9 Lives too Many

A/N: I love this movie. I love the characters. So why not torture them a bit? Especially Kitty? I know, I am in need of my own ethical bug.

I don't think it was ever mentioned how many lives Kitty has, right? So she still has 9 in this. It's going to be a long time before she's reunited with Puss.

He dies on their trip to Far Far Away. This takes place a while after that.

xxxx

Finding the crystal cave had been a complete happenstance. Kitty hadn't even really been looking for the cave but when she did find it, she hadn't been able to resist entering.

She remembers that Puss had never been clear about what had happened in the cave he'd gotten trapped in and then ran out of, ignoring her and Perrito when they called out to him. She's confused about its similar appearance to the Cave of Lost Souls; she thought it had only been unique to Puss like the other landscapes of the map that had appeared depending on who touched it. Maybe Death is able to travel between variations of the cave in different locations, not just in the Dark Forest.

Whatever the case, now that she's discovered a trail, she has to find him.

If she finds Death...she's sure to find Puss.

The wolf finds her first not long after she treads inside. He's suddenly standing right in front of her, but she doesn't move a muscle. Not a lot of things scare her these days.

She knows that he knows who she's there for.

"Bring him back!" she screams loudly as her tired voice will allow, but Death remains silent.

He doesn't even flinch when she raises her sword at him. She might not be able to do him much harm, but she can try.

Death stares back at her, like he's waiting for her to make the first move. Her paw holding the sword trembles.

He continues staring at her, unblinking. Unmoving. Challenging her.

Her sword drops to the cave floor, making a loud clattering sound that pierces her ears, but she doesn't care.

She can feel the tears streaming down her face already as she drops down onto her knees, unable to look at the afterimages of her special moments with Puss, especially when he had proposed for the second time. She hadn't hesitated to say yes now that he had changed. He hadn't loved just himself anymore. She knew that she could trust him with her whole heart and that he wouldn't abandon their wedding once again.

She still hasn't taken the ring off. It almost physically hurts to even look at, but she doesn't dare remove it even though he broke his promise not to abandon her again like he had at the church.

They could have had a whole life together, but the crystal showing the possibility of a family is the worst. She can't look at their children who will never come to be any longer. Puss would have made such a great father, but her? She doesn't want to know what kind of mother she would have been.

She wants to be angry, so angry...but she can't be.

Not when it's all her fault.

He left her a second time, but not of his own accord.

The pain of it all is too much for her aching heart to bear. She remains on her knees, refusing to look up at the entity before her.

She's Kitty Softpaws. She never cries—she pushes through.

But her beloved's passing is something she just doesn't think she can bring herself to handle, every day without him like a knife stabbing her directly in the heart.