A True Companion

Consequences

     The teacher, Mr. Willis, screams were barely audible while Indie was trying to comprehend all that had happened within the past couple minutes. She'd killed someone, her companion was the same as the Rogue Rutskan. Did that make her a rogue as well? 

     The black panther was standing between her and the teacher, teeth bared and a low growl coming from it's mouth. It was protecting her. Mr. Willis stepped further into the room and the panther swiped at him, barely missing. He held his hands up in front of him, as if to show peace, and the door shut behind him. His companion animal, a monkey, was sitting on his shoulders. 

     'We could kill him too, you know. It would be easy,'  A female voice came out of nowhere. She looked around and behind herself, not seeing the voice anywhere. Then, she looked to the panther that stood in front of her, realization dawning on her. It was the animal speaking to her, through telepathy or something. It was telling her to kill Mr. Willis like she'd killed Nicholai.

     "No, that was different! It was an accident, it was self-defense! He meant to kill me," Indie yelled toward the panther. Mr. Willis stood there, watching her in shock and horror as he looked from her to her companion. 

     "Back up! I need back up in the restroom!" He called out to no one in particular. 

     'We must strike now, while there is no one else. Indie, listen to me, we need to kill him and get out of here,' The voice, said, louder this time, angrier. Indie shook her head over and over again. No, she wouldn't kill someone on purpose, it went against everything that she knew. The bathroom door swung open again, this time bringing in two more of the teachers. Mrs. Miller and her cat, Mr. Wayne and his cheetah. He is the warrior in charge of training, and Indie had heard that he could be really strict when it was called for. 

     "What is going on here?" Mr. Wayne demanded. He looked from the panther to me, then finally to the two limp bodies that were Nicholai and his snake. 

     "She killed them! The animal is proof enough! She needs to be lynched!" Mr. Willis said. Mrs. Miller shook her head, either in denial or just out of pity, and spoke her mind. 

     "No, we need to take her to trial, allow her to explain herself. I know Indie, she would never kill someone. She isn't the type," 

     "You're looking at it right now, and you still think she's innocent? We have all the proof right here," Mr. Wayne said, turning to Mrs. Miller with a disgusted look on his face. 

     'We must go, now, Indie. They intend to kill us. We must go, or we must kill them all. You decide the course of action, and I will follow through to the end,' The panther said, whining as it spoke. Indie shook her head. 

     "I already said it, I'm not a killer. I won't kill innocent people," She said out loud again. 

     "Well, you seem to have a lot of evidence stacked against you, young lady," Wayne said, turning towards her. 

     "No, it was self defense! He sent his snake after me because I didn't have my animal yet, he thought I was a spy," 

     "Likely story. Isn't that how murderers always plead? 'Oh self defense, I didn't mean to shoot that guy in the head seventeen times, he came after me first,' Well, I for one, don't believe you. You'll need to try harder than that," He began to move closer to Indie, and the panther lashed out at him, growling low in it's throat. 

     'Leave her ALONE!' It's voice echoed in Indie's mind, louder than anything she'd heard before. She put her hands over her ears, as if that would help anything. The voice wasn't out in the open, it was inside her head. Nothing she did could block it out. 

     The panther swiped at Mr. Wayne, but he dodged it easily and pulled something out of his belt buckle. It looked like a gun. In horror, Indie jumped up and in front of the panther. She didn't know what she was doing, really. She just knew that she didn't want harm to come to the creature that was now behind her. 

     'That is not a wise move, you're easier to grab now. I need to protect you, Indie,' She ignored the voice as well as she could and stood her ground. 

     "Don't hurt her," She said calmly. She had no clue where this calming feeling came from, she just knew that she was doing the right thing. The panther said that she needed to protect her, but she needed to protect it as well. She felt that, down to her very soul. 

     "Get out of the way, that is a dangerous animal right there, and we need to get rid of it," Wayne said, aiming the gun in his hands at the animal behind her, but she continued to move and block his path. 

     "Dangerous or not, it's my animal and I need to protect it," 

     At that moment, everything happened too quickly. Mr. Willis jumped to the left and shot something past her to the panther. Indie whipped around quickly to see the panther teetering around on it's paws until it fell over onto the floor. No, this couldn't happen. She ran to the panther before anyone could stop her and did a quick examination. She didn't see any blood, just a needle sticking out of it's fur. 

     "I put it to sleep, don't worry. We don't want to kill it just yet anyways, we need to wait for the trial like Mrs. Miller said. Put the damn gun away, Stark," Mr. Willis said, putting his own weapon into his pocket. Indie was clutching the panther's fur and cried silently. Even now that the panther was out cold, she still blocked it with her body until someone came up behind her and picked her up with ease. It was Mrs. Miller, she cradled Indie as if she were a newborn baby while Mr. Willis picked up the panther. Indie kicked and struggled to get out of the woman's grasp to no avail. She had no clue Mrs. Miller was this strong. 

     "Let's take them to the jail to await trial. She doesn't have a companion small enough to fit through the bars, so it's fine to put them in the same cell to save room," Stark Wayne announced, following closely behind Mr. Willis, his own tranquilizer gun aimed at the panther in case it woke up. 

     Eventually, Indie gave up the struggling because she was just exhausted from the days events. She'd come to school embarrassed because she didn't have her companion yet, and she left school a murderer. How does that happen to someone? 

     When they got to the jail, they threw her and the panther into the cell and slammed the door shut. Looking at her surroundings, all she saw was a toilet and a bed. She tried her hardest to pick the panther up and put it onto the bed so it could be more comfortable, but she couldn't, it was just too heavy. After several failed attempts, she gave up and curled into a ball on the bed and let the tears fall.

. . . . . . 

     'Where are we! How did we get here! We need to get out!' Was what she woke up to. She groggily looked around and spotted her companion throwing itself at the door of the cell, trying to break it open. 

     "Listen, stop. We can't escape. I killed someone, I deserve to be here," Indie said sadly. 

     'That's crazy. We need to get out of here and run. There's more out there for you,' 

     "First of all, if we ran, we'd be considered traitors to the clan and we would never be able to come back. Second, we can't even get out. Those are iron bars, nothing is going to break them," She shrank down further into the bed and held her knees in her arms. "What's your name? When we die, I want to die knowing you're name," Indie sniffled. 

     'We will not die, I won't allow it. My name is Agbara. When they come back to take you to trial, I will deal a lethal blow and take as many of them out as I can. Then, we will run and get out of here. I don't care how far we have to go, I will get you out of here alive, Indie,' 

     "No, don't kill any more people, Agbara. That isn't what I want!" Agbara didn't say anything for a while after that. She just continued to pace the small room, back and forth. Indie wasn't sure what she was doing, but the sound of her claws on the hard floor was comforting. Then, Agbara's ears stood on end and she hunched down low and began growling. 

    "Don't worry! I came to get you guys out!" A voice called before opening the door to the cell. The person who opened it was hidden in the shadows until she walked out and came face to face with them. She gasped at who she saw standing in the doorway, a shy smile planted on his face.