to breath rapidly, his chest quickly puffing out and in only stopping abruptly when his brain finally caught up with his nose, a few sniffs he remembers the familiar scent, standing there frozen for a bit he begins to grit his teeth before picking up the shovel and marching his way back to the houses.

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Chapter 19: Chapter 14: all bite, all bark

Notes:

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES CONTENT THAT MIGHT BE DISTURBING TO SOME READERS, INCLUDING: "SELF-HARM"
PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION OR SKIP PAGE

Chapter 14: all bite, all bark

Catnap takes his first bite of the now-cooked beef stew, his eyes lighting up as his taste buds touch the hot meal, he hurriedly gulped down the meal, he couldn't help but make a small purring sound.

Soon though, it was all interrupted as his ear flinched at the sound of the downstairs door opening and the sound of footsteps begin slowly marching up the stairs, he hadn't finished but quickly put it away before trying to get off the chair hurriedly, he would end up falling over, landing against the ground with a thud, the blood from his already bleeding head sprinkle a bit onto the tile from the motion, he just tries to crawl, managing to get out past the living room and into his bedroom, his tail slowly treading behind, as Dogday gets up the stairs he spotted the purple tail slither back into the room quickly.

“There you are..” Huffing with rage and slightly bleeding from his stomach he marched up the final step and made his way to the half-opened door, he saw the frightened purple feline sitting in the corner but the fear shifted to a face that of concern when he saw Dogday’s stomach, disregarding thinking about danger he puts his paws up to sign only to be unheard as the angry canine walks up and picks the cat up by his chest fur the cat quickly grappling onto the wrist of the paw holding him with fear quickly pouring back into his eyes.

Dogday proceeds to slam him up against the wall his feet off the ground, his other paw gripping onto the shovel, chest huffing rapidly in rage “Don’t pull that shit with me, I know you were in the forest!” Catnap's ears folded down not knowing what he was saying, he quickly tried to sign but Dogday was blinded with rage and didn't bother reading, pulling Catnap back and slamming him harder against the wall, rattling the brittle pavement, cracks formed and spiders to disperse across it as Catnap lets out a yelp in pain

“I have been too easy with you, since you got here you have been nothing but a pain either for me or for everyone else! Ruining our last life wasn't enough for you?! You had to ruin this one too!” He throws Catnap down to the ground and before he can even catch his breath he lifts the shovel up above his head and brings it down slamming Catnap in the chest and creating a loud and audible crack as the ribs that had just healed from Hoppy’s previous assault fractures once more, causing him to cough up blood in pain, quickly curling up in defence.

“And of course out of every spot you could have gone for you just HAD to go for the same spot you aimed for last time! Well, guess what? I can still walk this time you stupid cat” he kicks him in the side tears already leaking from both of their eyes, one as a pain response the other as a body response, not thinking about it however he brings the shovel up again and swings down again, hitting his already broken leg, this time he let out a loud scream like cry that came with the sound of his vocal cords shredding alongside it.

Catnap uncurls attempting to quickly crawl away, dragging himself across the carpet leaving a trail of blood following his beaten body only to feel a paw clench his tail and yank him back.

“Why! Why are you here?!, you have no right to be here, was it to kill us again?! Well? Was it!” Not even thinking about he was saying he just continued to beat him over and over again, each blow only getting harder and harder with some even cutting at Catnap and causing blood.

“WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING?! WHY WON'T YOU FIGHT BACK?! DO SOMETHING YOU MONSTER!”

he raises it once more ready to use the sharp end to cut off his head not even sure if it would even kill him but was stopped when Catnap out of Instinct grabs the picture frame from under the bed and uses it to block his face, closing his eyes and bracing for the downswing, Dogday freezes in place at the picture like a vampire seeing a cross, his heavy and angry breathing slowing down, his eyes widening slowly and paws trembling and growing heavier accidentally letting go of the shovel however his paws remaining in the air, the shovel makes a clank against the ground but neither seemed to notice.

his perspective now slowly shifting to focusing on the dim reflection of himself in the picture, he stood there jaw slightly gaped, Catnap notices the beating had stopped slowly lowering the picture slightly, Dogday in shock accidentally locking eyes with Catnap, despite almost every part of his body saying it was him, looking into the tear-filled and glimmering eyes of the pitiful cat before him he just couldn't see a monster, he didn't see a creature that would have harmed him, he could only see…..his best friend.

The world stood still and the room grew quiet, only the sound of their breathing accompanying the two parties in the room.

Dogday slowly begins to move his eyes to the rest of Catnap's body. ‘he's had enough’ a part of his mind that had been blocked out from pure rage kept telling him since the beginning of walking into Catnap's house.

 

However this sudden peace would not remain long as he clenches his teeth back together, picking the shovel back up Catnap quickly blocks his face again at Dogday picking it back up but only feels the picture being ripped from his paws, he quickly looks back as Dogday holds the picture tightly with a face that stilled displayed that of anger and disdain looking down at the cat “this…doesn't change anything” he mutters tucking the picture under his arm and beginning to walk out “you don't deserve to have this or anything like this, you still disgust me” Catnap’s ears flicked weakly at the statement as he slowly and weakly lifts his shaky paw as if to attempt and stop him but drops his arm, making a small yelp in pain, his body in so much pain.

“You don't get to remember US like that, after what you did, do you honestly think you deserve to do that after everything you've done?” Catnap tries desperately to force his arm up to try and grab the picture back but his body almost refused to do so.

Dogday looks away from the cat, unable to face him at that moment and proceeds to walk out of the room and makes his way to leave, still with the picture securely tucked under his arm.

The purple feline tries to cry out in order to stop Dogday from taking it away from him, but alas only whimpers, he was sure Dogday was going to destroy it but sadly there is nothing he could do to stop him, by the time he could slightly move again Dogday had already left the house, Catnap could only curl back up, ignoring the bleeding and continue to weep and cry at the last object in his life that brought him any semblance of joy since the beginning of this new life, and there it goes, probably to be destroyed.

With tear-filled eyes, trembling paws and a sobbing face all he could do was silently pray in his mind, pleading that he would take another hour of Dogday merciless beating over losing the picture, he covered his face with his paws, dampening his fur on his paws and face, in that moment he was unable to face the world, this would go on for hours before suddenly feeling a sharp piercing pain where his paw was on his head, he slowly retracts his paw, looking at them and seeing his own blood covering them he would get flashing memories of the factory, it seems in his self-loathing struggling he had accidentally flexed his paw revealing his claws, he pauses as his eyes focused on the reveal of the claws, he looks at his lower arm before slowly moving his paw down at it and makes a light cut on his arm, it was at that moment…he felt like he was doing the right thing, for the first time he felt like he was doing something right, he cuts again..then again each cut getting deeper, tears rushing down his face, soft giggling can be heard, his arms and paws trembling not wanting to continue but he forces them to continue, cutting at his arm, each cut getting closer and closer to his wrist, not caring knowing he couldn’t die anyways he slashes at it, blood pour from his wrist onto the carpet, he continued past this, he proceeds to slash at his own forehead, throat, thighs, anywhere he could reach, his each scratch causing his paws to grow weaker and trembling more and more, protesting the gruesome action.

All while his mind begins to be bombarded with thoughts “ why shouldn’t he have done this to you?” “You’re pathetic” “You shouldn’t even be here, why would death even let you come here? Was it pity or did he want to see you cry?” “You cut them harder then this, come on!” however in the mind haze filled with words only one stood out amongst the others, not a questioning a statement that he had been hearing since the beginning of this whole ordeal, the loudest voice in his mind, “Nothing. You. Don’t. Deserve”

Eventually the cutting became too much, his vision going blurry, his body slowing down from lack of blood in his body, his eyes growing heavy, as he attempts to make one last cut he passes out.

Notes:

this was somewhat written based on self-experience with cutting, I have recently stopped but yeah

Chapter 20: Chapter 14.5: Ring Ring

Chapter 14.5: Ring Ring

Returning to the blinding white void of the border, the same large clock continuing to tick ever so loudly, returning to the same library Catnap had first made his deal in, the same figure sits in front of the fireplace, the roaring flame dancing elegantly, a cup of tea in his hand taking sips, waiting for his next soul to arrive, this quiet was interrupted by the loud intrusive sound of a phone’s ringing, having his evening interrupted he gets up off the seat, proceeding to approach the cause of the loud excessive noise, picking up the rotary wall phone’s curved handle he puts it up to his head “yes?” the voice on the phone proceeds to speak with death becoming more confused the longer the voice spoke, he replies with a slightly puzzled tone “what do you mean missing? He should be with you” the voice on the other side continues to speak in response to the question and statement “but if he’s not with you then…that means..”

 

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Back in the same forest Dogday was attacked in, in his rush to storm off he had left behind the backpack of Catnap’s stuff, as the bag lays slightly opened various items poked out, a large purple clawed paw reaches and dragged the moon pendant out of the back by the string, leaving a small trail of blood behind in the snow, before disappearing back into the forest without another sound.

Chapter 21: Chapter 15: Replay

Summary:

Catnap has a nightmare and is forced to relive his death

Notes:

The next few Chapters will be explaining how each of the critters died, first up is a replay of the purple feline

Chapter 15: Replay

Snow would again begin to slowly fall upon the valley, bathing each of the critters homes and the surrounding area in yet another thick layer of white, snow flows in through the broken window of the tall cat tree house and begins filling the bedroom where the unconscious, cut covered feline layed, it's body still weak begins shivering in-order to attempt preserving warmth, as the snow begins to bury him, some of his still fresh wounds leaking blood onto the snow creating red spots where the cat was buried.

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He would slowly begin to open in his eyes, however when he does it was still pitch black, he would try to blink only to find he was unable to, almost as if they weren't there anymore, slowly sitting up to try and look around himself he still couldn't see anything, as he tried to ponder where he was a light suddenly appeared brightly above him, he quickly covers his face from the sudden bright light which almost scorched his eyes with the sudden flash, stopping when he saw his old larger intimidating paws of his larger body in place of his smaller more cartoonish paws, slowly lowering his paws, when he looks up at the light, his body felt tense all of a sudden, feeling something he swore he felt before, he didn't understand it until he saw something slowly move down from the hole in the ceiling, a familiar large metal hand, reaching down for him, he wanted to run away, he wanted to scream, he wanted to do anything but he couldn't do anything, it was almost as if his body was being physically held still, he then saw a new color in the room, as red gas begins to flow down from the same hole in the ceiling, however this gas behaved strangely, it seemed to approch him, not expanding our in random direction, this gas seemed more targeted, the gas began moving, as it surrounds him he begins to recognize certain parts of the gas, he would then hear a familiar voice.

“What's wrong Catnap? Don't you miss us?”

Turning his eyes in the gas he notices the gas form into the shape that of Bobby's face, before he could fully react he heard another voice.

“Yeah dude! C'mon isn't this what you wanted we can finally go outside remember?”

Flicking his eyes to the other side of his head he notices Kickins face, it was then he finally realized what was happening, he desperately wanted to close his eyes not wanting to look, he tried to force his paws to cover his ears but he was forced to remain still.

It wouldn't take long before the next face shows itself, then the next, then the next, then the next..each one's taunting him with their words, telling him to let go and let it happen, in a tone that almost felt like nothing was wrong, not thinking it could get any worse he heard the last voice.

“Come on Moonlight, you know the smiling critters will always be together! So don't keep us waiting!”

Afraid too but his eyes almost moving on its own he looks forward towards the lifeless eye sockets of the vanilla scented orange canine, which was closest to him, moving closer as the gas begins to form the rest of his body which places the soft feeling paws on either side of the purple felines cheeks, slowly lifting his face up towards Dogday's own, he would then hear all the critters besides Dogday chant in unison “Join us, Join us Join us!”

This continues only getting quieter when Dogday spoke “Don't keep me waiting moonlight~” he places a kiss on Catnaps forehead but instead of feeling the kiss against his forehead he felt a familiar sharp stabbing pain through the back of his head, his eyes going dim, the last thing he sees is the critters all smiling at him as it gets blurry and everything goes fully black.

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Chapter 22: Chapter 16: Escape?

Summary:

Let's take a gander at how our brave Chicken bit the dust...sadly he was not alone

Notes:

Wanted to give a reason for why Kickin hates Catnap's guts

Chapter 16: Escape?

Near the sandy beach of the Critter Valley, which had become frozen over due to the cold a small tiki hut sits nicely on the sandy shore, inside in a hammock, sleeping and covered in blankets to avoid the cold from seeping in, Kickin slept, slowly shifting in his sleep however as it would seem he was having a nightmare.

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Back in Playcare Kickin found himself back in his hiding spot, surrounding him was a small group of orphans which he had taken under his wing in order to keep them safe during the hour of joy, most of them were asleep leaving him a moment of rest, he was going over the left over supplies, feeling his stomach rumble a bit, before he opened the cabinet holding the food, he felt a small tug on his wing, looking down he saw a child who was trying to get his attention, he leans down to their eye level “what's wrong lil dude?” even in this situation he tried to keep a smile.

Before the child could even speak their stomach growled, Kickin hears this and gets back up on his feet, he reaches up to open the cabinet, he was just gonna grab an extra can for the kid too he thought, the moment he opens it he would silently begin to panic in his mind, finding they were on their last can of food, he grabs it and looks in the cabinet ‘no no no, this can't be, I thought we had more then this’ he thought to himself, as he frantically checking cabinets for more food, nothing, he felt his stomach rumble again as he looks at the last can of food, he opens the sizeable can and hands it to the little kid.

The kid silently points at Kickins stomach, looking up at him

Kickin kept a smile on his beak and pat the kids head gently, trying to reassure him that he was fine “Don't worry little man, the big man is not gonna go down by a little stomach rumble” it seemed to have worked as the kid begrudgingly excepts this and hugs Kickin, Kickin hugs back before letting the kid go off to eat with a few of the other kids who also weren't asleep yet, he looks back at the empty cabinet, he sighs and closes it, making his decision on what he should do next, he would wait for all the kids to awake, then they were going to leave.

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He would get some shut eye as he waited till the kids were all rested and awake, once they were, he told all the kids to pack lightly and that they were going on a small field trip, he grabs a lighter and a can of Crafty's mane spray which he ‘borrowed’ before the hour of joy had started, once everyone had finished packing he pulls out a map of Playcare which he snagged off of the corpse of an engineer a while back, he had already marked a way into the maintenance tunnel which should lead higher up into the factory, as he was checking one of the kids asked him “Mr Kickin?” He stops looking at the map and looks down at the child

“Will your friends be there too?”

Kickin hadn't seen any of the critters since this whole thing started, trying to think quickly he responds somewhat nervously “well of course, that's why I gotta go, they're probably all terrified and they need somebody brave to keep their spirits up” although unsure he was hoping they were all safe.

He quietly lead the kids out of the hiding spot, making sure to try and stay out of sight, eventually getting to the hatch which resembles that of a locked manhole cover which would lead to the maintenance tunnel, breaking the lock off he lifts the cover revealing a ladder down, he attempts to gesture the kids to go down but all of them slowly backed up after seeing how dark and high the ladder was.

“C'mon kids we need to go”

The kids all shook their head scared to go down out of fear of ‘monsters’

Kickin kept trying to convince them to go down but freezes slightly when he hears the sound of large footsteps slowly approach their location, never having seen whatever monster it was before, he quickly came up with one last idea “well, don't worry, I'll show you there's nothing bad down there, here I'll take the first step down” slowly climbing his way down into the tunnels, he reaches the bottom, feeling the cold and somewhat dirty concrete against the bottom of his feet, he looks back up “see, nothing to be scared of, if any of you fall I promise to catch you”

Thankfully it worked as the kids slowly and nervously one at a time begin to climb down the ladder, with Kickin convincing them to keep going all the way down, until each of them made it, he quickly climbs back up to close the tunnel and comes back down “Come on everyone make a line and hold hands so you don't get lost, it scares off monsters” pulling out his flashlight he holds one of the kids hands who in turn holds another one, and so on, slowly making their way down the long tunnel he hears a noise ahead of them, he stops and gestures for all the kids to stay behind him, he had to let go of one of the kids hands in order to pull out the homemade flamethrower from the lighter and mane spray as he waited intensely for whatever ahead of them to show up so he could blast them with a blast of fire he was shocked to see a familiar purple feline slowly tread forward.

