Hybrid Discovery [SKZ fanfiction]| Lee Felix and Bang Chan

Catnap-Kidnap. All for a good cause, right?

Two updates this week!
Be prepared for this long part!
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This is the first time he locked her up. She tried to pry the door open in her human form, but gave up after a few tries. The only other thing she could do was wait. Maybe Jeon Sora would be back in a few hours and let her out of the room. He always comes back. Although, these last few days he's been gone longer than before.
The evening she talked with the neighbors about not being "Chan" she came back home, finding out granny was having problems breathing. Jeon Sora brought her to a doctor, but granny didn't come back after that. That's a few weeks back now. Mimu knows something's wrong, but there's nothing she can do about it. Humans get sick all the time. They go to something called a hospital or visit a doctor and get better after some time. There's no such thing for hybrids. If she gets sick, she has to get better by herself. She knows there are doctors for hybrids, but those don't "heal" their patiënts. They are scary, torturous and only curious about researching hybrids. Not helping them.
There's nothing but the window which indicates the time of passing. Mimu's seen the sun rise and go down again. Her stomach is growling and she misses the feasts she got to eat with the neighbors. Being hungry isn't new to her. Being thirsty though... Cats can go days without water, but humans can't even survive two days without. That means she has to stay in her cat form to prevent dehydration at all costs. Still, after what she thinks is the third, maybe fourth day, her head is dizzy and the head splitting headache won't stop. She tries mewling at the door, but it doesn't seem like there's anyone home. By the fifth night she's lying curled up in the corner of the bedroom. Too tired to lift a muscle, asking herself where her owner went.
This hasn't been the first time feeling this miserable. Mimu thinks back to the time she was a mere streetcat. Barely fifteen, escaped from one hell to another. Wandered days around till she was in the city, forced to be in her cat form as people were cautious of naked people wandering around apparently. Walking around the streets, getting yelled at by people, fleeing into dark alleyways before collapsing behind some cardboard boxes. It was then she felt the same symptoms she feels right now. The difference? She was outside. There were others. A group of stray cats found her and one of them took pity on her. The female cat had just lost her litter and her mother instincts kicked in seeing the poor little kitten. After that she learned how cruel the world could be to those who don't have an owner. She also learned being a street cat was much safer than being a hybrid. Wild hybrids got captured and transferred to something called a hybrid shelter. She never saw a hybrid leave the place, but she witnessed how every so often people working there would throw out stuff. Old collars, pieces of fur and worst of all, bones and ashes. She knew it was no "shelter". It was a place to dispose of unwanted hybrids. Hence she stayed as a cat.
But this time, she is inside. There are no others who can rescue her. She's secluded from the world, getting weaker by the minute. Every time she falls asleep, it gets harder to wake up. She's at the point she doesn't want to. Being awake equals being in pain. Hunger, thirst, the pounding in her head. Her nose is all skimpy and her tongue feels like it shriveled up in her mouth.
So tired... Being asleep she can dream about the nice things. Jolanda who gave her hugs. The nice little treats she got from here. Or the grooming sessions the mother cat who took her in at age fifteen gave her. Hated at the time, now a warm memory. She misses the pancakes from neighbor Felix. His warm pats and the pure dedication to care for all his hybrids. Heck, she even misses the glaring stares the reptile hybrid gives her when she tries to see what he is reading.
Yes, sleeping is better. She almost dozes off, but gets woken up by a picking sound. Something flies in front of the window. Mimu tries to focus, but her head keeps falling down on her paws. The picking intensifies. It's a bird, slamming its wings and beak against the window in the room. Jeongin, she thinks. How did he find her? The Jackdaw claws at the window, trying to keep her attention, but she's too tired to do something. Come on, Mimu, get up. She has to gather all her energy to get up on her paws, only to fall down again. If she could make it to the window, she could try to open it.
