Here, Kitty, Kitty

Go Hard or Go Home

Warnings; 
. Swearing
. Violence I guess? I don't know I'm just being careful.
This is a pretty dark-ish chapter and it does get a bit intense-ish towards the end. So, yeah, here's a warning.

It was nearing eight o'clock when Cassie found the courage to travel back into pirate territory. The sun would be setting soon and - since she had very little idea on how to get back to where she'd put her 'stash' that morning, she knew she'd need the extra time to safely locate her belongings.

Despite the fear-inducing start she'd made to the day, the oncoming hours had been rather uneventful. It had taken the little cat almost an hour to finally find her way back into the middle of the Isle, another hour after being taken up by her growing curiosity to see the damage done that night. The Isle had returned to normal - much to her relief, but even now many of the residents were still cleaning up outside their homes or stores, nailing wood and raggedy old blankets to the glassless windows. Doors were replaced, and trash was thrown out into the alleyways, cluttering the already hard-to-move areas. And Cassie had seen more theft today than ever before, shop owners desperate to reclaim whatever they'd lost during the night, and sneaky little homeless pests jumping at the chance to finally steal something useful. It wasn't as chaotic as it had been during the night before, but it was a little hectic.

After all the turmoil she'd had to face Cassie had stumbled her way back into Bargain Castle, taking her usual route since she hadn't been too sure if the castle's owners were home or not. She'd soon found that they weren't, since she heard neither Maleficent's yells nor Mal's grumbles from the bedrooms, and though the two evil fairies being gone unsettled Cassie she'd been much too tired to even give it a second thought. The little cat had simply climbed back up into her hideaway and curled up in a ball on the assortment of blankets she'd dragged up there when she first 'moved in', falling asleep within seconds.

Much to Cassie's surprise, she found it to be four o'clock in the afternoon when she finally woke up. She hardly ever slept that long, but she'd had to remind herself that her late-night 'walk' had been more difficult than usual, and it had left her utterly overwhelmed. But luckily for her, she was her own boss, so to speak. She did what she wanted when she wanted. She had no friends or family to go and see during the day or night. She was free. She only had to look out for herself and that was how she liked it.

That's what she told herself, anyway. Having no one to rely on was rather relieving in its own way, after all, it made keeping herself safe that much easier. But with her freedom came loneliness. Every once in a while it would hit her, filling her chest with an awful heartache. It usually came when she was about to fall asleep on her 'bed', her thoughts often straying down a darker path when she was trying so hard to relax. The memories of her father were still fresh in her mind, long nights of him telling her all about his antics and trouble-making in Wonderland keeping her younger self utterly captivated. He'd told her about the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, and he'd even told her about a young blonde girl who'd made the mistake of falling down a rabbit hole. Whatever she asked of him he'd do it, whether it was telling her another story about Wonderland, explaining the magic he could do outside of the barrier, and even going as far as to take her on trips around the Isle. Nothing was off limits.

Cassie still remembered the day it all changed. She recounted how scared she'd been, but also how excited she'd felt at the idea of having something in common with her only living relative. But he hadn't been happy. The look he gave her that day would forever be burned into her mind, his reluctance to even look at her or even speak still hurting her in ways nothing else could. It didn't matter to her that she knew full well why he'd been that way. It was only natural for him to pray every night that his daughter wouldn't somehow inherit the curse placed upon him before he was chucked into the Isle, but by a stroke of misfortune Cassie had inherited it, and - for whatever reason, her father hadn't been in the right frame of mind to deal with it responsibly.