 

Suddenly he felt relief wash over him, having not seen him since the beginning of all this, and unaware of what the cats intentions were, he would begin to speak.

“Catnap? Oh thank goodness, I'm glad to see you sleepyhead, here I have some kids with me, we're making our way out, say is it safe back that way?”

Catnap didn't speak he would just slowly continue to walk forward towards them, Kickin and some of the kids suddenly felt a strange uneasy feeling fill the room, the large unmoving smile and unblinking eyes now beginning to feel creepy as they stare at them all, Kickin backs up slowly holding the kids hand.

“Catnap, why aren't you speaking? What's wrong with you, this isn't a joke darn it, I need you to-” he only now notices the cats paws were soaked in blood, each step leaving behind foot prints, implying it was fresh blood.

“Catnap…where did that blood come from?”

That statement finally froze Catnap in place, he would just stare at them silently, it was then one of the kids at the back spoke up “Look Kickin! It's you!” Kickin turns around pointing the flash light backwards seeing a single mini-critter of Kickin behind them, his eyes widen now realizing he had just walked them all into a trap.

He turns back around after hearing a footstep infront of them, only to find Catnap within swinging range of him, he quickly blasts Catnap in the face with a puff of fire, the cat screams and is temporarily blinded “KIDS RUN!”

The kids all quickly listen running past Catnap with Kickin following right behind them, looking behind them he sees a swarm of mini-critters being lead by a very pissed off looking Catnap hot on their tail.

Kickin turns back around and continuing to run with the kids, tears begin to fill his eyes as he felt a feeling he was specifically not allowed to feel, the feeling filled his mind causing it to race, he could barely think straight, it barely even felt like he was in control of his legs, all he knew was he needed to run, he needed to make sure the kids were away from this, was this…fear?

As they continued rushing down the tunnel Kickin accidentally trips which gives Catnap enough time to catch up and hold him down to the ground as the minis chased after the kids, the kids all notice this and remembering what Kickin had said earlier all begin to hold hands, Kickin’s eyes widen seeing this begins to scream out as he saw the minis closing in on the group “NO KIDS RUN! DON'T WORRY JUST RUN!” He reaches his wing forward only to be immediately stomped and shattered by Catnaps larger paw causing him to let out a loud scream in pain, seeing no other options he begins pleading nay begging for Catnap to do something, “CATNAP PLEASE YOU CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN! STOP THEM, DO SOMETHING, USE YOUR GAS, PLEASE YOU CAN'T DO THIS!”

However his words fell on deaf ears as he was forced to witness the children begin to get swarmed and eaten alive by the minis, their screams all burrowing deep into his mind as he was held down and unable to do anything, each one, picked off, one…by…one, it felt as if it went on for hours until finally…silence, the last child silent and the only sound remained was the grotesque sound of minis eating.

He looks up at the large critter hold him down “Why? WHY!? Why did you do that you fucking freakshow! I'll fucking kill you, you hear me, I'll fucking break your-” he was quickly shut up as the cat swiftly jolts down placing their faces mere inches from eachother, finally hearing the raspy broken voice box of his soon to be killer.

“P̷͔̱͝ó̵̗͚͘ù̴͓̲l̵̯͕̃͒t̷̲̤̅r̴͈̭͐͊y̷̺̫̓̈́ ̵͙̲̀i̶̞̋̍s̶̩͈͑̂ ̵̳͊t̴͔͒o̴͎̞̎ ̵̧̈́͘b̵̗̉e̸̯̚ ̶͕̼͒f̵̛̤͚͗a̶̘̍r̷̻̬̍m̴̧̬͐͝ē̷͓͜d̸̗̂ ̵̝̹̃ä̷̫̅n̴̩̅̄d̷̖̉̀ ̵̫̰̂s̶̭̻̈́̚ḻ̵̈́a̷̡̼͊̅u̵͔͆g̷̰̙͝h̴̖̍͜ť̸̜͝ë̴͚̫́ṟ̴̋̇ė̸̙͋d̷̦͈͒,̶̛̖͕̀ ̷̢̧̄h̴̢́ě̷̝̬̂r̶͎̊̿ē̴̞t̵͕͈̑i̸̢̚c̵͈̝̀s̴̘͈̓̑ ̸̨̊̓s̴̺̱̿͗h̸̘̩̽ó̴̖͖̀u̷͍̺͘l̴̯͇̐d̷͓̥̉͝ ̸͎̈̎n̶̰̦̅̚ö̵̡̮́t̴̰̤͐ ̴̦̕h̴̠̔͠à̷̠͖v̷̡͈͂̃ȅ̴̞͙ ̵͇̅͠a̶̼͇̒ť̴̺̲͠t̶͉̒ě̵̘̒m̷̗͙̋͛p̷̡͑t̸͉̀e̵̡̥͘d̴͉͙͒͝ ̶͇͝t̷̫̖̾o̶̮͔͑ ̵̖͓̎l̴̟̘͋ȩ̶̭̂ḁ̵̩̿ṿ̵̆̓é̷͖̙̓ ̴̲̺̈́t̶̞̱͑͌h̷̩̩̐ě̶̪́ ̴̣̅̓r̶̡̤͆̋ü̷̦̇l̸̤͑e̷̱̊̀ ̵͚̃o̴̱̼͊̈́f̶̱̓͗ ̶̡̇̇ͅǒ̶͈͐ủ̴̻̎͜r̶̡͑̓ ̷̞̯̍̊l̸̡͍͋ö̵͖́ŗ̶̭̍d̴̬̈́ ̸̝̓̂a̵͍͘ň̸̯͚̉d̴̹̂̇ͅ ̷̖͕̈́s̷̬̥͐̔a̶̢͠v̵̖̜̕i̶̢̽̃o̷͍͉̊͝u̵̙̱̔̓r̵̯̽”

Kickin froze in fear under unable to speak, his eyes remained widen in fear as he watches the large purple feline raise his paw before bringing it down and crushing his chest down into a past along the concrete, instantly Kickin attempts to scream but is unable too as he would feel all his organs be crushed seemingly within a second his vision quickly fades out, the minis take notice of this and quickly rush over to fears on the new source of food, the last thing Kickin would see and feel was the feeling of millions of biting teeth on the parts of his body that were still attached to him, before finally dying and all going black.

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Kickin would wake up screaming immediately, covered in sweat.

Notes:

I wrote this while I was bloody sick with a cold on my birthday! ;-;

Anyways hope you all enjoy :3

Chapter 23: Chapter 17: Freezing

Summary:

in a hard situation, some people tend to lose their grip on sanity sooner then others

Chapter 17: freezing

In a high tower overlooking the valley, through a window one could have a beautiful view of it all, the perfect spot for an artist to be inspired, sadly however the tower served a new purpose in this new life, to allow its only resident to have solitude, inside the tower in a fantasy styled bedroom were paintings scattered across the room, many hidden under tarps however the paintings that did remain visible, they all had the same characteristics, a striking colour palette consisting of different shades of red, on a queen size bed in the room, Crafty slept, she would be shifting in bed as well, another nightmare from her past.

At the same time from the window, a striking colour hue of red is visible through all the snow, the source being the large red barn which housed Picky, who oddly enough was also doing the same, shifting and swaying in her sleep.

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Once again back in Playcare Crafty and Picky found themselves scavenging for resources and hoping to find any of the other critters, it had been almost a week since the hour of joy and both of them haven't seen any of the other critters, searching in the employee only areas they managed to find a good amount of supplies although the food was still scarce, deciding to return to the cafeteria located inside Home Sweet Home to find any food rations that may be still there, they make their way up the steps towards the house and slowly open the door, the door would creak open loudly, the noise echoing through the wooden hallway before them.

Picky moves ahead but stops after noticing Crafty staying in the doorway, turning around “Crafty what are you waiting for?”

“A-are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe there's more food somewhere else” the unicorn responded nervously.

Picky would sigh and respond attempting to convince Crafty “Crafty we've already searched everywhere else, this is the last place where I know there's gotta be supplies”

Crafty nervously shifted uneasily on the creaking floorboards glancing around through the door “Picky don't you think if the prototype is gonna be anywhere they would be here?”

Picky stepped forward and put her trotter on her shoulder to try and ease her nerves “We'll be quick Crafty, in and out, believe me, I don't wanna be here as much as you do, but if we don't find something to eat, I'm afraid we won't be around much longer, besides, there's two of us we girls have each other's backs, right?” Attempting to cheer her up with a humorous tone, Crafty would let out a small nervous chuckle in response and nod

“There's that smile, now come on best not stick around in one spot for too long” Crafty nods again in agreement before following Picky as they begin to make their way further into the halls of Home Sweet Home, each step they take echo through the halls.

They would eventually reach the cafeteria room, but before they opened the door they heard noises coming from the other side of it, Picky retracted her trotter from the doorknob, reaching into her bag and pulling out a cleaver for self-defence, however, she was only planning on using it to ward off mini critters as she has been doing so far, Crafty stays closely behind her.

Once inside the cafeteria however they were surprised to find the place practically empty, however, they took this as a lucky break as they began to look around for food, not finding anything still edible in the dining area though, they eventually turned their attention to the kitchen, Picky opens the door leading to your average looking cafeteria kitchen, they spared no time searching every drawer, cabinet and shelf for any food that was still good, only finding a few cans in the pantry, Crafty's attention drifts big metal door at the back of the kitchen, Crafty tries to open it by the handle only to find it too heavy for her, Picky notices Crafty struggling to open the door and goes to help her, they both grunt as they slowly open the large metal door, it makes a loud sliding noise as it scrapes against the ground, the freezing cold air immediately escaping and washing over them.

Picky shivers from the freezing temperatures “Brrr wow it's colder than I remember, let's not stick around for long, come on” Entering the walk-in freezer they see meat hanging from hooks, however, left in the freezer for so long it's become rock solid, luckily nothing that won't thaw, Crafty goes further into the walk-in freezer leaving Picky behind to try and get the large meat off the hooks, she was then interrupted by a loud scream coming from Crafty, Picky reacting quickly rushes over to the source of the scream, Cleaver in hand, when she turns to see where Crafty was she saw Crafty on her knees with her hooves over her mouth looking shocked at something.

Picky approaches her and looks at what Crafty is staring at only to give a shocked expression at the sight, of Bubba’s lifeless body lying against the wall, skull slightly split in half exposing his brain to the air and yet despite the face being split in half he still had that large cartoonish smile on his face.

Crafty was speechless, unable to look away from it even though she desperately wanted to, it seems even though they were in a freezer and despite the cold gnawing at their nerves, the sight before them froze them more efficiently, Picky would eventually snap out of it and help Crafty up “we should go, I don't think either of us wants to stay here, we'll just grab some meat on the way ou-” she was interrupted by the sound of the freezer door slamming shut, both of them hear this and snapping out of it for a moment rush to the door to try and open it, however, it didn't budge, Picky looks through the door window and sees Catnaps face staring back at her.

She immediately bashes against the door and begins to scream “Catnap open this door!” Continuing to bash against the door in an attempt to open it but it was locked, she saw Catnap slowly walk away, Picky continued to scream loudly, echoing through the freezing air, and frost began to slowly creep over the door's small window obscuring the sight of Catnaps retreat, Picky would then slam her shoulder against the door letting out a yelp in pain, Crafty stood frozen, trembling as her breath becomes mist in the freezing cold,

“no no no NO! Crafty! Don't just stand there, help me! We need to get out before we freeze!”

Crafty nods and quickly rushes over to Picky’s side and tries to help, both of them pushing against the door with all their strength, attempting to force it open but it wouldn't budge an inch, sending sharp pains through both of them, this would go on for what felt like multiple hours until Crafty eventually fell against the door, sitting on the floor, tired and feeling her energy depleting fast “I-its no use…Catnap must have locked it or something” Crafty whispered with her voice shaking.

Picky backs up huffing heavily with her grip tightening around the cleaver “That damn cat, he'll pay for this when we get out here!” she huffed, the anger cutting through the fear for a moment, she begins looking around to see if there were any possible ways out.

Crafty looked up at Picky “If we get out of here..” she muttered under her breath as she hugged herself tightly in an attempt to warm herself up.

Picky looks at Crafty “Don't give up so quickly, Dogday wouldn't have wanted us to go out like this, come on, there's gotta be a way out of here” Picky moves further into the freezer to try and find anything that could be used as an escape, a vent to crawl through, anything at all, sadly to no avail.

It wouldn't take long for the hunger to set in and they both feel their stomach begin to growl loudly, “W-when was the last time we ate anything?” Crafty nervously asked.

Picky let out a bitter laugh, her breath visible in the cold “Too long and whatever it was, it sure wasn't enough” Her voice was low at this point, almost defeated but the anger in her eyes refused to die, she looked around the freezer again, her gaze darting to the frozen hanging meat “if we don't get out of here we won't have to worry about food anymore..”

Crafty begins to shake more, and the sound of muffled soft crying can be heard coming from her “P-Picky, I-I don't want to die like this…I really don't want to die, Not like Bubba”

Picky froze at the mention of Bubba, glancing over at the lifeless corpse against the wall, the smile felt almost mocking in this situation, she turned back to Crafty and kneeled down next to her and gripping her shoulder “Listen, we're not going to die..not here..not like this, okay?”

Crafty looks up at her and lets out a small sniffle “But how? The doors are locked and the vents are too small for our large bodies”

 

Picky was unsure of what to say at the moment, her gaze slowly darting around the room, finally landing back on the corpse of their former friend, the corpse hadn't seemed to be there much longer than they had been, meaning it hadn't frozen all the way through yet, Picky couldn't believe what she was about to say but it was life or death, she returns her gaze to Crafty “Crafty, I know we can find a way out, but right now we need to buy ourselves some time, it's already been two days since our last meal”

Crafty nods “Yeah but there's nothing to eat here, all the meat is frozen solid, not even your cleaver could cut through it”

Picky looks back over at Bubba and Crafty does the same and she finally gets what she's hinting at, her eyes widen and she immediately moves away from Picky “ARE YOU CRAZY?! Picky that is our friend!”

Picky flinched at the outburst but held her ground, her grip on her cleaver tightening “I know Crafty! Do you think I want to do this?! I wouldn't offer this unless we're nearing the end of the road” her voice snapping at the unicorn “I..I don't….I don't even want to think about it, but what choice do we have at this point?!” her voice echoed through the freezer and each line laced with pain.

Crafty shook her head violently, her back pressing against the cold wall. “No! No, we can't! There has to be another way!” Her voice cracked. “He… he was our friend. W-we can’t just-”

Picky interrupted, slamming her trotter against the icy floor. “Do you think I don’t know that?!” Her voice cracked as she yelled, “Do you think this is easy for me?!” She looked down, gripping the cleaver and observing the reflection. “But if we don’t… we’re not going to make it” Her voice softened, trembling with emotion.