The Jackdaw flies away, going back to his home to get help, she hopes. Mimu grunts at herself to muster up every bit of energy she has left. It will take a toll, but if she can shift for a second... It takes two seconds. She turns into a human and regrets it immediately. The burning sensation in her body intensifies. If she could puke, she would, but there's nothing except gall in her empty stomach. With shaking hands she grabs the window and pries her fingers under the frame to lift it up. It doesn't give in that easily as the room almost always stays shut. Old paint and mold stains her hands as she manages to lift the frame a little. With a big grunt the window opens and with a small gasp she falls back, shifting into her cat form and grasping with her claws into the window sill. The wind is strong and if she's not careful, she will fall down. Cats may land on their paws, but she's a hybrid and not one for testing that theory out. She slowly loses her grip on the window sill and lets herself fall back into the room. Heavily panting and shaking she looks up a last time before passing out.

'Hyung! Hyung! I found her!'
Jeongin is yelling on the balcony for his friends to open the glass door. For once he remembered they don't keep the door open for him. Changbin and Chan shoot up from the couch and hurry over to him.
'Jeon, what do you mean? Where?!' Chan is all over him and the young Jackdawn has to push him away so he can get in.
'She's in their house. In the bedroom at the back,' he pants.
They've been searching for her the past few days. At first they thought she was just chilling at her own house, but after day three they got concerned. She has been visiting them almost every day for the last few weeks and although she sometimes vanished for one or two days, she always popped up after that. Being gone for five consecutive days made them wonder if something happened. And Jeongin's gut instincts were right. She couldn't have been far, but she's good at hiding. She proved that multiple times when they played hide and seek with Han. Hyunjin said that maybe she didn't want to be found, but his voice betrayed him. Even he thought it was weird for the cat hybrid to simply vanish.
Changbin had been sniffing around, but to no avail. Her trail only led to the neighbor's front door and there stopped the trail. Felix tried to visit the neighbors on the fourth day, but nobody seemed home again to everyone's frustration.
'It seems she's locked up,' he says to the two older hybrids who are already discussing why she's not coming over. Especially Chan seems on edge when he hears him say that.
'Locked up? You mean she can't leave the room?'
Jeongin nods and thinks back at how she tried to get over to him, to the window. That gives him an idea. 'I need your help. Both of you,' he says as he steps back on the balcony. 'I think I can reach far enough to bring her here.'
His brain is working with full efficiency. The boys behind him not understanding what he means, but following him nonetheless. Jeongin turns back in his bird form and flies back to the window where he saw Mimu's. To his surprise the window is now open a little. Enough for him to get inside. He lands on the window sill and squiggles himself inside. The room is dark and smells like mold. The wallpaper curls up in some places on the walls and there's dust everywhere. He sees Mimu in the corner and quickly hops over to her. She's breathing, but not reacting to him. He looks over to the bedroom door and makes the decision. He turns into a human, shivering when his bare feet touch the dirty ground, and walks over to the door. He was right, the door is locked. With utmost care he picks her up in his arms, not trying to think he's holding a girl against his bare skin, and walks back to the window.
'Hyung?'
It's not even a few meters for him to reach the railing of their balcony and he wishes he was strong enough to just fly her over. Chan and Changbin hang over the railing, looking at their youngest with the black cat hybrid in his arms.
'Can you grab your leash, Changbin? And a basket or bag or something?' he yells at his friends who hurry back inside in search of the requested items. After a moment they come back with the leather leash Felix uses to take Changbin out on walks. They throw it towards him and after a third attempt he catches the leash. They hang a small basket on the leash and Chan holds his arm up to slide it towards Jeongin who places Mimu with care in the basket.
'Lower!' he yells to his friends.
The basket glides little by little over to them, but there's friction between the leathery material and the basket, making it wobble dangerously.
'A little bit more!' Chan says and Jeongin stretches himself as far as possible. Just when Changbin grabs the basket he accidentally pulls on the leash. Jeongin gets pulled forward and the three of them yell as Jeongin falls out of the window.
'Jeongin!' Changbin is the loudest and Chan pulls him back before he falls as well with Mimu in his arms. Jeongin sees the ground coming closer. Within seconds he's flying again in his bird form and with a not so elegant landing he stumbles with the other two on the balcony.
'What's all the commotion?'
Chan pulls them inside and closes the glass door with a smack as they hear one of the downstairs neighbors yell.
'That was a close call,' Changbin huffs, pulling Jeongin up from the floor. He's still clutching on the basket and hands it over to Chan, not knowing what to do for the cat.
