cat fight - nct, markhyuck

^.^ 27 ^.^

"we're five minutes early." mark declared, stopping the car's engine on the school's parking.

"yeah but there's already someone there." jisung added, pointing at the school gates.

"it might be her." mark said, eying the girl standing. "let's go. donghyuck, put on the beanie i gave you. and hide your tail."

the three boys got out of the car and approached the girl who smiled when she saw them approaching.

"hello mark, hello donghyuck. i see jisung came with you as well."

"hello elizabeth."

"so i heard you were looking for information about hybrids..." she said with a smirk.

"yeah, kind of. and i thought you could help us." mark replied.

"of course, i can." with a snap of her fingers, the gates behind her opened. "follow me please."

mark and jisung exchanged a look before following elizabeth, donghyuck trotting behind them.

"donghyuck, you can take your beanie off now, we're on school grounds, no body will come and see your beautiful ears or tail." elizabeth said, not turning around, making the two humans stop in their tracks.

donghyuck happily let his tail out of the waistband of his pants and took off his beanie.

"wait!" jisung scratched his head. "you know about him?"

"of course, i do..." she turned around. "i am the one who decides of the hybridization."

mark furrowed his brows. "and what does that mean?"

"wait one minute and i'll explain everything in detail." she said, bopping mark's nose and then giggling.

mark, jisung and donghyuck kept following elizabeth through the school's corridors until they arrived in front of what looked like a janitor closet.

"you seem to like these kinds of places." mark mumbled.

the girl shrugged. "well, nobody is dumb enough to come and nose around in those." she said before opening it revealing a huge room well lightened and full of cages, toys and just... animals.

"is that a pet shop?" jisung asked, completely mesmerized by the number of beasts, inside and outside the cages.

"that's just my house." elizabeth shook her head.

"so... you're telling us that you live inside our school?" mark raised a brow.

"nope. one of the entrances of my house is in your school. but i have plenty others. basically, i have some on every continent of the planet."

"is that some kind of magic?" jisung gasped. "but- "

"jisung, i got a cat hybrid, so yeah... i guess magic does exist." mark rolled his eyes.

"oh, yeah, true..."

mark was interrupted in his conversation by donghyuck who was pulling on his sleeve.

"what is it?" he asked.

"can i play?" donghyuck asked with a pout pointing at a colony of cats that were looking at him.

mark nodded before picking some cat food in his pocket and allowing him to transform. he then looked at him walking towards the other cats and play with his new friends.

"so... hybrids. that's why you're here in the first place." elizabeth said after a silence.

"yeah, tell us about them. you seem to know a lot." mark showed the animals around. "we do have some theories though."

"really? which ones?"

"some from mythologies." jisung explained. "haechan being one of bastet's descendants or something like that."

elizabeth nodded. "pretty interesting. you found that alone."

"jisung knew all of that by heart."

"well, i'm sorry, but it's not that. at all."

"oh..." jisung lowered his head.

"you know the indian legends? those about inner animals. well, it's more about those. actually, each human has his own inner animal. and this inner animal is not chosen randomly. it is a vestige of its past life. actually, the human life is a second life for all of us. we have all been animals first. and once we die in our animal form, we reincarnate into a human whose inner animal is the same animal as the one we were in our past life. do you understand?"

mark and jisung nodded.

"that's absolutely fascinating..." jisung mumbled.

"but then... what are hybrids?" mark asked, his eyes wandering towards the white cat who was climbing on a cat tree.

"some animals are gifted a third life between their animal and human lives. for some very strong reason, once in a while, an animal is saved and not given a human life immediately, as another chance to live a better life. he has another birth as an animal, but this time, he has the possibility to turn into a human. that's what we call a hybrid. however, this hybrid still has traces of its past life. for no reason, its body may react on its own, and not do as the hybrids brain wants to do." elizabeth finished.

"that's scary." jisung stated. "did it happen to haechan?"

"yeah, he started crying once when i raised my hand." mark explained, still not understanding anything.

"and..." jisung started again. "how does the hybrid's life end?"

"well, when the hybrid dies, he is gifted his third life: is human one, as if he only had had two." the girl explained.

"and his hybrid form is the same as his inner animal form?"

"of course."

they stayed silent, only looking around at the different animals around the huge room.

"are there any hybrids there?" mark asked.

"no. there are only animals."

"why do you keep them here?" jisung raised a brow.

"they're my family. living through centuries just to select hybrids is no fun when you're alone. i need company. that's why they're here with me."

both humans looked at elizabeth weirdly. "huh... you what? how old are you?"

"i stopped counting. but if that's your question, no. i'm not human. i'm just here to make sure every animal becomes a human or a hybrid."

mark widened his eyes. "so, you're the one..."

"yes...i am the one to choose which animal is given a second chance or not."

"and... can i know why you gave one to donghyuck?" mark asked nervously.

elizabeth took a deep breath before answering.

"haechan's old owner used to beat him. that how he died. he beat him to death. before he could reach adulthood. that's why i gave him a second chance. so that he could at least live until the age of 1 year old."