Crafty stared at Picky, feeling the cold air freezing against her fur. “I… I don’t know if I can do it,” she whispered, her voice shaking as she buried her face in her hooves. “I don’t think I can…”
Picky exhaled shakily and set the cleaver down for a moment, sitting beside Crafty. “I know,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to do it either. But if we don’t, we’re not just going to die—we’re going to freeze, starving and helpless.” She looked over at Bubba’s frozen body, her face filled with grief. “That’s not how Bubba would want for us, I know he’d want us to survive. He’d want us to keep going, once we get out, we find Dogday and we make that cat pay for what he did, okay?”
Crafty glanced at Bubba’s corpse, the grotesque, mocking grin on his face sending chills down her spine. Her stomach churned at the thought of what Picky was suggesting, but deep down, she knew they were out of options. Her gaze flickered back to Picky. “If we… if we do this, how will we live with ourselves?”
Picky hesitated, her expression heavy with guilt. “We’ll have to find a way, we have to” She paused, her voice dropping to a whisper. “For Bubba.”
The two sat in silence for a long moment, the freezing air pressing down on them. Finally, Crafty let out a shaky sigh and nodded, though her eyes stayed fixed on the floor. “O-okay… but… I can’t do it. I just… I can’t.”
Picky placed a trotter on Crafty’s shoulder and squeezed it gently. “You don’t have to. I’ll… I’ll do it.” Her voice was heavy with emotion as she stood, picking up the cleaver again. She turned to face Bubba’s lifeless body, her breath visible as she exhaled sharply. “I’m sorry, Bubba,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “I’m so, so sorry…”
Crafty turned away, covering her ears as Picky raised the cleaver. The sound of metal cutting through flesh echoed through the freezer, merging with Picky’s quiet sobs, she wanted to stop so desperately but Picky forced herself to keep going.
When it was done, Picky staggered back, trembling as she dropped the cleaver. “It’s… it’s done,” she said, her voice hollow. She turned to Crafty, her expression a mixture of guilt and determination. “We’ll… we’ll survive, Crafty. I promise.”
Crafty didn’t respond, her face buried in her hooves as silent sobs wracked her body. Picky sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. The two of them sat together in the freezing cold, clinging to each other as they faced the grim reality of what they’d done, they quickly began to eat the still-cold meat before it froze, each bite almost causing them to throw up, but they forced through it.
Finishing the last bite, both of them immediately try to find a way to escape, feeling their body given slight strength from just eating, but the strength is short-lived as they quickly become tired again, their bodies slowing down from the freezing cold temperatures, they both lay down against the freezing cold wall, feeling their skin slightly stick to the icy wall.
“I-i’m tired Picky, i-it hurts t-to m-move…” Crafty was shivering and her voice felt like it was about to give out, Picky laid still “Crafty…I-I don’t know if we can get out..there is nothing left to eat…Crafty I’m…I’m sorry”
They both slowly began to pass out, they were sure they were both about to die, and their eyes felt heavy until they both passed out.
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An unknown amount of time would pass, as if by miracle Picky coughs herself awake, it was still freezing cold, as her stomach growls again, slowly getting up, her back still slightly stuck to the cold wall, she had lost feeling in her back, her nose picks up a scent, something that smelled, good, she moves towards the source of the smell only to find a large cooked chicken drumstick, which had been left near the door, she walks towards the door and tries opening it, it wouldn't budge, she tries desperately to open the door, her weak arm slamming against the door, she wouldn't try for long though, her body was far too weak to continue, she looks down at the chicken leg, there was still steam coming off of it, her stomach loudly growled as she stared at it, she didn't think and immediately fell to her knees to begin eating, completely forgetting about anyone else, it was at this moment Crafty who had been awoken from the sound of Picky's slamming, made her way to the same smell Picky had smelled, only to find her hunched over and eating something.

“What are you doing?” Crafty immediately confronts Picky, who stops dead in her tracks and sees there is almost nothing left for Crafty, she quickly turns to face Crafty “i-i I'm sorry, I was just so hungry and I-”

Crafty cuts her off with an aggressive tone “So you've been hiding food from me? where did you get that from?!”
Picky immediately tries to deny it “N-no, I haven't, I found this when I woke up an-”

Crafty once again cuts her off “Liar! I know you're hiding food, we didn't have to eat Bubba did we?, you just didn't want to give me any did you?, you just wanted to hog it all!”

Growing annoyed Picky clutches the cleaver once again “Crafty, If you let me explain I can-” Crafty's eyes narrow, her breathing erratic as the tension between the two builds. "Explain what, Picky? How you've been lying to me while I was starving? How you've been keeping food for yourself?!" Her voice cracked in frustration.
Picky tightened her grip on the cleaver, her own patience dwindling, "I just told you, Crafty, I found it like this when I woke up! I don't know where it came from, but I was starving. And I was starving!”
“And I'm not?!” Crafty shouted loudly
"We're supposed to be in this together, Picky. You said we have each other's backs, remember? I knew I shouldn't have stayed with you, I knew you were just gonna hoard all the food for yourself, you selfish bitch!”
Picky steps back slightly at the comment she grips the plate like a frisbee “Fine here you can have the rest of it!” She throws the plate at her face, Crafty lets out a loud yelp in pain as it bounces off her head and causes her to bleed a bit, Picky realizes what she did and quickly comes over “Crafty I'm sor-” When she gets close Crafty grabs her pendant and headbutts her, nearly stabbing her with her horn, Picky backs up holding her ground but covering her now bleeding snout, Crafty gets up and immediately tackles Picky to the ground, they would wrestle each other in a blind rage, the fight would last for an hour with Crafty surprisingly getting the upper hand, on top of Picky she begins to punch the pink pig in the face until she bled, blood would cover her hooves as her blind rage continued to cause her to swing harder and harder, without a second thought, Picky accidentally grabs the cleaver and swings it into Crafty's head, the punching stopped and Picky only then noticed what she had done “C-Crafty?” Picky shakily asked, her eyes widening in shock at what she had just done
Crafty goes limp, slumping over Picky as blood begins to drip onto the cold frozen floor, Picky's breaths came in ragged gasps as she sees the unicorn's lifeless body fall over to the side with a loud thud, upon hitting the ground, the cleaver remained embedded in her skull, glinting faintly in the dim freezer light, it all went quiet only noise being the hum of the freezer, Picky quickly gets up and scoots over to Crafty's corpse, her trotters covering her shocked face “n-no, no, no” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the shallow breathing “i-i didn't..I didn't mean to!” she was unsure of what to do, she slowly begins to try and reason with herself “you didn't, you didn't give me a reason..I..you were going to kill me, this was self-defence” she would mutter to herself but she still felt almost nothing but guilt wash over her.
The cold was relentless and continued to bite into her skin, she quickly realized the fight took a lot of energy out of her, and her body was now weaker than ever, she glanced over at the door…still locked, then down at what was left of the drumstick which was now tainted with Crafty's blood, the silence was deafening, she backs away from Crafty and pulled her knees to her own chest, staring at Crafty's lifeless body, blood oozing onto the floor, she saw her own reflection in the blood coated cleaver “no, no, no, I didn't want this!” She covers her head, burying it in her knees “W-why! Why?!, I should have given her the…the” She froze as a familiar noise returns, a loud growl which quietly echoed through the freezer, she looks up from her knees and back at the corpse.
Desperation would already begin to claw at her mind, as it now felt even colder then before, she looked at the cleaver still lodged in the colorful mane.
“N-no I can't..” she muttered again shaking her head, she tried to look away but her mind almost forced her to look back, despite her own rejections, the hunger gnaws at her insides, a primal force that couldn't be ignored, her mouth slightly watered, she quickly wipes her mouth “NO!” she tries to stop thinking about it but she could feel her hunger getting stronger until the laughter was interrupted, she heard something else, she heard…laughter.
She turns her head to the door to see the familiar feline silhouette in the small glass window, the large toothless grin and white pupils staring at her, laughing…at her, she covers her ears but it wasn't enough, she felt her own sanity slowly begin to slip, the laughing, the hunger, the guilt and unrelenting cold dragged her deeper into despair until eventually something snapped, she slowly looked over at Crafty, scooting back over to her lifeless body, slowly reaching and grabbing the cleaver tightly, she slowly reaches down and closes Crafty's eyelids “i-im sorry” she whispered before she stood up and with one clean yoink, rips the cleaver out of her skull, the cleaver had blood frozen to the steel, as Catnap continued to watch he was shocked to then have a cleaver thrown near inches from his face, only stopped by the window, this would actually cause Catnap to flinch, Picky rips the cleaver back out of the window and stares into the cat's eyes with the same toothless grin Catnap had “if there is another life beyond this…I promise you Catnap, I. Will. Make. You. Pay” she stated bluntly as she puts the cleaver to her throat and stares right into the large felines eyes, which didn't seem to give a reaction, with a visibly shaken arm, she slits her own throat in one swift motion, with blood splattered all over the glass window and covers it completely.
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Crafty would wake up with a jolt in bed, tears covering her face, Crafty looks around immediately with her heart racing, more tears slowly drip down her cheeks, she puts her knees up to her chest and begins to cry in her bed, feeling guilt wash over her from what she did.

A little later Picky would also awake, however, her reaction to the memory was a bit different, she slowly looked at her trotters with her vision still slightly blurred, she looked over into her kitchen and through the doorway she could see a large cleaver, dangling on the wall, she gets up and slowly leaves the comfort of her bed, almost as if being called too she walks towards the kitchen, her trotters feeling heavier with each step for some reason, lifting the cleaver from its rack, and staring at it, thinking about what she had said to Catnap in her final moments, thinking back all she has done so far was feed him a poisoned sandwich, she wouldn't eventually mumble to herself “maybe I could do something a bit more..permanent~”
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Notes:

not sure if this came out good or not, My brain has been acting weird,

Chapter 24: Chapter 18: Falling

Chapter 18: Falling
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Closer to the middle of the valley, a large carrot shaped home sits planted firmly in the ground, in the bedroom a green rabbit shifts in her bed just like all the others
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Once again we return to Playcare, this time it has been a total year since the Hour of joy had happened, Playcare has become practically abandoned, only a few critters remain still alive within the factory, each one unaware of the others, among the other buildings in this large facility underground once filled with hope and laughter, was the school house, inside a green blur zips by rooms, doorways, corridors and the now abandoned classrooms which now reeked of death, over the speakers a female voice spoke in friendly yet unsettling tone “This is miss delight speaking, please excuse the interruption, this is an announcement to remind certain students not to run in the hallways! May I also remind everyone not to steal food from the school cafeteria please and thank you and have a delightful day!”
Despite this in the cafeteria a certain rabbit was loading up on supplies, moving so fast she didn't even have time to check if the items she was snagging were expired or not, whatever she could fit in her small child-sized backpacks she would stuff into, carrying around multiple small backpacks around her waist, she would quickly make her way to the exit only to find the way pathway blocked by a metal mesh gate which had lowered down, it seems her usual way out is a no go, seeing no way under or around it she decided she would have to take an alternative route and ran the other way, as she did the speakers went off again and the same female voice spoke “Attention, sorry once again for the interruption, this is miss delight once again but may Hoppy Hopscotch please report to my office, thank you!”
The ask went in one ear and out the other as Hoppy continued to find one of the alternative exits to the school, luckily she has memorized the school layout quite well due to her many past scavenging, she had succeeded many times in the past and was not about to let this be her first failure, as she ran she saw one of the large gates slowly begin to lower to block her way, as she saw a desk and chair set outside a class, as she dashed by she quickly grabs the chair and tosses it right under the closing gate which held the gate open just long enough to allow her to slide under the gate right before the cheap plastic chair gets flattened under the gate.
She gets up dusting herself with a huff of slight exhaustion “nice try teach” she mumbled before continuing to run, knowing she was a few corners away from the exit the speakers go off once more “Hoppy, you know Catnap won't like what you're doing right now”
Hoppy continued to run not caring about what was being said to her, getting to the final corner she turned and stop in her tracks when she sees the exit door being blocked off by a female figure, standing around the same size as her, blond hair and rosy red cheeks, with a large v-shaped smile on her face, wearing a large red skirt, yellow undershirt and blue tank top on top of it with the image of an apple on it, in her hand she held a crudely constructed mace consisting of a ruler forced into a large rubber band ball with about a bakers dozens worth of sharp pencils forced into it, Hoppy backs up a slight at the sight of her former teacher “you always were bad at following orders weren't you hopscotch?”
Hoppy continued to back up slowly, not taking her eyes off of her, but she accidentally stumbles over a toy which was left out in the hallway, causing her to momentarily take her eyes off of Miss Delight in-order to make sure she had proper footing, when she looked back up, Miss Delight was much closer, with the mace high up ready to swing at her, she ducts nearly dodging the crazed teachers weapon, she quickly tries to disarm her, grabbing her weapon as Miss Delight continues to keep a firm grip on it, only letting go when Hoppy elbows her right in the face, she lets out a groan in pain as she backs up holding her face, when she looks back up at Hoppy her face was partly cracked, Hoppy grins as she holds the mace in her paw, Miss delight would then proceed to rush at her only to get hit in the face with the mace, causing porcelain chunks of her face and broken pencil tips to go flying all over the floor and she falls onto the ground seemingly unconscious, Hoppy drops the now broken weapon onto the ground and run past her to leave the school, she makes her way to a bridge hanging above a large hole that was so deep it was impossible to see the bottom, continuing on the bridge she gets to a doorway with the words ‘restricted access’ written on the top of it.
Knowing this way was unusual territory for her she would need to proceed with caution, the door needed a battery to be opened, looking around she sees a battery on the right side of the bridge, sitting on a small balcony with a metal door, she temporarily takes off her bags and gets on top of the railing of the bridge, she takes a deep breath and jumps with all her strength.
She lands on the small balcony accompanying the battery which she would pick up and perform the same jump back, however the added weight causes her to land right on the edge of the bridge, her back rubbing against the railing, catching herself from falling backwards into the abyss, she sighs a breath of relief before walking up to he door and putting the battery in, she puts her bags back on and continues, walking through she makes her way to a large cave system, she almost froze in awh of the place, large stalagmites and stalactites covering the place, catwalks high up above her, she never saw anything like it, she had grown used to the typical metal and factory appearance of Playcare it was weird to see something natural.
She shakes her head snapping out of it as she continues to make her way down the railing, jumping from platform to platform via the broken catwalks, she continued moving her way through the cave system, her every step and hop creating loud metal echos within the wide and open cave, focusing on every single jump in order not to miss any, despite this and even with her lack of fear when it comes to height, for the first time she felt a bit nervous about her jumps, the floor beneath each jump was decorated with sharp stalagmites, all it would take is one misstep and she wouldn't live to hop another day.
She would be nearing the exit until in the corner of her eyes she sees something that caught her interest, looking over the railing she saw a light coming from what looked like a pile of toys, she couldn't get a good look at it from her distance and her curiosity got the better of her as she found a safe way to jump down, landing with a splash in a puddle at the bottom of the cave, she stood up and slowly moved to approach the source of light, however when she got closer her eyes widened at what she saw.
A large sculpture created from dead minis, scrap metal and human remains, as she got closer the smell was what got to her second, it still reeked of rotting flesh and oil from the still dirty scrap metal, she nearly gagged on the smell and sight but she couldn't look away, as she observed it up and down she saw one plushie among the rest that stood out to her, she got closer and pulls out a small plushie of Bobby, the ruined and dirty plushy went limp in her paws, it's stuffing was spilling out from multiple holes including one where one of the button eyes would be, Hoppy looks at it for a moment before gently hugging it ignoring the smell “I promise Bobby, I'll find you, just…hang on whenever you are” she whispers to herself softly as she stood there hugging the inanimate plushy for a moment.
It was only interrupted by the sound of a footstep coming from behind her, she quickly snaps her neck back to see Catnap standing there, looking as if he was about to pounce at her, Hoppy quickly reacts by tearing off a random metal piece from the shrine and throw it at Catnap, dazing him momentarily allowing her to run past him and jump her way back up to the catwalks, she continued to run as she hears Catnap also make his way onto the catwalks and began to chase her, his every step causing the entire thing to shake under his weight, Hoppy continued to run for dear life, with all her strength she forced her legs to run faster then she had ever made them run before, jumping from platform to platform once again to try and escape him.
She would feel the catwalk stop shaking suddenly, when she looks back she saw nothing behind her, thinking she had outrun him she turns her head back around forward she once again sees Catnap pouncing in front of her, she tries to stop herself from running into him but her momentum was too much and she couldn't stop herself from tripping and falling in front of the large purple feline, Catnap lifts his paw and almost as if planned, perfectly stomps his paw down right on top of Hoppy's leg, both of them hearing a loud crack and Hoppy lets out a loud scream in pain that echoed throughout the entire cave, Catnap wouldn't move again, instead slowly pressing his paw down on her already broken leg, Hoppy would continue to scream feeling her own vocal cords shredding which only added to the immense pain she was in, within the mix of the sound of bones cracking and blood curdling scream she could hear a noise coming from Catnap, a noise that sounded like, laughing, trying to think fast with her body coursing with adrenaline she grabs big rock which was sitting within arm's reach of her and throws it, striking the cat right in the eye, causing them to back up in pain letting out a loud screech, Hoppy quickly scoots back and uses the railing to get up and run hop the opposite way, trying not to apply pressure on her leg, it wouldn't take long before she heard the catwalks shake again from Catnap chasing her.
She would manage to make her way back to bridge leading back into the school, however when she got through the door she sees Miss Delight standing in the way back into the school, having her face still completely shattered and repaired her mace, she looks back through the doorway back to the cave and sees Catnap quickly rushing towards her, she was sandwiched between Catnap and Miss Delight and was in no condition to fight either, she quickly tries to look for another way and sees the balcony where she got the battery from, noticing the door which she hadn't paid attention too earlier, not seeing another choice she gets back on top of the railing and quickly jumps without thinking, putting her arms out incase she would need to grab the railing but unfortunately due to her neglecting to take off the heavy bags this time and the less power behind her jump due to only jumping with one leg she is unable to make it all the way, time felt as if it slowed down as she sees her life flash before her eyes as her paws just barely miss the balcony and she begins to plummet, falling down into the deep abyss beneath her, letting out a loud scream as she falls downward the last thing she sees is Catnap looking over the railing at her until…it all went black
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She wakes up with her paw to her chest, soaked in sweat and tears, she felt her heart racing and thumping loudly within her chest, she was breathing heavily and rapidly, feeling as if it was beating at a million beats per minute, she slowly begins to calm herself down and slow down her breathing until it felt normal again, she sat in bed frozen for minutes, after having slowed her breathing down she slowly gets out of bed and onto her feet, falling back onto the bed as they wobbled and quivered from fear under her weight, she massages her thigh slightly to try and relax them, feeling the shaking slow down until she was finally able to get up.
She slowly makes her way to the bathroom and pours herself a glass of water, taking a long gulp of it, feeling the cold water slowly move down her throat and after finishing taking a loud sigh, looking at herself in the mirror before slowly drifting her eyes to the corner to look at a photo of Bobby in the top right corner of the mirror, after staring at it she backs up from the sink, she walks out back into her bedroom and steps up to her window, looking over the valley she looks at the other critters homes, until landing on the tall cat tower, noticing it was quite a fall, if somebody was to be pushed off of it, it would hurt quite a bit...she stares out the window in silence for quite a while, eventually making up her mind about something, quickly grabbing her scarf which was hanging on the corner of her bed and goes to rush downstairs and out the front door.