'I'll wake Minho,' he says whilst running off to the second bedroom.
Chan places the basket on the kitchen table and slowly picks up the unconscious hybrid.
'Oh fuck, oh fuck,' Chan repeats as he feels how frail she is. 'No no no- Changbin, hurry up!'
Changbin comes back with a bewildered Minho and Han in his footsteps. Han gasps when he sees Mimu and quickly hurries to the bathroom to gather their first aid kit.
'Where did you find her?' Minho asks.
'She's been locked up in her own home. Her owners were not there, I think,' Jeongin explains, thinking back to the dirty room.
It's not Minho, but Hyunjin who pops up beside them and takes her out of Chan's arms. Leaving all of them bewildered with his actions.
'She's dehydrated. We need a saline solution.' He touches her chin and feels for a pulse. 'She's weak, but nothing major. If we get her to drink, she'll be alright.'
Minho is already busy mixing water with a bit of salt and Changbin hurries over to their fridge in search of some isotopic drinks. 'None left. I'll go get some downstairs,' he states, hurrying over to the hallway to pick up his collar.
'Shouldn't we wake Felix first?' Han asks panicky.
'We can handle this. Lix needs his sleep. He's been awake the past few days,' Hyunjin replies sternly.
Their owner was worried sick over the absence of the cat hybrid which made the Slow Worm hybrid think he already adopted her in their lives. Something he wasn't that fond of, but couldn't blame him for. Seeing her in this state awakening his medical side. Hyunjin has the experience of taking care of other animals. Mostly reptiles and amphibians, but he read up enough about mammals as well. A few years ago he escaped his habitat and got wounded whilst being out in the forest. Felix was the one who found him and brought him back to his original owner, Doctor Jonathan Zeeps. Apparently Felix and him had met a few times as they started talking immediately. Hyunjin was puzzled by their heated discussion. Doctor Zeeps had tried to get Hyunjin in his human form for years to no avail as Hyunjin simply didn't understand how to transform. With Felix he was able to and that led them to come to a deal where Felix became his owner and Doctor Zeeps would be his personal researcher. Hyunjin had to come back to his original owner a few times a week to let the Doctor do his research on him. Things he already did before Hyunjin transformed in his human form, but now was able to investigate even further.
Eventually Doctor Zeeps and Hyunjin became friends as the old researcher teached him about his work. The doctor, herpetologist by night, had day jobs varying from capturing reptiles and amphibians which were causing problems in people's homes to operating ones that were brought to him. Something like an allround doctor. At first Hyunjin simply joined him when he was called up for some wack job, but with the ability to finally talk he got curious about the doctor's work and started to ask questions. With his knowledge of reptilian behavior - as he partly was one himself - he became an indispensable part of Doctor Zeeps' animal control jobs. In return, Hyunjin got to learn how to work as an assistant when they had to take care of a sick animal. Hence why his instincts kicked in seeing the black cat hybrid.

'Get me some towels and a tub of warm water,' he orders the others around him.
Together they work to get the cat hybrid to drink some liquid and wipe her down as her fur is dirty from laying on the ground in the room in the other apartment.
'I got the drinks and some energy jelly,' Changbin places a plastic bag on the table.
'We need to wake her up first,' Hyunjin replies whilst holding her head up to make her swallow. 'Mimu, open your eyes, please.'
'Chan, stop biting your nails. Let Hyunjin take care of her,' Minho reprimands the other cat hybrid who's one big ball of nerves.
He can't take his eyes off her. Flashbacks from his time at the lab come back and Minho verbally has to pull him out of his thoughts. No, they're not at that place. She'll be alright. He has to trust his family. He knows. Chan knows she's in good hands, but can't shake the images of the countless animals, on the brink of their death, being in similar states as the feline in front of him.
'Chan, Chan! Bang Chan!' Minho pulls him by the arm. 'Get it together, will you? Look, she's already waking up.'
They look at Mimu who slowly raises her head to cough when Hyunjin forces another gulp of water in her mouth.
'Easy there,' Hyunjin shushes her, wiping her snout with the end of a towel.
She seems to panic for a moment, but relaxes after her eyes meet Chan's. He nods at her and she closes her eyes, letting Hyunjin help her with drinking.