Traitors and Roses- Animal Jam Story

VII.

Snowflake knew it was a bad idea from the beginning. You don't just march into a phantom prison like that. If you have to go in, you sneak in. But nooooo!

Even though she could have stopped this from happening, she was still a pushover about it. Can't stand up for herself, her safety, her friends... She hated herself for it. She pulled down her star hat over her eyes.

"Snowflake. I know that look," Major placed his paw on her shoulder. "Nothing that just happened is your fault."

She buried her face in her hands, mumbling, "We should have snuck in... I knew this... I didn't even tell you..."

"We all make mistakes, Snowflake. It's alright. You're shy, and that's fine. You just have to remember that we're your friends, no matter what you say to us," Major whispered back, sensing she didn't want Legit or Mythical to hear.

He's a really good listener.

Then, suddenly, he slipped up on the weird purple goop dripping onto the cracked grey stone floor, seeping into the cracks. Major fell flat on his face, making goop get all over his red-and-black fur, sticking to his sword, and getting under his claws and in his eyes.

He got up and stormed over the the bars keeping them in this slimy cell. "Y'know, if you're gonna lock people in prisons for no reason whatsoever, you might want to clean them first, jerks!" He yelled at the phantom patrolling outside, shaking his paw through the bars, curled into a fist angrily.

The phantom laughed, its mouth separating unnaturally, dripping like the goop in the walls. Its laugh was a malicious, horrible thing, and chilled the animals to the bone. "Idiots. You'll never get out anyway!" It guffawed, and went back to its station, its villainous laughter still ringing in their ears.

That's when Mythical spoke up. "We have to do something about this."

But, typically, no one had any ideas.

Not. even. one.

After a long silence, Legit slipped off his phantom mask, still crying. "I-it's my f-fau-ault th-that you'r-re even h-hic-here i-in the f-fir-irst p-place..."

Major, who had spent the silence wiping ugly purple goop off of himself, got mad. "This. Is. Not. Your. Fault." He growled. "If anything, it's the phantom's fault for being jerks. It isn't your fault, so don't even think that for a second! We are here because of phantoms. Not Legit, not Snowflake, not me, or Mythical, or even the person we're looking for! So stop moping, man up, wipe your eyes, and start thinking of how to get out! C'mon, buck up!"

His outburst jarred the animals, who felt depressed and hopeless. Legit wiped his tears with a flipper.

"I'm waiting to hear a master escape plan! Don't dawdle!" Major said, jokingly this time.

A smile spread across Legit's face, hope beginning to ignite in his eyes. The corners of Snowflake's mouth turned up, determination dawning on her face. Mythical's posture straightened, her tail beginning to wag some.

"Yeah. Let's do this." Legit announced, ready to kick some phantom butt.

Of course, Snowflake thought differently.

"Legit, how distracting are you?" she asked, out of the blue.

He faked being appalled. "Me? Distracting? Never!" He had on very fancy clothes now, acting uptight and haughty.

He was gaining a small audience already. Snowflake understood what he was doing, and pulled Mythical into the act. "Well, I think you are very distracting, sir. In fact, I bet Mythical does, too!" Mythical and Legit ended up improvising a scene, causing all the guards to desert their posts in interest of what they were doing.

Snowflake crept away to the corner, where Major was trying to cut the bars with his pirate sword. Snowflake put a claw up to her mouth, meaning to be quiet, then motioned for him to follow her. Creeping along the wall, they came to a different section of the bars, and she tugged on one to show that it was lose. She put her claw to her mouth again, and pantomimed pulling the bar free. Major gripped the bar, looked back at the distracted phantoms, and then tugged it free.

Mythical took the cue to do a loud, grand death scene. "Blood! Blood! And, death!" She boomed, falling to the floor, colored so she looked bloody and dying.

Major quickly hid the bar he'd pulled free, and Snowflake and Major crept back to the performance site.

"Show's over, people! Back to work! Chop chop!" Major announced.

The phantoms trudged back to their posts, none of them noticing the missing bar.

And suddenly, the animals turned to Snowflake.

"What are you looking at me for?!" She asked, not liking the attention.

Legit explained, "I can't fit between the bars. Major can't, and Mythical can't. Mythical told me your body mass is mostly fur, too, so you can fit easily. Plus, you're a fox. You sneak around the best. You have to go out there."

"N-no!" She argued, "N-not me! I can't fight phantoms!"

"You only have to get the key and unlock the door," Major reassured her.

"Plus, you're not hard to miss. You're super secretive and quiet! Look at how well you handled that!" Mythical continued, gesturing to the missing bar.

Snowflake shook her head, as if trying to dislodge her doubt. "Alright. I'm going. Try to distract them."

Legit, Major, and Mythical nodded, as she headed for the small gap and climbed into the hall of the prison.

Creeping along the walls and sticking to the shadows, Snowflake wasn't seen, and she made sure of it. Staying out of phantom watchers' line of sight, from guards' circle of attention, from the dim light that illuminated the halls. The cracked floor did not make noise when her padded feet landed on it, and it carried Snowflake easily. Eavesdropping, she found where the keys were, and made it unseen to the armory. Following phantoms silently and swiftly, she made it inside, nabbed the keys from the hook it stayed on, and crept back to the cell her friends were in.

Slipping back through the bars and returning to her friends, she tapped Legit on the shoulder.

The animals were sleeping, Legit propped up in a corner by the missing bar, Major in the middle of the floor, and Mythical on an old, creaky wooden board hanging from the wall on a rusted chain. ("Sorry, we dozed off, it's been a long time since we all last slept.") She showed Legit the keys, which she had hidden in her tail.

"How are you so quiet?" He asked, a look of bewilderment and joy lighting up his face like a campfire.

Snowflake did not answer, instead she slept. But she did have an answer.

I mastered the art of invisibility a long time ago.

~~~

This one's for the people who recently read and voted and followed me for this story! The fact that you guys left your AJ game to read this! I understand you were hopelessly trying to find a way to get a free black long, but this is better!

I think.

But thanks anyway! It means a lot to me!