Notes:

Not a big fan of how this one turned out but I still wanted to get it out, I wonder where she's going?

On a side note guess who came up with a lovely list on ways to hurt the cat >:3

Chapter 25: Chapter 19: Am I alone?

Chapter 19: Am I alone?
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Drip…drip…drip, the sound continued, the leaking water pipe has been dropping like that since day one, How long had it been? Days? Weeks? Years? She had lost track so long ago that time felt as if it moved in slow motion, she missed being able to move, she missed her old body despite the fact she barely remembers it, all she remembers is she could move in it, that's all that was important to her, she had been laying down on the ground for so long without another interaction with a human, toy or critter that she started making up conversations in her own head.
“I miss them…”
“Yeah me too”
“Do you remember what it was like before? Being able to move?”
“Do you?”
“No…no I don't”
“...do you think they're okay? The others”
“I don't know..”
She doesn't remember the last time she had eaten or drank something, she was unsure how she was still alive, it feels like she should have died from starvation a long time ago, yet nothing, this doesn't mean she doesn't feel it however, the hunger felt like it got worse each passing day, it eventually got to the point where she would hear and feel it every few minutes, it has gotten to the point where every time she goes to sleep she wonders if this will be it for her, the final time she rests her eyes before finally moving on, it was her only distraction from the deafening silence surrounding her, she moves her eyes around the room she had become very familiar too, her eyes drift around until landing on the door, she was unsure why she even bothered to even look at it anymore, even if she could move, there's a chance the door would be locked anyways.
She felt her eyes grow heavy once more, not fighting it she would begin to close her eyes, wanting to fall asleep, at least in whatever dream would await her, there was a chance she could move in it, she felt herself slowly lose consciousness once again, it wouldn't take long until it all went dark….knock knock
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Her eyes sprung open, she was staring back at her ceiling, she quickly moves her limbs to make sure she still could, bringing her paw up to her face, she was relieved to see her red arm and pinkish paw able to move, just another nightmare, she let out a sigh of relief, about to go back to sleep until she heard it again, Knock Knock, the sound of knocking continued, she slowly sat up and looks around to find the source, waiting for the noise to return she hears it again coming from downstairs, she gets out of bed, moving her way down the stairs and into the living room, Knock Knock, “ok I'm coming” she said out loud to reassure whomever was at her door and to hopefully stop the knocking, reaching her door she would immediately open it, not caring to check who it was, finding Hoppy standing at her door, shivering and covered in snow from how long she had been standing outside and knocking.

“Sorry for waking you but can I stay with you tonight? I had a nightmare” Hoppy nervously asked.

“Hoppy?! How long have you been standing out here?!?” she loudly asked, before immediately bringing her inside not letting her stand out in the snow like that, dusting her off “What were you thinking are you trying to freeze to your second death?” She exclaimed immediately with a worried and almost angry motherly tone, feeling her cold fur and shivering body, she cups her paws within her own in order to warm them up a bit.

“I'm sorry Bobby, I just-” she was cut off by Bobby still being worried

“Damn right you better be sorry, I swear if you get a cold from this I am gonna!” She looks up and notices Hoppy's face looked as if it was moments away from crying, tears were already welling up “h-hey” she gently puts a paw on her cheek and lifts her head up to look at her “I'm sorry okay? I shouldn't have yelled" she uses her thumb to gently wipe the forming tear off of Hoppy's freezing face “Come on, let's get you warmed up” she guides Hoppy to the couch, making sure she sat down before hurriedly going to grab a blanket, she returns and drapes the blanket over her.

“t-thanks Bobby” Hoppy gently whispers to her as she grips the blanket in her still shivering state, Bobby notices this and sits down next to her, pulling Hoppy's paws back into her own to try and warm them up “you don't need to thank me Hoppy..you're ice cold and I wasn't going to leave you to freeze, I already know how stubborn you are and you would just stand outside all night” she playfully comments to try and lighten the mood, Hoppy didn't seem to react to it though.

“Why were you even standing out there?” Bobby asked continuing to try and warm her up.

Hoppy stared down at their paws “I-i had a nightmare, I wanted to ask if I could stay here tonight” she admitted again, her voice was slightly above a whisper.

Bobby also not wanting to be alone tonight after her own nightmare she gently smiles and presses her head against her forehead “of course you can you big dummy, you didn't have to stand out there to ask me that, you have a key to my house”

“I didn't want to bother you incase you were still mad at me” she murmurs

Bobby backs up slightly just enough to give her a deadpan look “and you think turning into a Hoppy Hopsicle wouldn't make me mad?”

Hoppy finally giggles a tiny bit “I guess I didn't think about that, that was kind of dumb wasn't it?”

Bobby kisses her forehead “extremely but I'm used to it, you'll always be my big dumb bunny and I wouldn't have it any other way”

Hoppy smiles and the two sat in silence for a short bit with only the sound of the howling snow storm outside before Bobby spoke up again “Do you want to talk about the nightmare?”

Hoppy's smile slowly vanishes as her paws begin to quiver again this time from thinking about the nightmare, she thinks of how Bobby would react to it, discussing with herself if she should tell her but in the end deciding not to say anything “n-not really, I think I just want to cuddle for tonight”

Bobby nods and scoots closer and pulls her into her warm and soft embrace the smell of roses was intoxicating “wish granted my bunny” she playfully responds as Hoppy returns the hug, both of them having missed this for a long time, they both begin to drift off to sleep in each others arms, both with a smile on their face.

 

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Notes:

I wanted this chapter to be a bit more wholesome then my other ones, so here you go! :3

Chapter 26: Chapter 20: First Apology

Chapter 20: First apology

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As the sun slowly begins to rise once again, bathing the valley in its sunlight, returning to the cat tower, within the bedroom a small pile of snow had formed on top of a shivering critter, he slowly begins to awake, his body still shivering and shaking from the cold, his bodies reaction was to crawl out of the way of the snow, he makes his way into the corner of the room, hiding between the broken closet and two corner walls, sitting up against it, he curled up bringing his knees to his chins and wrapping his tail around himself, as tightly as his weak muscles could manage, his eyes drift to his arm, his purple fur still partially covered in dried blood from last night.

He slowly brushes the fur aside looking at the cut marks that it was hiding, he would stare at the cuts for a few seconds before brushing his fur back to cover it, he lays his head down against his knees, still trying to keep the weight off his broken leg, he remembers today was supposed to be Hoppy's turn to ‘watch’ him, he shutters trying to imagine what's she going to do to him this time, his mind racing with horrible ideas of what he was going to have to endure today, maybe she'll break his still good leg ‘at least you'll know how Dogday felt…’ he thought to himself, filling him with guilt as his tail tightens again and tears begin to well at the memories of what he did to Dogday.

This moment of self-loathing was interrupted as his ears flinch at the far too familiar sound of the downstairs door opening followed with footsteps making their way up the stairs, all he could do was continue to huddle in the corner, fear continuing to build in his body and his legs begin to quiver as if knowing they were going to be broken as he hears the footsteps approaching the bedroom door, the door opens as Catnap closes his eyes and buried his face into his knees, not wanting to see whatever Hoppy was going to use this time to hurt him, he hears the footsteps approach him in the corner, he braces but instead of anything hitting him, he hears the sound of somebody sitting down with a slight groan.

Confused he nervously opened his eyes and sees Hoppy sitting across the room from him, on her back was a red backpack covered in pink hearts, with her arms crossed, she immediately noticed this and rolls her eyes before speaking in an annoyed tone “oh quit your whining, I'm not gonna do anything, your lucky my girlfriend wants to protect you for some unknown reason..” she blurted out while visibly annoyed.

It wouldn't take long for the room to get extremely quiet, the tension in the air growing thick enough to cut with a butter knife, she would refuse to look in the direction of the purple feline, however eventually Catnap would scoot closer to her, noticing this she immediately raises her voice, not quite a yell but a voice of clear warning “Do not test me freak, if you so much as let me feel your breath I will break your other leg” Catnap freezes and stops moving towards her, sitting down in the center of the room where he had been stopped, his ears lowered looking towards her, waiting for her to turn her attention towards him so he could sign to her, he sat quietly and patently, bringing his tail to his paws to fidget with nervously while he waited.

The room became silent once more, as both of the critters in the room sat, when Hoppy started letting out bored sighs, then moving her leg slightly, then her arm, it was obvious she was not used to sitting still and quiet for this long of time as she felt her energy rush around her nerves, overcharging her like a battery, she let out another sigh and stared at the cat, Catnap quickly noticing this and was about to sign but was interrupted by Hoppy speaking first “Well…Do you…wanna eat or something?” Not understanding and slightly nervous about if she was going to poison him like Picky he begrudgingly shook his head.

Hoppy takes off her backpack and opens it “suit yourself, I guess” she digs around inside and pulls out a lunchbox, opening it she grabs a thermas and a bowl, pouring it out as the warm smell of home cooked carrot-thyme soup fills the room, Catnaps stomach immediately growls at this, so loud Hoppy was able to hear it, she didn't care as she continues to bring out a spoon and eat, sipping up the delicious meal, however as she ate she had noticed Catnap staring at the food silently, his stomach growling a few more times as a result, she puts the spoon back in the soup and gently puts the soup bowl near him, Catnap looks at the bowl then back at her quickly signing <”what are you doing?”>

She would respond quickly “Just eat, Bobby would murder me if she knew I ate a hot meal inches away from you” hearing this he responds <”aren't you hungry? You packed this for yourself”> Hoppy growing annoyed at the questioning responds again “I can just eat when I get home, just eat before I change my mind”

 

Catnap looks down at the meal before slowly picking it up and begins quickly putting it away, he had thought the canned beef stew was delicious but this had made it taste like nothing, the rich carrot flavor mixed with the herbs and spices caused an explosion of flavor in his mouth, he would finish it without a drop left in the bowl within the span of a few seconds, once he finished he gently put the bowl back, near Hoppy.

She chuckled a bit at Catnap eating so quickly “Wow you really were hungry, you haven't really eaten anything have you?”

Catnap shook his head slightly

“don't expect this to be normal, I'm probably gonna hand my shifts over to Kickin or Picky, I know they've been dying to get more time with you” she said mockingly with a sly smile on her face, to her she was only slightly joking and wanted to see another scared reaction out of the cat, if she couldn't hurt him physically, she could just scare him she thought, but what she got was not what she expected, instead of seeming scared or worried he just, sat there, his ears drooping down again, as he slightly nodded in reply.

She would try again this time turning it up a bit “or maybe I'll give it to Dogday, I know he's been talking planning something big” lying because she hadn't actually spoken to Dogday about Catnap in a while, but again, nothing just a saddened cat nodding in silent agreement “Are you even listening to me?”

Catnap looks up and nods again

“Aren't you gonna, try and say something to stop me from doing that?”

He shakes his head before signing <”I understand”>

For a moment Hoppy's smug expression falters, not getting the reaction she was expecting/wanting, she was expecting something along like fear, begging or even him to somehow muster the strength to attack her and give her proof he was a monster but instead she just saw a defeated and broken cat, looking like he was barely even trying to hold himself together anymore, just accepting the fate she was telling him.

As she was thinking she sees Catnaps paws move to sign again <”if you are going too, I'm just glad you and Bobby could finally patch things up, I'm sorry for hurting your relationship”> Hoppy's eyes widen at the statement causing her to clench her fist in frustration before raising it about to punch him, Catnap quickly flinches covering himself and bracing himself but Hoppy stops realizing she would just piss off Bobby by punching Catnap, she loudly groans again before sitting back down, Catnap retracting his paws slowly seeing she wasn't going to hit him “You're damn right you better be sorry…” she stated bluntly causing Catnap to hang his head down.

The room fell silent again after that, not as long as the last one however as Catnap would sign again <”I really am sorry”> Hoppy looks up at him with a still annoyed expression but in the back of her mind something was brewing.

<”I'm sorry for hurting your relationship, I'm sorry for killing you, I'm sorry for…”> his hands were getting shaky as tears rushed down his face and landed on his frozen paws, Hoppy watched silently with Catnap eventually finishing his statement.

<”I'm sorry to everyone for ever showing up, maybe if I never even became a smiling critter, I wouldn't have been taken to the other world and maybe, you all would still be happy and alive”> after saying that he curled back up in shame and guilt.

Hoppy was silent for a while at what was just said, thoughts bounces around in her mind, this wasn't the entertainment she had wanted to get out of all this, she would watch him curled up on the floor shivering and whimpering like a kicked animal, she felt anger building and she wanted to punch him but now, she wasn't even sure why, was it because she hated him or…was it because something else?, a feeling turned in her gut, the feeling felt so familiar yet she wasn't sure it was the right one, continuing to stare at the broken critter before her she would try to remind herself that she was supposed to be staring at the same monster that she saw as she dropped to her death, the same one that broke her leg, that same monster…..but it wasn't what she saw.

She wanted to yell at him, scream, berate, throw every reason in the book stating that he had no right to be sorry right now and that he had done so many terrible things to not just her but everyone here, but at the same time, a part of her felt disgusted at the thought of yelling at him for some reason.

She shifted her weight, her fingers drumming against her thigh, looking at the way he had curled up, trembling, whimpering, barely able to keep himself together, it filled her with an uneasy feeling in her chest, she hated the way she felt in this moment, almost as if…she was the one in the wrong here, but that can't be right, she was only getting revenge on something that would do the same thing to her and has, she was not in the wrong…right?

As she contemplated the thought, the room would go quiet once again, this time the longest, she would continue to think about what had happened to her, what the others had told her about what happened to them, she knows what she saw, she remembers that unmoving sinister smile, the nightmares, the things he had down…but this was not what she was looking at, anger kept brewing before she finally let out a frustrated breath and muttered.

“Shut up…”

Catnap flinched slightly but didn't argue

Hoppy ran her paw through her fur, her ears twitching as her mind raced and she tried to sort the chaotic mess of thoughts rattling around in her head, she didn't like Catnap, she knew she shouldn't feel bad for him, but she couldn't help but feel bad for the critter she saw before her, small, trembling, crying, she didn't feel any of the satisfaction she had wanted from torturing him and it had gotten to the point she's not even sure she would want too.

