Chapter Text
Flames crackled as they died on the cat's burnt body, searing his skin to his bone as they sizzled out. Catnap’s skin throbs with violent waves of pain as he stares towards the faceless ex-employee indifferently. He could feel the fear radiating from them.
When danger came charging at them they responded in violence. Actions will burst into violence like a match tossed into gasoline if you let your response be overtaken by fear; this is a fact that he has learned from watching himself. Maybe this ”Angel” wasn't so different from Catnap after all. They backed away slowly, their footsteps echoing off the walls. The cat does nothing but watch, there’s nothing he can do to stop them anymore. Catnap has failed to fulfil his duty, and now he must pay for it.
The cat’s gaze rises as a light casted above him. A hand descended from it, mechanical and large, sharp metal claws he was all too familiar with. Catnap reaches out desperately for the hand like a child would for its father, not a word leaving his mouth. So this was it, This is how it ends for him. He wasn’t really all that scared though, he came to the conclusion that this would happen a long time ago. The hand reaches him and skewers his head mercilessly, sending a sharp pain through the base of his skull. It all fades into nothing…
…For a blink of a second.
Catnap jolts awake, chest heaving and body aching. His breathing is jagged as he squirms in a panicked attempt to crawl from his own skin. The sudden movement accompanied by a stabbing pain in his thighs, his legs feeling too numb to move and his cuffed wrists getting tugged aggressively caused him to cease his flailing for a brief moment- wait what now? The lavender cat looks down to his hands to see that they’re shackled with cold metal bands connected by a short chain. Not only that but his legs were bandaged and bloody, which confuses him more. Catnap’s face scrunches up as he stares at the stained bandages.
“what even?-” the memories flooded back to him as if on command, bringing realization to his face.
*Oh right, I was shot in the legs multiple times two minutes after I got here, I forgot about that… where even is here anyways?
The cat asked himself, as if some unknown part of him knew.
Catnap looked around the room he was in from his spot. It’s plain and small, and seems to only have a bed, a set of drawers, and a desk. The desk, drawers and bed frame were made out of dark wood, presumably dark oak. The floorboards are the same material as the furniture, so is the wall trim and ceiling. On the ceiling is a dimly lit light, it’s easy on the eyes and gently flickers from time to time. The walls had a vintage dark grey wallpaper on them, the floral pattern on them is a nice change of pace from the ones he used to stare at. The sheets of the bed are white, so is the blanket, both are soft and still warm from when he was asleep. There’s a small window to the side of the bed he’s on, it's rimmed with black metal and the glass is old and tinted a shade too dark. Catnap decides to move to it. He sits there in silence, breathing in the smell of wood and dust as he recovers from his daze.
* It’s raining out there…
The cat stares blissfully into the rain, listening to it tap on the windows more intently then how anyone would listen to a conversation. But his calm is interrupted by the sound of voices outside the door.
“You think he’s awake?” the feminine voice asks in a flat tone that’s hard to read. Catnap tenses up, eyes widening upon hearing her voice. There's a brief silence, some clinking, and a sigh before a deeper voice responds
“Only one way to find out.”
*Oh fuck-
The lock on the door clicks and unlocks.
*SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT-
The door swings open to two people the cat was not prepared to face just yet, Dogday and Crafty.
The unicorn walks in quietly while the canine leans on the door frame, both look much different from how Catnap remembers.
Crafty’s long faded-cyan hair trails behind her as she enters the small room. Crafty is wearing a crochet grey sweater that goes off her shoulders, a long wavy skirt that elegantly swirled at her ankles, off-white wool socks, and black dress shoes that made a very nice tapping sound when she walked. The unicorn’s pendant was the same, only smaller and on a string. Her left eye was covered by a medical eyepatch, her right eye has an odd red glint in it. She’s tall and slender, skin still paper white. Crafty seems less shy and more vacant, a bit distant and woozy. She also smells a bit funny, like the cigarettes some of the workers used to smoke.
Dogday looks taller, and muscular? The lavender cat couldn’t tell, he was too busy trying not to stare so much. He’s wearing a grey shirt, a blue jacket with a fluffy hoodie rim, a dark red knitted scarf, black jeans, and scuffed up red converse. The canine’s fur is messy, his eyes are a crimson red that bored holes into Catnap the more the dog stared at him. Dogday had a smile on his face but the cat knows it's far from a genuine one.
Crafty’s gaze lands on Catnap, her face devoid of any fear, anger, or sorrow. She slowly trots over to the lavender feline
“Hi. I see you're awake now,” she says to him blankly. Catnap shifts uncomfortably, feeling unnerved by the unicorn's lack of visible distaste for him. Crafty holds out a bag of items to Catnap, who reluctantly takes it from her hooves.
“It’s just a sketch book and some art supplies, I thought you should have some stuff to do in case you get bored since you're gonna be in this room for a while.”
Catnap tilts his head in confusion. Before he can even summon up the courage to ask what she meant, the cyan haired mare left the room, leaving the cat with the one person he wanted to be left with the least.
“Long time no see, cat.” the canines smile twitches.
*Well damn, only a few hours alive again and I’m already screwed. Welp, it was nice knowing you, world I've seen 0.000001% of.
Dogday doesn’t move until Crafty is far from the room the two are in. Then he makes his way towards Catnap, who immediately starts moving away like a squirrel about to be chased by a fox. The feline’s pupils shrink as he’s approached by the dog, tensing up as his blood runs cold.
“I’m gonna make this as clear as I can, Okay?” Dogday began as he cornered the other in the room with him. Catnap’s wrists are then grabbed and slammed into the wall above him. The cat feels himself get pushed into the wall as his head is forced to look up at the so-called; sunny leader of the smiling critters.
“You will be following my rules if you don’t want your legs permanently damaged, and if you dare try to leave or cause shit I swear to god I will make you suffer.” Dogday tugs Catnap’s face closer to his, eyes locked with eachothers.
“Understood?” the dog growls menacingly. There's a moment of suffocating silence between the two. The lavender feline’s fear subsided and the orange canine’s smile was flat. Catnap could feel Dogday’s breath on his face and started feeling hot.
*I think I might just die again.
“Yep…” Catnap replies sheepishly after a whole minute of stunned silence.
“Good kitty,” Dogday smiles, contently patting the cat on the head. He leans away and takes a key out of his pocket, the key is inserted into a slot on the handcuffs, still gripping Catnap’s wrists tightly. The metal bands are taken off the feline's wrists carefully, and his wrists are dropped from the canine's crushing grasp. Dogday gets back up and briskly walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Catnap is left frozen in place, replaying what just happened in his head over and over again before coming to a conclusion;
*This is gonna be a mess...