My Kingdom For A Stray

Chapter Seven

Ba-bum.

Ba-bum.

Ba-bum.

Thunder was rolling. So loud it was painful for the knight, his mind pounding with each crash. Yet still it came in rhythmic strokes.

Ba-bum.

Ba-bum.

Ba-bum.

Finally, he realized it was not the thunder of a storm, but the beating of his own heart that seemed so loud to gave him pain. Chat Noir felt as if his mind was submerged in a lake as it swirled and spun. His throat was dry as the Sahara and his body felt as stiff as a corpse.

"Kitty...?" came a timid voice, soft as a mouse. Barely audible over the noise of his own heartbeat.

Chat Noir grimaced slightly as the voice caused his heart rate to pick up. But he knew that voice anywhere... With a soft groan he forces his eyelids to crack open. It...it couldn't be true...

His emerald eyes gradually begin to open, blinking away the blurriness and pain. He was laying on a bed. A plain bed, but soft and warm nonetheless. There were no windows in the small, ordinary room but in the hearth the embers of a warm fire flickered with a gentle flame. And there, sitting on the edge of his bed besides him, a damp cloth in hand as she dabbed his forehead... was his Princess...

But no! This was just a vision. Like the one in the forest! Chat's mind and eyes were playing tricks on him. Yes. That's it! Just tricks. Just tricks of the eyes. So Chat closed them tightly, grimacing. No. He was tired of the lies and the visions. But calmly, and with some hesitation, a warm hand touches his cheek. Her thumb rubs over his cheekbone tenderly, wiping away the tear Chat Noir hadn't realized he shed.

"Kitty...please...open your eyes..."

Chat Noir shook his head stiffly, turning away. Just a trick, just a trick!! But it seemed so real... "I-it's just...just another fake...another dream..." His voice croaked. He sounded like he hadn't spoken in years.

A second hand comes to up his other cheek as now the woman forces his head to turn towards her. "Chat..." Her voice was soft, caring, and most of all, worried. Worried about him.

His eyes crack open once more, unable to take it anymore. The cat stares into her eyes, as tears began to well in his own. His face turns into her hand, and he kisses her palm. "Princess...please...is this really you...? I'm not...I'm not hallucinating with a talking butterfly again, am I...?"

The girl giggles, taking a hand away from his face to wipe away a small tear of her own. "No kitty...no butterflies...no dreams...it's me."

Chat Noir stared at her, his face mixing with so many emotions the girl could not sift through them to decipher. But she quickly learned what he felt as with a shout of joy, the knight lunged for her, his arms wrapping around her neck and shoulders firmly. He laughs like a child as he plants kisses all over the soft warm skin of her face, rocking the both of them side to side. "Princess...oh Princess! My beautiful rose!! I thought I lost you. I thought I lost you..." He sniffled, before Chat Noir buried his face into her sweet smelling hair, gentle tears falling onto her shoulder.

"Lila...I'm...I'm so sorry...forgive me Lila my love..."

The girl tensed as suddenly the young man has her entrapped in his tight embrace. But she laughs in disbelief and joy as his kisses travel all over her face. "Oh minou...you shouldn't worry about me, my love..." she cooed in response, rubbing his back tenderly. She couldn't help but grin widely in delight as his face was averted from hers. "You know a fox like me can hold my own." Chat chuckles weakly as well now, withdrawing from her shoulder as he wipes his tears away. He grinned like an idiot. But he couldn't help it! His beloved was living, breathing and okay! Oh thank the heavens she was okay...