She sighed and shook her head again “you're so goddamn pathetic”

Catnap only nodded weakly as if he agreed.

“STOP AGREEING! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO AGREE WITH ME, YOU STUPID CAT!” she let out a loud yell, growing more annoyed at the fact he just kept agreeing with her.

“Hit me, slash me, do literally anything to show you're still a monster!” She continued to yell but Catnap just remained curled up tearing up even more now, Hoppy still enraged at him, suddenly questioned why her chest felt tight as a response to seeing him cry.

“stop crying!” she yelled, only causing him to cry even more, burying his face in his knees.

She exhaled sharply through her nose, rubbing her temples, as if trying to physically push away the mess of thoughts in her head, debating if she should just leave early, she technically didn't physically hurt Catnap, she could just tell her that much but then she remembers the conversation they had had this morning, her girlfriends soft tone speaking to her about Catnap.

“He's trying, even if he doesn't think he deserves it” was what Bobby said to her before she went to watch Catnap, Hoppy lets out a tired and exhausted sigh before speaking again “ok I'll stop yelling can you just stop crying now?” She spoke in a still slightly annoyed tone as she sits back with her arms crossed, Catnap's crying had reduced to sniffling as he slowly stops crying.

Hoppy thinks about what Bobby said, it would lead to a gateway in her mind leading down memory lane, remembering a few bits of the past before letting out a slight chuckle, a sudden change to the anger.

Catnap would remain curled up until his ears flinches at the sudden sound of chuckling “do you remember when you first joined us?”

Catnap looks up at her, confused.

“I remember when Dogday first introduced you to the group, I vividly remember because you were the only one who he didn't immediately invite to hang out with us because you were still scared of strangers, so he would just spend time with you instead of being leader, heck he actually gave me the role of leader while he was gone..” she continues to make light chuckles “Kickin was beyond pissed, I still recall his stupid jealous face”

Catnap was more confused now but felt slightly more guilty at the thought he was keeping him from hanging out with everyone else.

“Yet even then, when he hung out with us he just kept yapping about how cool you were, when you finally did join us, I was a bit disappointed…but Dogday cared a lot about you so we gave you a chance” Hoppy smile vanished.

<”I'm sorry for letting you down”> Catnap signed still curled up, Hoppy read his still shaking paws before looking down at his broken leg, then back up at his face before speaking again “do you actually think you deserve any form of forgiveness after what you did?” Catnap almost immediately shook his head in response “well then why do you keep trying to apologize?” after that, the room went silent, no response.

She looks outside and sees the sun was going down, she packs up her backpack and puts it back on, preparing to leave, not wanting to stick around much longer.

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Meanwhile Kickin was in the midst of taking yet another shower, as his feathers still slightly stank of gasoline and lighter fluid due to his last encounter with Dogday, as he scrubbed himself he mumbled under his breath “stupid Dogday protecting that stupid cat” he soon finishes his shower, pulling the curtains aside and grabbing a towel hanging from the wall to dry himself off, sniffing himself, he still slightly smelled it but it was not as strong anymore which was the best he could ask for he supposed, he puts on his pendant before hearing a knock at his door, not having time to style his feathers he grabs a hair tie and up the feathers on his head so they don't cover his face, before going to answer the door, before he answered he was speaking to whomever he thought was behind the door “Dogday if it's you, I don't wanna hear your apologie right now, so you better just lea-” he opens the door to see Picky standing there confused “did I come at a bad time?”

Feeling slightly embarrassed he fakes a cough before speaking “oh, nothing sorry Picky, I was just…come in”

Picky does so “still washing your feathers?” She remarked “yep, yet I still kinda like gas” he replied “so any reason you decided to check out Casa Kickin?” Picky cringed a bit at the statement “please never say that again”

“Hmm Nah my Casa my rules” he humorously replied to an unamused Picky “you just learned that word from Bubba didn't you? Whatever we're getting off track, the reason I came here is, I think I figured out how to bypass this places immortality~” she says smugly before pulling out one of Bubba's journals and putting it down on the table.

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Chapter 27: Chapter 21: First Encounters

Chapter 21: First Encounters

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Morning would soon show, the sun rises over the hills and shines down onto the valley, the light reflecting off the white snow that covered it, the sky was a bright blue shade only accompanied by the few pure white clouds, appearing like incomplete spots on a canvas, the most of the critters were beginning to wake up, the only that did not were already awake, Dogday was one of the ‘Lucky’ few who managed to get some sleep last night, his eyes slowly opening to his wooden ceiling, he was hesitate to get out of bed immediately, laying in the silence of his room, staring at the ceiling which he had awoken too, he wouldn’t hear anything coming from his now shattered wall clock, not so much as a tick, only his own silence of mind kept him company, he still couldn’t get the thought of what he did to Catnap out of his mind, at the time it felt right but now he’s just left with so many questions, one of them being wether or not it was actually Catnap that attacked him in the forest, or something else, he would feel almost annoyed at the fact he was feeling a slight sense of guilt.

‘Should I apologize?’ he thought to himself shortly after massaging his nose feeling a headache slowly begin to come on from his overthinking.

‘Ugh how did I even end up here’ he thought as he tried to look for the answer in his own memories, going all the way back to the first day he ever met Catnap…

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It was a warm Saturday morning, as to be expected most kids were trying to make the best of their short time away from school, once again Dogday was one of those lucky ones, at the time he was only in the first grade, on this day he had woken up early and made his way to his favourite playground when he got there it was empty not a single other child insight which was once again expected, he knew that his group of friends were going to be there later on in the day so he was simply going to enjoy having the entire playground all to himself, first he tried the swings, normally he would get a push from one of his parents or another critter but since he was alone he couldn’t get such help, he sat on the swing seat and waited to start moving expecting just to start moving on its own like it usually did but it didn’t move an inch, confused he struggles, moving his body in random ways to try to get it to work but all he got was the squeaks of the hinges and chains.

“it's broken” he says out loud to himself before getting off, looking around the playground for something else to try, deciding next to just go down the slide, quickly running to the top and going down the large red slide, once he got to the bottom he ran back up to go down again, then again, and again, and again.

Wanting to try something else he decided he was gonna play his favourite game, Fetch! But how was he gonna play without another person to throw the ball? He stood there thinking before his eyes spotted the seesaw, and then he got an idea, putting his favourite ball onto the downside, using a stick to keep it from rolling away, climbing on top of the slide stairs getting ready to jump, but before he did he yells out loud “Fetch!” he jumps onto the high side and catapults the ball all the way into the forest near the playground, Dogday chases after the ball afterwards, eventually the ball's momentum stops just a little bit shy into the forest, Dogday picks up the ball with a large smile on his face.

Ready to go again but before he ran back his ears flinched at the sound of grass rustling, curious Dogday goes to the source of the sound, leading him to a large tree, as he got closer he smelled the scent of lavender, his ears pick up the slight sound of sniffling and crying, he peaks his head around the tree and sees a much smaller purple feline sitting against the tree while looking down at a fresh cut on his knee, seems he might have tripped.

When Dogday noticed this he accidentally let out a loud gasp “Are you ok?!” to no surprise this startled the small cat who immediately got up and ran away, Dogday thinking he scared him tried calling out for him to stop but it was too late, the cat had vanished into the dense forest “who was that?” he wondered, he looked back at the playground and saw a few of the other critters had showed up and were already playing, deciding the cat was long gone by now he ran back to join them.

The rest of the play day went as normal, but Dogday couldn't help but think about the purple cat, his attention constantly changing to focus on the forest, he saw the cat was hurt and was extremely worried about him.

The next day Dogday left to the playground again with a backpack filled with toys and bandaids, this time however instead of playing by himself he immediately walked past it and directly into the forest, bringing his foam sword as a weapon thinking they'll be monsters in the forest, he made his way to the same tree where he saw the cat yesterday, this time trying to be sneaky, luckily he found the same purple cat sitting against the tree, he quietly tip toed over towards him.

Accidentally stepping onto a twig, which snapped and immediately alerts the small cat, who was about to get up and run again but before he does Dogday calls out quickly this time “Wait!, I won't hurt you” it seemed to have worked as the cat didn't run away but still stayed away from him, Dogday began to speak giving the stranger the greeting his parents taught him “Hi, I'm Dogday, what's yours?”

The cat seemed hesitate to speak, remaining quiet, Dogdays ears lowered at this but he notices the cat’s knee was still scraped up “Oh!” He reaches into his bag and pulls out some bandaids “I brought some bandaids for you, since I saw you had a boo boo yesterday!” He showed him “I didn't know which ones you liked so I brought them all, if you don't like these I also have dinosaurs and robots and tigers and suns and even dragons!”

The cat seemed surprised before quietly speaking “I-ill take suns I guess” making his decision after seeing the sun pendant around Dogday’s neck, Dogday seemed excited to hear the cat talk, before pulling out a sun bandaid and approaches him slowly to not scare him, the cat sat sit for him as he puts on the bandaid which had small suns all over it “There we go!”

The cat looks down at his now covered knee “t-thank you…” Dogday puts the box back into his backpack “you're welcome, my teacher always says to treat others how we wanna be treated!”

The cat kept looking down at the bandaid, Dogday would speak again “Hey, do you wanna play with me? I brought some toys of mine”

He seemed caught off guard by this but nods to a very excited Dogday, who immediately unpacks their backpack and pulls out tons of little toys for them to play with, the cat nervously looked over them and picks up a rope toy, Dogday notices this “Do you wanna play tug of war?” the cat seemed confused not knowing what that was, Dogday notices this deciding to teach him out to play “Here you hold onto one end and I'll pull on the other, last to let go wins!, ready?” He grabs the other end, as the cat nods hesitantly, Dogday pulls on one end, the purple cat trying to keep a tight grip on it, both sides try to pull till eventually the cat’s grip getting loose, soon the knot slips through his paw causing Dogday to fall backwards onto the leaves, the cat lets out a worried gasp, thinking he was hurt but instead Dogday sat up with a smile on his face, beginning to laugh “I won!”

the cat was surprised Dogday wasn't mad at him for accidentally letting go, but seeing the large smile on his face causes the cat to let out a small giggle, Dogday was happy to see the purple feline smiling “Wanna try another game?” He asked before getting a nod in response.

The morning went on like this, Dogday would continue to show his new friend new games to play, getting surprised how little they knew about games, while they were playing hide and seek, Dogday was hiding behind another tree, thinking he found a great hiding spot until he was playfully tackled, they both rolled down a small hill before both landing on their backs laughing.

As they laid on the ground looking up at the trees, he hears the purple feline speak “Catnap” Dogday looks over confused “What?”

“Earlier you asked what was my name, it's Catnap” Catnap seemed to have grown somewhat comfortable around Dogday, both of their stomachs growled, Dogday quickly gets up and rushed to his backpack before pulling out two Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches his mom had packed for him incase he got hungry “Here you go Catnap!” Offering one to Catnap who seemed surprised “A-are you sure?” Dogday continuing to offer it “Of course!”

Catnap hesitantly takes it before taking the first bite, his eyes lighting up, accidentally letting out a soft purr, he immediately stopped, Dogday heard it as well “Woah what was that?” Catnap never purred before up until now “I-I don't know, this tasted so good and I was so happy that it just came out”

Dogday eats his own sandwich “Next time ill bring something even better, OH you should meet Picky, she and her mom make the best food!” Catnap went slightly silent for some reason, catching the immediate attention of Dogday “did I say something wrong?”

Catnap shakes his head “n-no j-just..I just don't want to be around too many critters..” he mumbled silently but loud enough for Dogday to hear.

Dogday thinks a bit before speaking again “ok, if you don't want to meet them yet, that's ok, as long as we can still be friends!”

Catnap not expecting this reaction smiles.

Dogday notices it was getting late “oh it's late! My parents are gonna get worried soon!”

Catnap's ears lower but he responds “Oh…y-yeah mine too”

Dogday packs up his stuff before looking over at the disappointed Catnap “Don't worry Catnap! I'll be back tomorrow after school!”

Catnap looks back at Dogday his ears popping up with a murr “You promise?”

Dogday nods excitedly with a smile “I promise! Actually here” Dogday reaches back into his backpack and pulls out a bright red ball, handing it to Catnap “That is my favorite ball in the whole wide world, you can borrow it, I promise I'll be back tomorrow and we can play with it! Okay?”

Catnap hesitantly takes the ball and slowly nods “Okay..” Dogday then ran off waving goodbye to Catnap as he did, leaving the purple feline alone once again.

 

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Chapter 28: Chapter 22: Playdate

Chapter 22: Playdate

It had been a month since Dogday and Catnap became friends, Dogday kept his promise and would come to the forest to play with Catnap again, although he would spend some days playing with the other smiling critters, but he would always give Catnap his favorite ball to show him that he was going to come back, Today Catnap decided to wait at the playground for Dogday, sitting on the swings moving back and forth slowly while he waited “Nappy!” Catnap’s ears were suddenly filled with the loud call from the orange spaniel, as he came closer.

He suddenly showed a face of awe “Wait, you can swing on your own?” Catnap nods in response to an amazed Dogday before he quickly began to plead “Could you show me how? Pretty please!” Catnap was a bit surprised by Dogday’s reaction to something so simple, a mirror to how Catnap’s reaction originally was to Dogday’s games for the first time, Catnap nodded before gesturing at the swing seat next to him, which Dogday quickly took in excitement, Catnap slowed himself down to a halt so he can start over “Do what I do” Catnap would say before slowly moving his legs back and forth, building momentum allowing him to slowly swing back and forth, Dogday does the same and slowly began swinging as well, it wouldn’t take long for him to get the hang of it and speed up “I did it!” he barked out excitedly as he kept going faster and faster, getting higher and higher, until he accidently started moving too fast, not knowing how to stop he was flung off, letting out a loud scared scream in fear as he shut his eyes as he was about to hit the ground but, at the last second he felt something wrap tightly around his waist and caught him inches away from the ground.

Opening his eyes slowly he saw Catnap’s tail wrap around him, gently placing him onto the ground, Catnap got off the swing and ran over to Dogday with a worried face “Dogday are you ok?”

This was followed with silence for a short few seconds before Dogday spoke “that…was…AWESOME!” yelling out loud like a kid who just got off a rollercoaster, Catnap was relieved Dogday was happy at least

“How did you do that with your tail?” Dogday asked as he looked at Catnaps tail in awe.

“I don't know, I could do it for a long time” Dogday twisted his head looking back at his own tail, wagging it slightly in disappointment “I wish my tail could do that, mine just sits there most of the time”

Catnap lets out a small chuckle at Dogday's disappointment as his tail flickers “maybe I can try and teach you how”

Dogday's eyes light up in excitement in response to what he said “That would be awesome! You actually think I could use my tail like yours?” Catnap nods not seeing why not as Dogday thinks about all the cool things he could do with his tail, both unaware that's not how tails work”

Catnap looks around and sees the monkey bars “right now let's try something easier, follow me” Dogday eagerly follows him as Catnap lead him to he monkey bars, Catnap runs over and uses his tail to pull himself up before hanging upside down by his legs.

Dogday’s mouth opened in amazement “Woah! You're like a bat!”

Catnap looked confused “a..bat?..”

Dogday grinned “Yeah! A bat, they sleep upside down, Bubba showed me in one of his books”

Catnap hummed at the thought “Well, your turn!”

Dogday climbs up to the monkey bars, he wraps his legs around them while still keeping his paws on the bars, it was here where he began to shiver.

Catnap notices this “What's wrong?”

Dogday making a slight whimper “I-I’m scared too”

Catnap tries to reassure Dogday “It's ok Dogday, if you fall I can catch you, I promise”

Dogday hearing that helped him relax, still shivering and hesitant, he slowly and hesitantly let's go one paw at a time before he was hanging upside down, “I did it, I did it!” He yelled out excitedly swinging back and forth upside down by his legs, before he notices he was starting to slip “A-ah! Catnap I'm slipping!”

With a yelp Dogday accidentally lost his grip but once again before he fell to the ground Catnap catches him with his tail before he could hit the ground, he gently lowers him to the ground.

Dogday panted before bursting into laughter “That was so fun! You saved me again you're like a superhero, Nappy!”

