Lucy and the Definitive... Cat?

Cats and Ravens

Mard's head started to hurt, he felt as if his skull was separating. Rosebud held on to him whispering that she would still be here for him. He believed her, it was hard to be a powerless cat but with her taking care of him, Mard was handling it. The only problem was that when he had time back in is body, being a cat again was more difficult than when he was first cursed.

"Ouch, fuck!" Rosebud exclaimed and Mard let go of her, wondering if he was holding her too tight.

She stepped back from him and Mard looked over at her as he grunted through his own pain. Her body was covered in a soft glow. "Rosebud, what's wrong?" he whispered.

She dropped into a crouch, her slim hands holding on to her head. Mard ignored his own pain, as best he could, and joined her on the floor. Rosebud was panting hard, her fingers digging into her hair as she shook. He tried to hold her, but a wave of pain had sent him sprawling forward, knocking into her and leaving them both on the cold kitchen linoleum.

Mard felt groggy as he willed his eyes to open, the scene was fuzzy, but he could see Rosebud laying next to him no longer glowing. He reached out and was surprised that he still had his hands. Her face was flushed, and dried tear tracks were heavy on her cheeks. Right now, she was breathing deep and evenly, and he gathered her in his arms.

He slid back against the stove and held her in his lap, trying to sort out what happened. As his hand came up the side of her waist, he could feel the slightly raised texture of the rose sigil through the silk. Mard shook his head, he hadn't considered the possibility.

Through their mating bond she was now going to feel what he felt. All that pain of the curse had impacted her. He felt guilty and held her tighter to him, kissing the top of her head. A strange rumble came out of his chest, he was purring much like he did as a cat.

"I am very sorry Rosebud," he whispered to her as he looked down at her sleeping face.

Mard leaned his head back and looked up at the plain white ceiling, internally he was cursing Merlin. Though as he thought about it, he had to stop laying the blame at her feet. He had done this to himself, it was his plan, his attitude, and his ease with killing thousands for his own selfish goals. She had only acted in a manner to protect this Plane.

He thought through the scenario for a moment and realized something. If the situation was changed and someone had threatened his Underworld, he would have destroyed that person without thought. The curse was cruel but there was much he got because of it. Mating Rosebud, trolling Pompous Ass, saving an innocent child, learning about life through the eyes of the mages of Fairy Tail, and now he was in the right place to handle a virus that almost destroyed his world.

Mard felt a twitch at the top of his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He stopped when he felt a structure that was not there before, it twitched again. He felt around it and realized that it was a triangular shape, like a cat ear, and he sighed. "Of course, a partial transformation."

Rosebud groaned and shuffled a bit in his arms, her eyes began to open. "Ugh my head."

He covered her eyes, "keep the light out, where is the headache medicine?"

"Bathroom," she whispered. Mard managed to get them to standing and he carefully took her into the bedroom. To his surprise it was cleaned, the bed was fixed, and the strong scent of sex was gone. Looking at everything he figured that Virgo must have come back to clean everything as they were visiting. It reminded him of how much love Rosebud had in her heart and how it was returned by the spirits.

Mard put her in the bed, she set a pillow over her face and curled up into a small ball under the pink comforter. As he got into the modest bathroom, he looked in the mirror and let out a harsh breath. As he thought, on the top of his head were two purple cat ears. He hissed in reaction and face palmed.