A mystery in St. Louis (a Lackadaisy fanfic)

Collecting all the clues

Rocky's POV

After discovering Joker's body, I was too tired to continue and the five of us dragged our cold pelts back to Francis's house. Bluebeard collapsed onto a soft cushion and fell asleep almost at once. For once, I envied him right at that moment.

I settled down on the couch and to my surprise, Francis settled down next to me, our pelts brushing up against each other. I stared at her as she washed her front paws for a moment, then I laid my head down and closed my eyes. The darkness of sleep overcame me, and I slipped off into a dream.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a place, nowhere that could be identified—only a void of clouds and mist. The shadowed mist would also come by, giving the place a deep feeling. This was different from my other dreams. It was calmer, yet it still had that need of great importance.

"Ah, Roarke..." A gentle voice spoke out and a shape appeared through the mist. Then two sparkling objects appeared and turned out to be eyes. At first, they appeared to be the yellow eyes from all my dreams, but when the figure drew closer, I found they were kinder and belonged to a cat.

The cat had long perfect white fur that hurt to look at directly, like the sun. His eyes were glowing jewels, and his was larger than mine and looked more powerful, yet he seemed to be filled with kindness and nothing else. I recognized him, even if this was a dream, and he was just my imagination, he was Frith. The cat from the story I had learned long ago.

"You're the cat who died to save everything." I said and he nodded and said "Yes, I am. And I am so much more than that now. I am the message from everything to you."

"What?" I asked curious and then he gave me a sorrow-filled look and then spoke.

"This world is Corrupted, Roarke. Life is full of Hate, Loss, Misery, Agony, Sorrow, Mistrust, Lies, Evil, Stupidity, Greed, Envy, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Wrath, Pride, Darkness, Death, Torment, Poison, Venom, Disasters, Illness, and Backstabbing. All imperfections of life... And yet, in the hearts of Felidae everywhere... we always seem to find some light to guide our way... just like you can..."

His words seemed to say exactly what they meant. I gave him a nod and said "I know... but how can I? I may be next on the killer's list! Or Francis! They already took so many lives!"

"Because you must put the puzzle together. The killer is the puzzle and he wants you to solve it." Frith said and then I titled my head and said "How? Each day it seems everything becomes more complicated!"

"Complicated because you're overlooking it." Frith said and then added, "Think back to what you know about it all, where it started and where it might have ended." It became quiet and then Frith leaned forward and whispered "Learn from Mankind's mistakes, follow the plan of Claudandus, and choose what is best for us, the Felidae..."

I looked at him and then he turned and started to walk off, fading into the mist. As he started to disappear he called back to me and said "And be careful Rocky! Or the world shall cry for you as well..."

-Reality-

All at once I opened my eyes and I was back in Francis's house. Beside me Francis slept away, Bluebeard doing the same. Freckle and Ivy are on the couch across doing the same. I lifted my head and thought back to the dream.

"Learn from mankind's mistakes; follow the plan of Claudandus..." I repeated to myself. 'Plan of Claudandus...'

Francis started to stir awake, "Rocky what is it?" she asked with a yawn.

"You know how you've been having dreams since the case started?" she nodded, "Well, I had a dream of my own."

She perked up, "What did it tell you?" she asked.