Catnap blinked “a…superhero?”

Dogday nods excitedly “Yep superheros are critters who save other critters with cool powers, you can be Super Catnap!”

Catnap giggled “That's a silly name!”

Dogday lets out a dramatic gasp “Silly?! It's an awesome name, Super Catnap, the bravest, tail-wrappiest hero ever!”

Catnap continues to giggle at Dogday's reaction “You’re kinda weird sometimes Doggy”

Dogday grinned “who has a superhero as his bff! I wish you went to my school, everyone would be so jealous you're my friend”

Catnap shakes his head “Nuh uh, they'd be jealous you're my friend” he let's go and lands on his feet, Catnap's stomach growled when he did.

Dogday notices this and it jogs his memory “Oh right Nappy, I wanted to know, would you wanna have a playdate at my house? You could eat with me at my house”

Catnap's ears drooped and he loses his smile at this “I…I don't think that's a good idea Dogday”

Dogday grabs Catnaps paw with puppy dog eyes “Please! My parents already said it was ok, Pretty please!!”

Catnap thinks about trying to say no but looking into Dogday's eyes he just couldn't, he swallows his thoughts and spoke “Ok, I think my parents should be ok with it”

Dogday's tail begins wagging so fast it was actually hard to see “Really?! Yay! This is going to be the best playdate ever in the whole wide world!”

Catnap gave a hesitate smile, still nervous about this but with Dogday being so happy, maybe it won't be so bad.

Dogday grabs Catnaps paw excitedly “Come on let's go to my house! It's not far from here!” Practically dragging Catnap along, his excitement was way too much to contain.

As they walked Catnap couldn't help but feel nervous, he had never been invited into another critters house before, Dogday was his first ever friend, what happens if Dogday's parents don't like him? What if they make Dogday stop seeing him? What if he breaks something and Dogday hates him forever?

Dogday, completely unaware to Catnaps worries, kept yapping “I can't wait to show you my room, I have a lot of toys we can play with, oh and boardgames, we could also watch tv!, oh! My mom is making pizza! She makes the best pizza ever!”

Catnap's stomach growled at the mention of pizza causing Dogday to giggle “Sounds like your stomach is excited too!”

Catnap's ears flattened in embarrassment, but he didn't say anything.

After a bit of walking they made it to Dogday's neighborhood, finally reaching Dogday's house, a cozy looking two story family house with a small white fence in the yard, the door was attached to a bell that rung whenever it opens, Dogday walks in and immediately calls out “Mommy! Daddy! I'm home!”

The first thing Catnap saw when he set foot into the house was a long hallway from the entrance door to the kitchen, on the right an archway that lead into the living room where the sound of the TV could be heard showing the news of stuff children were way too young to understand, on the left was a staircase that lead upstairs, the moment they both stepped into the house the smell of home made pizza dough filled both their nostril, Dogday lifting his head up sniffing the air.

At the end of the hallway a tall, fluffy spaniel approaches them, Dogday quickly running up and hugging the women she had a warm smile on her face even more bright then Dogday's, she spoke in a calm and energetic tone “Welcome home Sweetie, she immediately noticed the small purple feline nervously standing behind Dogday “Oh and you must be Catnap!, Dogday has said talked so much about you dear”

Catnap momentarily froze up at the sight of Dogday’s interaction with his Mom, the smiles on both their faces, he soon snaps out of this trance before nodding “y-yes…ma'am”

Dogday's mom smiles gently and pets Catnaps head “no need to be so formal dear, with the way Dogday has been speaking about you, I should be the one greeting you formally, I've never seen my Dogday go to sleep without his favorite ball, no less let somebody borrow it, he used to make a fuss when I had to put it on the conveyor belt at the airport for item check for a few seconds”

Dogday lets out an embarrassed sound as he covers his face with his ears “Moooommmm!!”

Catnap let out a small confused murr “Airport…?”

MomDay raised her eyebrow slightly at the response but chucked it up to maybe him not knowing what one was yet, she pets Dogday's head “Food isn't ready yet sweetie, you and your friend can go Bathe, Then you can go play and I'll call you both down to eat when it's ready okay?”

Both critters immediately nod as Dogday runs upstairs with Catnap quickly trying to keep up behind “be careful you two, I just cleaned the stairs they're a bit slippery!” MomDay would call out before going to continue cooking, after both of them cleaned themselves off, they made their way to Dogday's room.

The moment he opened the door with the sun shaped plaque on the front, Dogday puts his arms out wide “Ta-Da! This is my room, pretty cool, huh?”

Catnap stepped cautiously into the room, looking around, the plushies aligned neatly at the head of his comfortable looking twin sized bed, the bedsheets matching Dogday's colors even having the large sun pendant on the blanket, his bookshelf lined with books on the bottom shelf and boardgames at the top and a toy chest sitting in the corner of the room, with a few random toys scattered across the floor.

Dogday runs over to the toy chest before opening it and digging through “We can play with whatever you want, OH! we can race RC cars, or or maybe build with my bricks or play with my action figures or my cars or my-” Catnap once again was left looking at the room around him, unknowingly tuning Dogday's yapping out, his fur was clean, he wasn't cold, or hot, it was raining outside but he wasn't drenched…he was left frozen in a trance.

He is snapped out of it once again as he sees Dogday setting up battleship, Catnap slowly sits down, after Dogday taught Catnap the instructions they would begin to play, they would play for what felt like a few minutes to them but was in reality a whole hour length of time until they both hear MomDay calling from downstairs “Food is ready you two! Clean your paws and come down”

Dogday excitedly stands up “Come on Nappy! You need to try my Moms homemade pizza, let's go!” Dogday grabs Catnaps paw again and once again drags him off excitedly.

They made their way downstairs to the kitchen/diner area where they both wash their paws and sat down next to eachother on the large wooden table, Catnap now noticed across the table from him was a larger slightly more brown spaniel.

DadDay would immediately greet their guest “Well hello, you must be the famous Catnap my son's been blabbering on about”

Catnap immediately nods “H-Hello Mr Day..”

DadDay chuckled a bit “and well mannered too, I'm glad to see Dogday is still good at choosing his friends”

MomDay puts the pizza down on the table and Dogday immediately takes a slice, blowing on it quickly in order to eat, DadDay was the next to grab a slice.

Taking a bite before kissing MomDay when she sat down “Still an amazing chef dear”

MomDay smiles before her attention spots Catnap staring at the food with a hungry expression, confused she asked the purple feline on his hesitation “is something the matter Sweetie?”

Catnap shakes his head “n-no Mrs Day”

She seemed more confused “why don't you eat, you look like you're starving”

Catnap looks up “o-oh am I allowed to eat? I'm sorry”

Both her and DadDay seemed worried now “of course, why wouldn't you be allowed?”

Catnap hesitantly took a slice and takes a bite, his eyes immediately widened so large it looked like they were going to fall out of his sockets, continuing to eat and enjoying every single bite.

DadDay notices he was eating pretty quickly and was worried he might choke “Woah slow down there, nobody's gonna steal your food”

Catnap nods “s-sorry”

Both MomDay and DadDay look at eachother and almost as if by telepathy, they both knew what the other was thinking, MomDay turns back to Catnap before speaking in a soft and worried tone “Sweetie? How is your life at home”

Catnap immediately stopped eating, looking back at her, swallowing the bite in his throat “w-what?”

MomDay asked again “if you feel comfortable I mean, could you tell us how your home life is? You look like you haven't eaten in weeks, when you came in here you looked like you hadn't bathed in years, is everything ok?”

Dogday stopped eating as well and looks over at Catnap as well.

The whole room was staring at him, he felt like he almost wanted to start hyperventilating but he swallowed his thoughts and puts on a large smile and energetic tone “it's awesome! My Mom cooks the best food ever, she catches our fish fresh from a lake near our house and my Dad loves my mom so much, he helps her around the house! I was just really dirty cause I like to play in the dirt!”

All of them seemed to be satisfied with this MomDay responding “well if you say so sweetie, I was just a small bit worried, but if you're sure everything's ok, then I won't keep prying”

Catnap silently lets out a sigh of relief as he continues to eat, still enjoying every single bite.

Eventually dinner finished with both the little critters looking dirty and having pizza sauce covering their faces, MomDay grabs a napkin and wipes Dogday's mouth “Moooom!” He huffed out embarrassed “come on sweetie you don't wanna be a dirty mess infront of your friend do you?” Dogday reluctantly agreed “I guess…”

Catnap couldn't help but stare at how attentive Dogday's mom was.

“Do you want me to clean you too sweetie?”

Catnap makes a slight nod as MomDay begins wiping Catnaps face clean with another napkin “There I'm sure your mother will appreciate it”

Catnap nods “yeah, thank you Mrs Day”

MomDay looks at the clock “oh dear, it's getting late, Catnap dear let me drop you off at home after dinner”

Catnap shakes his head “n-no it's ok I can walk home it's not that far”

MomDay surprised looking outside to see it was dark “Are you sure? It's really no trouble at all and it's dark outside”

Catnap nodded “it's okay Mrs Day, cats can see in the dark very good”

MomDay sighed and reluctantly agreed “ok, well if you think you can then I won't argue but please be careful, I'd hate to imagine what your parents would think if a son as amazing as you were to go missing”

Catnap nods once more wiping his paws before leaving the table, preparing to leave.

Before he does though Dogday calls out “Wait Catnap, I have a gift for you!” Dogday wipes his paw quickly, running up the stairs to his room, after a bit of running around upstairs he comes back down holding a book filled with a book of ‘Goodnight Moon’, I had this book laying around and it made me think of you! maybe your parents could read it to you and help you sleep!”

Catnap hesitantly takes the book “T-Thank you Dogday”

Dogday's tail wags “I had a lot of fun today Nappy, maybe we could try hanging out like this again?”

Catnap gives him a smile before nodding “Yeah, I would like that a lot”

Dogday hugs Catnap with Catnap hugging back before Catnap opens the door and waves goodbye to the critters inside before leaving, making his way back home, Dogday never knew what Catnaps true home life was like back then.

Dogday lets out a large yawn, catching the attention of MomDay who gives a small chuckle “Sounds like my little sunlight is ready to set for the night”

Dogday nods rubbing his eyes, MomDay picks him up “come on, lets get you in bed”

Dogday hugs his Mom as she picks him up, almost falling asleep in her arms, she brings him upstairs into his room, seeing the many toys that had been set up and played with “it looks like you had a lot of fun with your friend”

Dogday beginning to fall half asleep nods again “Yeah..Nappy is so cool, I can’t wait to introduce him to the others, then we’ll go on all sorts of adventures..”

MomDay giggles and tucks him into his bed, where he proceeds to cuddle a nearby plushie “thanks for letting him visit Mom”

MomDay kisses his forehead “Of course sweetie, but you can repay me by cleaning up when you get home tomorrow, okay?”

Dogday smiles “I love you Mommy”

MomDay pats his head gently “I love you too, now try and get some sleep, you wanna see your friends when you’re wide awake right?”

Dogday nods and slowly drifts off to sleep, wondering how Catnap must be doing right now, imagining him sleeping in a cozy bed after being read the book he gave him.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Dogday eventually snapped himself out of the memory, shaking his head before scoffing “hero…I can't believe I actually called him that…” he says out loud to himself as he continued to massage his nose, groaning as he still felt like his head was going to split in two.

Dogday lets out a long, slow sigh, it wouldn’t seem like the headache was going away any time soon, same goes for these thoughts racing around in his mind, rolling onto his side, his ears flattened against his head, he clutches the blanket tightly, feeling as if his skull was actually pounding.

He wasn’t sure about how to feel about anything anymore, was he mad at Catnap for what he did? Or is he mad at himself for not trying harder to help? Could this have been changed if he wasn’t such a boring dog and just admitted his feelings sooner? Would it have mattered?

He lets out another loud annoyed groan “Uuugh!” he sat up, rubbing his face with both paws, he peaks through his paws before slowly dropping both down, resting his arms on his legs, looking around at the mess of a room he was in, the still shattered clock laying on the floor from his last interaction with Kickin, Maybe some cleaning will help clear his mind, he thought to himself

Finally getting off the couch and going to grab a broom fromm the kitchen, moving back to the living room he began to clean up the mess, to try and clear his head.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Meanwhile, as Dogday cleaned, back at the cat tree, Catnap was also in deep thought, he had been thinking of the same memory as Dogday, his tail tightened as his memory of the story continued where Dogday’s had left off.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Catnap had just left Dogday’s house, quickly making his way home, keeping the book extra close to him, eventually making his way back into the forest, on his way back he notices a large stick on the ground, he picks it up and continues walking deeper into the forest, eventually he would reach his destination.

Looking up at a large abandoned treehouse sat in an old tree, he grapples his tail up to a branch and climbs up to the entrance, walking in he looks around comparing his home to Dogday's house before yelling out loudly “Mom, Dad I'm home” mimicking Dogday's greetings.

The wood the tree house was made of was severely old and water damaged from decades of rain, his every step through it caused the floorboards to make loud squeaks and creaks, he makes his way over to his ‘bed’ which was made of loose pieces of clothing which he had stolen or found over the years, on top of the makeshift sleeping arraignment was two large critter sized/shaped mannequins both seemingly made of garbage and things found in the forest, he walks up to one in women's clothing who was also missing an arm, Catnap takes the stick he had grabbed earlier and attached it to them.

He sat in-between them both and hold the book on his lap “Dogday gave me this, he said it could help me sleep, maybe we could read it together…” Catnap seeming almost in a state of denial, was speaking to the mannequins which didn't give an answer, “h-here…I-i can start” Catnap opens the book and begins to read to himself, as he read he tried to cozy up next to the mannequins, pretending they were his real parents, he felt tears slowly brew in his eyes but he ignored it, continuing to read out loud.

His mind tried to imagine what it was like for Dogday right now, being tucked in by his mom, kissed goodnight feeling the warmth of a proper bed and sheets.

At this point, his lips and voice were quivering as he began to trip over his words even easy ones, his voice wavered, but he kept going, his eyes tearing up to the point it was getting hard to spot the words, having to relay on the pictures only.

He eventually finished, closing the book he closes his eyes and kisses both the Mannequins on the cheeks “Goodnight mom…Goodnight dad”

He holds the book close to him and lies down on the ground using a hoodie as a blanket, drifting off to sleep the same way he usually does.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Notes:

Well that was cute wasn't it? nothing sad at all, still working on Picky and Kickins chapter I'll just give a few emojis on what I have planned (might change in the future)

💧🪵🔥

Chapter 29: Chapter 23: First Steps

Chapter 23: First steps

Catnap shakes his head trying to forget the painful memories, sniffling quietly, wiping his tears which had brewed in his still slightly puffy eyes, his muscles tighten as he tries to hold himself, still wondering why he threw away the only family he had after it, maybe his parents were right to abandon him early, maybe somehow, they knew, he was just a monster.

He thinks about it, looking down at his arm, once again wiping away his tears, he lightly brushes his purple fur aside still slightly covered in dried up self-harm cuts, he couldn't help but just stare at them, he traces the cuts with his fingers, tensing up at certain points where he could still feel slight pain.

He continues over and over until eventually, his breathing began to speed up, extending his claws, he lightly presses it against his arm slightly hesitating this time, however it was of his bodies plea, not his mind, his body already shaking, if it could speak it would be begging to not go through with it.

He slowly continues to apply pressure until with one swift slash, he reopens an old cut, blood already begins to seep out, both his paws already shivering.

The feeling, it came back, the feeling of…doing something right, he cut again.

Again, again and again, each cut getting deeper and deeper, once again he continues, moving closer to the wrist until.

Knock knock, his attention quickly snaps over to the door “Catnap..it's me Bobby, can I come in?” Her almost motherly voice and tone immediately recognizable, causing Catnap to immediately cover up his cuts with his fur and retract his claws.

Bobby slightly creaks the door open to peak through “sorry, I forgot you can't talk, can I come in?”

<”Yes”> Catnap immediately responding trying to hide the fact his paws were shaking, Bobby slowly comes in, to Catnaps surprise, Hoppy shortly in tow, still looking unhappy to be around him, Bobby sits down in front of Catnap “I brought some Cookies for us, I thought you would be hungry and I didn't have time to make anything else sorry..” she says softly before pulling out some Tupperware with a few home baked honey cookies, still not the best in appearance with a few being cracked and some kinda mishappend but it still gave off an incredible smell when the lid was removed.

Catnap shook his head before signing <”no it's fine Bobby, your cookies taste great, thank you”> before grabbing a cookie however before he could take a bite he notices Hoppy seemed unusually quiet, sitting close to Bobby, not saying anything.

Catnap slowly offered the cookie to her,
Hoppy silently looks over at the small paw offering her the sweet, then up at Catnap, not wanting to make a scene in front of Bobby, she begrudgingly took it “thanks…” she annoyingly mumbled.

Catnap looked back at Bobby and signs again <”Can I have another one?”>

Bobby smiles “of course no need to ask Catnap” watching Catnap take another cookie before eating it, noticing his tail slightly wag at the taste.

Hoppy began to eat her cookie and Bobby soon grabbed one and began to eat as well.

After a small bit of silence Catnap signed again <”these are delicious Bobby, but can I ask you something?”>

Bobby raises an eyebrow before responding “Thank you Catnap and sure what do you wanna know?”

<”its not that I don't appreciate you being here but isn't today Picky's turn?”> Catnap nervously asked.

Bobby nods “yes well, Picky said she needed to go find some cooking ingredients in the woods so she gave her shift to Hoppy and we'll” Hoppy tunes in “She forced me to give it to her”

Bobby sighed at Hoppy's comment not wanting to argue right now, focusing on Catnap, noticing his still trembling paws, although this was usual at this point due to the state of his body, something in her gut told her that there was something else causing it and secretly, so did Hoppy.

She glanced over at Hoppy, she was eating slower then usual, her expression still that of disdain, she couldn't say she wasn't expecting it however, she of all critters know forgiveness takes a long time and Hoppy is quite stubborn.

Glancing back at Catnap she notices him having a hard time swallowing the cookies due to how dry they were “do you want some milk with those? It would probably help them go down easier” she asked trying to keep her voice light.

Catnap hesitantly nods slowly in response.

Bobby nodded before standing up “I'll be back” trusting Hoppy alone with him before leaving to go fetch some milk from home.

When she left, the room would fill with an awkward silence between the two left in it, he felt Hoppy gaze over at him from time to time, feeling suspicious about something, eventually she would speak up.

“What is up with you?” she muttered

Catnap flinched <”What?”>

Hoppy rolls her eyes “Don’t ‘What’ me, You’ve been acting weirder than usual, don’t think we haven’t noticed, Bobby just respects your privacy and I just don’t care”

Catnap instinctually starts fidgeting with his tail in his paws nervous only raising Hoppy’s suspicion, she rubs her temple letting out a sigh.

“Alright, I don’t care about you and I as sure as hell don’t forgive you but Bobby cares about you for some reason, so like it or not, you are also my problem…and I don’t wanna see her hurt again, so if you wanna just keep lying then fine, but you better get better at it because if I find out you made her cry, I will not-” she stops when she notices what looked like dried up blood on his fur “what is that?”

Catnap immediately brings his arm closer and covers it causing Hoppy’s eyes to narrow “move your arm..”

Catnap shook his head, tightening his grip and his ears flat against his skull.

Hoppy’s nose twitches in irritation “Don’t be stubborn, you know you’re terrible at lying” she scoots closer, putting her paw out demanding he show her his arm, Catnap hesitantly puts his arm out, she grabs his wrist gently but still firmly, using her other paw she brushes his fur aside revealing the cuts, she would stare at it for a bit before covering it back up and looking back up at the now ashamed looking cat, expecting her to start yelling at him or something—but she didn’t, Hoppy lets go of Catnap’s arm which he instantly retracted, Hoppy seemed to be lost in thought of, something.

The silence was deafening but was eventually interrupted by Hoppy finally speaking “You’re extremely stupid..you know that?”

Catnap flinched at her words, he had expected the usual sharp tone, but this was different, she didn't so sound like her usual tone towards him, she didn't sound angry just…tired, he fidgets with his tail a bit before signing <”I know..”>

Hoppy continues “What do you think you're going to accomplish doing something this stupid? I know you're low but this is just…just Ugh” she couldn't finish her sentence just facepalming, dragging her paw down her face slowly.

“I'm going to get Bobby..” she says before she begins to get up, Catnap's eyes widened before wrapping his tail around her arm gently, Hoppy looks at Catnap “What?..”

Catnap quickly signs <”Please don’t”>

Hoppy brushes Catnaps tail off her arm “and why shouldn't I?”

<”I don't want her to worry anymore then she already is..”>

Hoppy scoffed “Oh yeah? And what do you think will happen when she finds out on her own? Matter of fact how do you know she doesn't already suspect anything? I found out easily, what makes you think she won't, you think she's stupid or something?”

Catnap immediately shook his head at Hoppy's accusation <”no! not at all, I just-”> he hesitated, his claws slowly and accidentally showing, digging into his palm before signing slower <”She doesn't need anymore stress about me..”> he looked down as he curls his tail around himself tightly.

Hoppy stared at the cat, after a bit of thinking she sits back down “fine..I won't tell her”

Catnap looks up at her, his ears raising as a slight relief washes over him.

“But only because you're right about Bobby being stressed out about this whole thing with you…don't think this means I forgive you got it?”

Catnap nods gratefully.

Both their ears twitch at the sound of footsteps approaching, causing both to return to normal, Bobby returns carrying a few cups full of warm milk for all three of them “Sorry it took so long, I didn't miss anything did I?”

Both of them reassure her that it was ok, and no she didn't miss anything important, before she sits back down to join them, Hoppy and Catnap both taking a glass, continuing to eat their cookies.

Bobby eventually speaks up again “Catnap?”

Catnap looks at Bobby still with a few cookie crumbs on his fur.

“I have something I wanna ask you and I know what you're going to say but just listen—how would you feel about me and Hoppy helping you apologize to everyone?”

Hoppy had forgotten this is what they came to talk about and had a slight face of surprise, Catnap's eyes widened before immediately shaking his head.

“Come on Catnap, this has obviously gone on for long enough and Hoppy has already agreed to help as well, please Catnap? This will just go on forever if we don't”

Catnap’s ears flattened against his head, his tail curling tighter around himself, His paws gripped his cup of milk, claws lightly tapping against the glass as he tried to find the words to respond.

<“I can’t…”>

Bobby sighed softly “I know it’s scary, but-”

<“It’s not just that.”> Catnap quickly signed, his movements tense, uncertain, He hesitated before continuing, <“Even if they forgive me…I don’t deserve it”>

Hoppy rolled her eyes “Oh, here we go again”

Bobby shot Hoppy a look before turning back to Catnap “You don’t get to decide that”

<“I hurt them, I killed them, I hurt..you ”> His paws trembled slightly as he signed <“No matter how much I regret it, no matter how much I try to change, that won’t go away It’s… it’s better this way”>

Bobby frowned, her gaze full of quiet sadness “Better for who, Catnap? Because it’s not better for me, not for you either”

Catnap flinched.

Bobby sighed, setting down her milk. “I know you’re scared, I know you think you don’t deserve kindness, but I also know that letting this go on any longer will only make this whole thing so much worse” She reached out, gently resting a paw on his arm. “Please..?”

Catnap looked between them both, his throat tightening, feeling the the weight of his guilt still clung to him like a shadow.

Slowly, hesitantly, he signed, <”fine..”>

Bobby's eyes lit up “Really?”

Catnap nods in response before Bobby brings him into a hug, accidentally hurting him, Hoppy gently pulls Bobby back “Calm down babe, you'll kill him before he can try” she jokes before Bobby begins apologise to him “Sorry Catnap! I'm just happy you're willing to try fixing this”

Catnap nods signing back <”it's ok, I'm not that hurt”>

Bobby gave a gentle smile through the still lingering concern in her eyes “we'll start it slow okay?”

Catnap nods.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Notes:

Sorry if the chapter came out kinda bad, I've been getting so little sleep my brain is acting as if it's constantly drunk but looks like I got the chapter out in time before the a03 sit goes down for maintenance tomorrow

Also I'm working on the Kickin and Picky Chapter, oh boy it's gonna be hard to make people forgive these two for what they're about to do...

Chapter 30: Chapter 24: You didn't know?

Chapter 24: you didn't know?

It had been about a week since Catnap agreed to let Bobby and Hoppy help him, Bobby and Hoppy both started to volunteer taking over the different critters shifts, while some like Bubba and Crafty agreed to let them take over their shifts, for others such as Kickin and Picky it was a bit more difficult but they were eventually convinced one way or another, Catnap’s leg had even begun to heal due to him being unharmed for the time being.

Bobby asked Hoppy to help Catnap while she gathered materials to set up an apology party, Hoppy was cleaning up Catnap’s living room, unaware Catnap was on a stool trying to set up the banner.

The crooked stool wobbled under the cats legs, Hoppy hears the shaking and immediately catches Catnap when it falls “Are you stupid!? Why wouldn’t you let me set that up!” Catnap froze a bit at her screaming, Hoppy took a deep breath and put Catnap down “just…don't do it again, I'm sorry for yelling..are you hurt?”

Catnap shook his head <”sorry for scaring you”>

Hoppy rolled her eyes “it wasn't for you, if Bobby knew I let you do something stupid like that, she wouldn't let me hear the end of it” she walks past him and sets up the banner “just go, don't care what you do just keep off high places”

Catnap nods before returning to his room, the place was looking a little better then before, while there still wasn't a window all the sharp broken glass had been removed, most of the broken furniture had been fixed or thrown out, Catnap took a brief look around his now fixed room before sitting down on his bed with a sewing kit which Bobby had borrowed from Crafty for him, his idea was to make a special gift for each of the critters as a form of apology, as expected the first one up was Dogday, Catnap had chosen a small plushie of Dogday as his present.

He had been trying to get the plushie perfect, pulling all nighters against Bobby's wishes in order to try and get every little detail right, he was just finishing a final stitching line on his ear, snipping off the last thread he looked at his work,

The plushie was small enough to fit in his paws, stitched together with careful precision It wasn’t perfect, some of the seams were a little uneven, and the fabric wasn’t quite the right texture, but it was unmistakably Dogday.

Catnap turned it over in his hands, his ears twitching slightly, it was almost perfect and yet…he couldn't feel proud of himself for it, he knew he should’ve been proud, but instead, a strange weight settled in his chest. He had spent so much time trying to get it just right, but would Dogday even want it? Would any of them?

He sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. Bobby was going to be upset if she found out how late he had been staying up, his stitches weren’t as neat as he'd imagine, he only remembers a few lessons from crafty from…before, and his paws ached from working too long.

‘Maybe just one more’ he thought to himself, already reaching for another piece of fabric.

But before he could start, a quiet knock came from the doorway.

"Bobby’s back with the rest of the supplies, she wants to make sure I didn't kill you or something" Hoppy’s voice called from the other side, the last bit somewhat humorously.

Catnap flinched, about to hide the plushie but it was too late.

Hoppy opened the door and gave him a look. "Come on, the party is almost set up, all we need is to properly invite everyone" She stepped inside, eyeing the plushie in his hands. "Is that Dogday?"

Catnap hesitated before nodding.

Hoppy crossed her arms. "Looks like a lot of work."

<"It’s for him,"> Catnap admitted, looking away.

Hoppy stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Well…it's a bit creepy but hey, maybe he'll like it, he always did like weird stuff, I mean he was gonna admit his feelings to you wasn't he?" Hoppy chuckled a bit not knowing Dogday never actually admitted his feelings to him.

Catnap was immediately caught off guard by that, his eyes large as he grip the plushie in his paw tightly.

Hoppy quickly noticed and almost immediately realized her screw up “wait…you didn't know..?” looking uneasy as she runs her paw through her fur “I thought he was gonna tell you at the pool roo-” she cuts herself off remembering that was the day Dogday never came back.

“I…I’m sorry Catnap I didn't…I'll tell Bobby you need to be alone..” she immediately left closing the door gently, mentally beating herself up for accidentally doing that.

Catnap was left frozen like a sculpture, tears drip from his eyes and staining the freshly made plushie, he looks down at it in his shaking palms ‘he…he’ Catnap's mind didn't know how to process this, all he could do was stare at the taunting smile on the plushie, now realizing he threw away something he had always wanted for so long.

How could he have been so blind? It was so obvious yet he never thought of it..now he'll probably never see him the same way ever again…he lost…everything…

Since the day he got here he wanted to go back, change what he did but now, the feeling was stronger then ever, he would have done anything in that moment to go back, his claws unknowingly began to dig into the fabric, mainly around the waist, he continued to sob quietly, his grip got tighter and tighter until eventually…he heard a rip.

Snapping out of it he saw he accidentally cut open a seam on Dogday's waist, he loosens his grip, wiping the tears from his eyes and with a still shaky paw, he begins to patch up the broken seam.

He would eventually finish, putting it onto the bedside table out of fear of breaking it again, before hearing another knock on his door, this time Bobby's voice came through “Catnap..? Hoppy told me what happened, I'm coming in okay?” She said before slowly opening the door, poking her head into the room first “hey…”

Catnap curls up on the bed covering his face, Bobby walks over patting Catnap on the back gently stroking his fur, trying to reassure him “It’s going to be ok, You-” she was interrupted by Catnap immediately turning around hugging onto her, before breaking down crying into her fur, she continued to pat his back softly “shhh..let it out…take all the time you need..” Catnap intended to do just that.

Bobby held Catnap close, gently stroking his back as he sobbed into her fur, She let him take his time, murmuring soft reassurances between his quiet, shuddering breaths, His grip on her tightened and loosened, as if he couldn’t decide whether to hold on for dear life or push her away, But Bobby stayed, patient as always.
Outside Hoppy leaned against the wall out of sight from the doorway but she was able to hear everything and was able to get an image of what was happening, she crossed her arms as a familiar feeling of guilt begins to wash over her, despite not knowing why, she’s done much worse to Catnap and she didn’t feel anything, only reasons she stopped hurting him now was because Bobby forced her too, but why does she feel bad this time? Why now…?
“Is it because…he has suffered enough..?” she would begin to contemplate the idea eventually Hoppy knocks on the door thinking up a random excuse “hey..uh I'm gonna go grab some more supplies from home okay..?” after a few moments of silence she was relieved to hear Bobby's voice reply “okay...” her ears lowering as Bobby almost felt as if there was a hint of disappointment in her voice, Hoppy quickly replies “I won't” with that Hoppy leaves, feeling she needed some time to think anyways.

Chapter 31: Chapter 25: Advice

Chapter 25: Advice

Hoppy had just left Catnap’s house, fleeing the awkward situation she had accidentally caused. She hugged herself, shivering from the cold as her mind raced, trying to figure out what to do next. Lost in thought, she barely noticed where she was going until she found herself standing in front of Bubba’s house.
She stared at the familiar door for a moment before deciding, maybe he could give her some advice. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward and knocked.
“Come in!” Bubba’s voice called from inside.
Hoppy pushed the door open and stepped in, immediately spotting Bubba rummaging through his house, searching for something. He glanced over at her, adjusting his glasses. “Oh, hello, Hoppy. Sorry for the mess, I seem to have misplaced my journal. Been looking for it all morning, but no luck so far.” He sighed before resuming his search.
“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that,” Hoppy said, though her tone made it clear her mind was elsewhere.
Bubba paused, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Something bothering you?”
Hoppy hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah… I was hoping you could give me some advice about something.”
Bubba took a moment to survey the mess he’d made during his frantic search, then let out a tired sigh and wiped his glasses. “Very well. I suppose I could use a break anyway.”
Hoppy offered a small, reassured smile, her ears perking up just a bit. “Thanks, Bubba.”
“Would you like some carrot tea? I think I still have one last tea bag left.”
Hoppy blinked. “Y-yeah, that would be nice.”
Bubba gave a nod and made his way to the kitchen, setting a kettle on the stove. Hoppy followed and sat down at the kitchen table, fidgeting with her hands.
“So,” Bubba said, leaning against the counter as he waited for the water to boil, “what seems to be bothering you this time?”
Hoppy took a deep breath. “How much do you remember about the factory? Specifically before… y’know?”
Bubba’s gaze lingered on the kettle. “I remember enough,” he said after a moment. “Though I’ll admit, some parts are a little fuzzy. You’ll have to be more specific.”
Hoppy hesitated before continuing. “Do you remember how we convinced Dogday to admit his feelings to Catnap?”
Bubba let out a short chuckle. “That, I do remember.”
“Okay, well… Bobby convinced Catnap to apologize to everyone, and I was supposed to be helping. But I… I kind of let it slip to Catnap without realizing he didn’t already know.” She fidgeted with her ear. “And then, instead of staying and helping, I panicked and left. Now Bobby’s comforting him, and I-I lied. I told her I had to leave to get something, but I didn’t. And now… now I don’t know what to do.”
Bubba listened patiently, waiting until she finished. Then, with a long sigh, he rubbed his temple, as if bracing himself. He picked up the kettle and poured two cups of tea, setting one in front of her before sitting down across from her with his own, he takes a slow sip of his tea before placing it down on the table and spoke.
“Well… this is certainly a predicament,” he says in a blunt but not unkind tone.
Hoppy’s ears flattened again, and she looked down at her cup. “Yeah, I know…”
“But,” Bubba continued, “it’s not the end of the world. Or, well, afterlife.” He waved his pad. “Point is, you panicked and ran. Happens to the best of us. The real problem is what you do now.”
Hoppy looked up at him, uncertainty flickering in her eyes. “But what can I do? If I go back now, it’ll just be more awkward. And I don’t even know if Catnap would want to see me.”
Bubba leaned back in his chair, thoughtful. “You know, this reminds me of something.”
Hoppy tilted her head. “What?”
“Back at the factory,” he said, “when we were all discussing getting Dogday to confess, you were the one who made him nervous enough to actually say something. you have this way of poking at people without realizing it, sometimes for better, sometimes… well.” He gestured vaguely. “Not so much.”
Hoppy groaned, burying her face in her paws. “That’s not helping, Bubba.”
“I am helping,” he insisted, smirking slightly. “My point is, you’ve always been direct, even when you don’t mean to be. You might have told Catnap the old plan but think about it this way, if this whole apology idea was to work in the first place, down the line, eventually Dogday or some other critter would reveal it to him anyway..most likely Kickin,” he humorously remarked with a slight chuckle
Hoppy peeked at him from between her paws “…So you’re saying I should just go back?”
“I’m saying you should be honest. You feel bad? Tell him. You panicked? Tell him. You don’t have to have all the answers, you just have to show you care.”
She let out a long breath, her hands dropping to her lap. “…And what if he’s mad?”
Bubba shrugged. “I doubt it, from what I’ve seen, that cat couldn’t bear to hold a grudge against anyone right now…”
Hoppy hesitated, staring down at her tea as she processed Bubba’s words. The warmth of the cup seeped into her paws, grounding her.
“…But what if I just make things worse?” she mumbled. “What if, what if my coming back just stresses him out more?”
Bubba exhaled through his trunk, adjusting his glasses. “Then you listen. If he doesn’t want to talk, respect that. If he does, then be there for him. Either way, you don’t fix things by running away.”
Hoppy’s ears twitched. She knew he was right, Bubba was always right, in that annoyingly logical way of his. But knowing didn’t make it easier.
“…I really messed up, huh?” she muttered.
Bubba hummed. “Yes. But it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.” thinking. “Besides, if Bobby’s with him, she’s probably smoothing things over as we speak.”
Hoppy finally took a sip of her tea, letting the warmth soothe her nerves. “ok..I’ve made my decision,” she said quietly. “But I just…I think I need a minute right now.”
Bubba nodded, as if he expected that. “Take your time, But don’t take too long, I’m sure Bobby wouldn’t like it if you were late to come back”
She gave him a small, grateful smile. “Thanks, Bubba.”
He simply nodded, already turning his attention back to the cluttered room. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I still have a journal to find, I should ask Kickin about it, he spends a lot of time around here”
Hoppy chuckled before calling out to Bubba in a joking tone, “You two kissed yet?”

Bubba from the other rooms replied with a similar tone “If I had fingers I’d be giving you the middle one right now Hoppy”
Hoppy chuckled again softly.
Eventually, she gets up and leaves but when she steps outside, she glances over at the path leading back to Catnap’s house, she thinks for a moment before taking a different path that lead towards Dogday's house

Notes:

Sorry for the short chapter, I've been experiencing some burnout and lack of inspiration as it would almost seem the SC community has quiet down a bit, so the next chapter may take a while

however yes I gave a gift to the StarStudent fans

Chapter 32: Chapter 26: Nostalgia

Chapter 26: Nostalgia

Dogday had just finished up brushing up all the broken glass which was left behind from the wall clock he smashed, dumping the last of it into his kitchen trash can.

After making sure the last of it had successfully gotten in, he stands in the kitchen doorway, surveying his work, mentally trying to see if there's anything left for him to clean, He looks down at the carpet, deep cleaned not a glint of fur, glitter or glass, he walks towards the couch and gets on all fours to check under it for dust but not a dust bunny to be spoken of, he uses the couch as support to get back up, still looking around as he got up without moving.

He had cleaned the place to practically shine in his attempts to distract himself, after seeing nothing to clean he would let out an annoyed groan before falling back onto the couch letting his arms fall limp at his side.

He would sit in pure silence for what felt like an eternity, trying to think of something to do that he hasn't already done.
“I guess I should get started on planning an adventure for the other critters…it has been a while since we did anything together..” he thought aloud to himself, slowly sitting up while hunching over, reaching in-between couch cushions “c'mon I know you're–aha!” He retracts his paw out of the cushion, pulling out an orange notebook with his pendent on the front.
It was his old planner notebook, which he hadn't touched it since they went to the factory, he pulls the pencil out of the binder rings before opening it up, shifting through pages looking for a blank one.

Before he could get to it, his ears would twitch from the sound of his front door knocking.

He lets out a slight sigh before closing and resting the notebook at his side and getting up to approach the front door, as he approaches the door knocks again this time accompanied by a familiar female voice

H: “Dogday are you in there?”
Knowing who it is he opens the door peaking through “Hey Hoppy, Do you need something?”
Hoppy was visibly a bit nervous about something “Yeah I kinda have something I wanna talk about, could I come in?”
Without a second thought Dogday immediately opens the door to let her in, thinking that talking to somebody might be a nice break from the silence “Of course come on in”

When Hoppy walks in the first thing she notices is how clean Dogday's house is “Woah, what's with the deep clean Dogday?”
Dogday not wanting to admit he had just been trying to keep himself distracted nervously scratches the back of his neck “oh, uh, you know a leader should set an example for the rest of the team so I thought I'd clean up a bit”
“Well you did a heck of a good job, don't even think Catnaps was ever this cle—oh right sorry..”

Dogday tries to give a reassuring smile “h-hey it's fine, don't worry about it.”
The room fell into an awkward silence before Hoppy notices Dogday's notebook next and quickly tries to change the subject “Oh! It's your planner, wow I haven't seen this in years” she picks it up and looks through it.

D: “I thought the others could use something fun to get their minds off…other stuff”
Hoppy was only half paying attention as she was filled with nostalgia from reading through the written down adventures of days long gone, stopping on a page talking about a planned road trip “Oh my god! I remember that trip, Bubba and Crafty got car sick like six times and we had to stop so many times”
Dogday lets out a small chuckle as the memories of that day come rushing back to him, a small genuine smile growing across his face almost as if he had forgotten what was bothering him to begin with “Heh..yeah, Picky was happy about it, we kept stopping at gas stations so it gave us..mostly her to restock on road snacks”

H: “Remember when we convinced Kickin to try car surfing? I swear I thought he finally learned how to use those wings of his to fly when I saw him launch forward so fast!” She begins to laugh as she retold the story, Dogday shortly joining after, but the laugh would shortly disappear as he spoke “Yeah…he was hurt real bad..”

H: “I don't know who trusted us with a car” she remarked.
Dogdays smile slowly disappears again as he realizes those days were long behind them now.
Hoppy sits on the couch and keeps looking through it slowly, Dogday sitting next to her eventually “So..you wanted to talk about something”
Hoppy's ears immediately went flat when she remembered why she was there in the first place and had just got caught up in the nostalgia “y-yeah..r-right…I have an ask.

Dogday puts on yet another smile “well ask away, I'm-” he lifts up his big floppy ears “all ears”
Hoppy didn't seem to react to it, trying to figure out how to word her question.

Dogday puts his ears back down before Hoppy spoke again “Could you..possibly come to Catnaps house tomorrow?”
Dogday's face almost froze completely when he heard that muttering just loud enough for Hoppy to pick it up “What..?”
“Before you get mad just please listen, we're trying to get Catnap to make amends with everyone, but I-” she lowers her ears “I accidentally said some stuff to him and I'm worried he might call it all off, you know how he is”
The room fell into another moment of silence, Dogday trying to figure out what to say next, how to react, after a bit, he finally gets up off the couch, almost seeming to be stuck in a deep state of thinking, it was similar to when somebody gets so mad that they're unable to actually show anger, just, almost, lifeless.
“Dogda-” Hoppy is interrupted by Dogday, his voice seemed shaky “I…I think you should go”

Hoppy seemed shocked at the reaction, standing up quickly to try and talk to him again on eye level, her ears flattening further down on her head before hesitantly responding “Dogday please lis-” once again she was cut off, this time Dogday's clenching his fists tightly enough to almost draw blood, feeling his claws digging into his palm, both paws shaking at his side with his back turned to her but was clearly holding back tears, his voice much more agitated and seeming moments away from cracking “I. Said. Leave”

Hoppy lets out a sigh before leaving the planner on the couch she begins to leave but she freezes at the door, turning around and saying one last thing before she left “Dogday..I wanted you to go cause…I accidentally…told him the truth about *That* night..” seeing Dogday had his back turned to her still she closes the door as she left.

Dogday was left standing in the center of the room, processing everything that just happened, crossing his arms tightly hugging himself, still trying his best to hold back tears, his mind flashing with memories of that night.

He wipes his face as he tried thinking of what to do now, looking at the couch he picks up the planner, no longer in the mood to plan anything, putting it back in-between the couch cushions.

He takes a deep breath knowing he'll have to apologize to Hoppy and already thinking of what he's supposed to say, how he's supposed to explain this to her, just glad he didn't go off on her, despite being extremely close too.

His mind began racing, privately questioning himself 'Why was I do mad? It's just a stupid apology it's not like it'll change anything, I'll still be mad at Catnap even if I do hear him out...it won't fix anything...I won't forgive him, I didn't have to get so pissed at Hoppy...why is it bothering me so much!? I mean WHAT did I even see in that stupid cat to begin with!? He's so damn lazy, he never wanted to hang out with the rest of us, I always had to drag that stupid cat around everywhere and EVEN THEN he always just slept! It was just some stupid crush over somebody who had no right to have it...he had nothing good about him...nothing...'

He continued to get more angry just thinking about it, accidentally causing him to imagine all the previous hangout sessions he had with Catnap around, all those times he had to go into Catnaps house just to drag that stupid cat out to get some sunlight, all those times he had to convince Catnap to try playing with them only to have him fall asleep during the game anyways, all those times Catnap would show up at his house uninvited—all...those times Catnap...stayed up late comforting him during thunderstorms.

That last memory immediately causing his face to flush red before punching the couch furiously "UGH! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid cat!" Tears reforming in his eyes as he punched so hard his glasses fell off his face and even then he still continued to punch furiously, shaking the springs and wood of the couch as he does.

Eventually after a bit he tires himself out, picking up his glasses and putting them back on and falling down on the couch, breathing heavily from exhaustion.

His mind was slowly beginning to clear up enough for him to think clearly after using up all that physical energy, he stared up at the ceiling thinking about his next course of action, he then slowly turns his head to the window near the front door, staring out at the silhouette of the cat tree which he could just barely make out at his distance and angle.

'why do I care so much..?'

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Chapter 33: Chapter 27: Crimson fish

Chapter 27: Crimson Fish
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—
After the events of yesterday Bobby and Hoppy thought it best to give Catnap some space, deciding to reschedule the apologies for another day, at least till Catnap felt as if he was ready to face anyone, especially Dogday..

He sat quietly in his cold, empty kitchen, waiting for the fish Bobby had caught for him to finish cooking over the lit stove top. However, he had never seen this type of fish before, Bobby told him she has eaten it fresh from the lake for a few weeks and she thinks Catnap will enjoy it, he laid his head onto the table, letting out a tired sigh as he stared at the lit flame beneath the skillet on his stove, the loudest noise in the whole house being the sound of the sizzling of the grease and oils coming off the fish, as he sat and waited to go check on it, as he waited. However, he picks up the strong smell of the cooking fish, causing his stomach to growl loudly.

As he kept breathing it in though he suddenly heard a familiar voice “Heratic..” his ears flintched before turning around to try and find the source of the sound only to see the walls of his kitchen was replaced with the old wooden walls of Sweet Home, his eyes widened before he immediately got up out of his chair, when he looks back he sees the same had happened, either direction of him was a long corridor that stretched out for an unknown length.

His fur stood up at its end as he covered his eyes and slowly fell into a fetal position, afraid to open his eyes to whatever his mind was forcing him to see, he didn’t want to be here…as he struggled however he heard a familiar voice call out to him from down the hall.

“Nappy?” despite his fears he peaked forward through blurry teary eyes, seeing a small blotch of orange, as his vision begins to settle he saw, Dogday…standing over him, before he could say anything Dogday ran over to him with a face of concern, Catnap flinching as the orange canine hugs him.

Out of instinct of hearing Dogday whimpering, he couldn’t help but instinctively speak “D..Dogday..?” immediately making a face of shock when he was able to talk again.

Catnap didn’t worry about it though, feeling Dogday’s vanilla scented fur embracing him after so long caused him to give in and hug him back, dampening his fur with his tears using his ability to speak to begin crying apologies at him “Dogday I’m sorry, I’m sorry i’m-” He’s cut off as Dogday pets his head not saying anything.

As they both sat hugging each other, both of their ears twitched at the sound of more voices starting off with a loud, confident voice, “See? I told you guys we’d find him.”

Catnap looks up again and sees the rest of the smilingcritters standing alongside each other.
As Catnap was about to call out to them his ears drooped down when he notices a large figure sneaking up behind them, the familiar skeletal body crawling towards them on all fours like an animal, Catnap’s eyes widen, trying to scream out to warn them but his voice went silent again.

He tried getting out of Dogday's hug but his soft fur and muscles suddenly felt as if they were replaced with solid steel, binding him still, as the large shadowed figure began releasing a red gas that looked like poppy gas all around them, the critters each slowly began coughing up their lungs when the red mist enters their bodies.

Eventually each one of the critters begins laughing mindlessly reminiscent of the sleeping episode.

The larger critter lifts one of its giant paw casting a large shadow over the smaller critters before bringing it down to crush Bubba's skull, blood exploded out from under his paw and covered the other critters, Catnap continued to struggle and scream but is only able to helplessly watch as each critter was killed, till none but Dogday and Catnap were left.

It was here Dogday finally began to move again backing up his head from Catnaps shoulder Catnap finds himself staring into the empty and lifeless sockets of a hollowed out Dogday corpse, all while still keeping that large smile on his face, hundreds of white eyes begin opening from inside Dogday before mini’s begin spewing out of Dogday burying Catnap
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Catnap snaps out of it, waking up in a panic, darting his eyes around the dark kitchen before curling up on the chair ignoring the immediate smell of burnt fish that has filled the room, he was about to start crying but this time, he only sniffled before wiping his face, he didn't deserve to cry…

He slowly gets up, walking over towards his stove to shut it off but before he could he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, his vision blurry, as he slowly moves paw to the back of his skull feeling a bleeding wound, his vision continued to get blurry before he falls over onto the ground, the last thing he hears is the sound of somebody throwing aside a glass bottle which shatters on the ground.
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Chapter 34: intermission from story

I'm probably gonna clean up the chapters a bit of any spelling errors and maybe give a bit of a Revamp, story will remain the same but certain things are probably gonna change, idk if anyone even still reads these but I'm doing it anyways