Endless Sky ~New Beginning~

Chapter Twentyeight

As predicted, OStar's dreams were now filled with nightmares. The one-off dream in her old home was the only memory-related dream. The rest contained massive robot dragons with all her friends slaughtered in many horrific ways, wings torn off, disemboweled, decapitated, with blood everywhere. OStar couldn't do anything to stop it. Just like with Mystic, she was only able to watch, frozen to the spot, with her mouth glued shut.
Nightmares continued on for what felt like eternity, until finally some hidden force started to shake OStar awake.
She had no idea how long she'd been asleep, but someone was bouncing on her side. Someone small and light.
"Leave me alone, Pargenti..." OStar mumbled, shaking her head a little.
"Pargenti? Who's that?" Afina's voice answered. OStar froze, she had completely forgotten the little grey and blue cat. She had never seen her back at her old home, so she must have been left behind. It made sense though. Afina had no magic of her own and was only as strong as a normal house cat. In fact, she was just a normal house cat, except she could speak.
OStar blinked to look over at her side. Indeed, Afina was there, looking confused.
"Where is everyone?" she asked, flicking her tail.
"Uhh," OStar looked around, noticing that it was early morning. She'd been asleep for only a few hours, maybe three. "They aren't back yet... They may not be back all day..." OStar thought as Afina stared at her.
"Well?" the little cat asked again.
"They're busy right now, maybe they will come back soon," she replied, sitting up to stretch.
"Busy with what?! Everyone has never gone off and left me alone before! Wait, how do you know what they are doing?" Afina exclaimed, sliding off the larger cat.
"I'm just assuming, I don't really know what they're doing," OStar lied, hopping off her bed.
Afina had somehow managed to open her door, leaving it cracked with just enough space for a small cat to slip through.
OStar sighed and nosed her way through, opening the door wider so she could exit. The tiny paw steps behind her indicated that Afina was following.
The mansion was silent, like most mornings, but this was a different silence. It almost felt eerie, knowing that everyone was gone, and for what reason.
OStar had no idea what she should do. Charlotte still had the box, so she had to wait for that. She couldn't leave the mansion and abandon Afina, but at the same time OStar had a feeling the others were going to pick Afina up at some point. So, taking Afina with her outside wasn't the best choice.
OStar was stuck.
"Where are you going?" Afina mewed, walking quickly to match OStar's longer strides.
"Kitchen," she answered, deciding that she should get something to eat, or at least get Afina something. The small cat wouldn't be able to open the fridge or cook anything, so she might be starving. "Unless she found something in the cabinets," OStar thought, glancing at a wide-open cabinet once inside the kitchen.
"I was exploring," Afina said once she realized what OStar was staring at.
"Sure..."
"I was!"
"Okay, whatever you say," OStar forced a small laugh before heading over to make another sandwich. It was quick and easy, plus Afina could snag a slice of meat for herself if she wanted.
As predicted, once OStar had the meat on the table, the small cat hopped up and slowly walked over, waiting for OStar to move away before quickly stealing a slice and running off once more.
"Enjoy," OStar chuckled, preparing her own meal before putting the materials away and sitting to eat in silence. She kept her mind mostly clear, knowing that if she let her thoughts travel too much, she'd lose her appetite.
Throwing away food wasn't something OStar wanted to do.
Eating quickly, she managed to finish up her meal and move on to the main room, expecting to see Afina under the table. But she wasn't there.
"Afina?" OStar called out, looking around. No reply.
"Why do I never get an answer?" she sighed, searching the room. Nothing.
"Afina, please answer me!" OStar yowled, tired already. She hoped this wasn't another hallucination, it hurt enough last time.
Tiny claws trapped the tip of OStar's tail, making her yelp. "Got you!" Afina cheered in triumph.
OStar whipped her head around to see that the cat had latched onto the end of one of her tails, clinging to mostly fur.
"Afina! Where did you go??" she cried, trying to pull her tail away.
"Hiding, duh, how else would I be able to sneak up on you?" Afina purred, letting go and bouncing back.
OStar frowned, looking down.
Afina was beaming back, tail waving happily. Knowing that Afina had no idea what had happened last night nearly made OStar lose control and break down in tears.
She'd leave her like that. OStar didn't want to tell her anything, that was the others' job if her predictions were correct.
"Alright, you got me," OStar finally said, swapping her expression to be more of playful defeat.
"HA!" Afina exclaimed back, practically doubling over in excitement.
"Argh, what do I do now?" OStar slowly dropped down and flopped on her side. The small cat quickly pounced onto her side and puffed out her chest, making herself look tougher.
"I have defeated the giant beast! We shall now all feast!" Afina rhymed, eyes lighting up. OStar couldn't help but laugh. She was the youngest one of the creatures who lived in the mansion, what was the harm in playing around?
"Okay you had your victory, can I get up now?" OStar asked, looking up.
"I don't know, can you?" Afina shot back with a grin.
The white cat blinked, sensing a challenge, then simply rolled to her paws and got up. Afina slipped right off with a startled yelp.
"Hey! No fair!" she cried.
"Huh, seems like I can," OStar purred in response.
Afina huffed and got back to her own paws, trying to frown and look mad, but failing as a smile kept creeping out.
A part of OStar felt bad for joking around at this time, but sulking wasn't going to help anything. She'd have to move on, Mystic hadn't saved OStar just for her to be depressed for the rest of her life.
This was a chance for her to relax and de-stress and to prepare for what lies ahead.
"Hey, you good?" Afina suddenly asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just lost in thought," OStar responded, shaking her pelt slightly. Afina looked skeptical but shrugged it off.
"Come on, let's do something!" she meowed, bouncing up and down.
"Like what?"
"I dunno, something!" the little cat exclaimed before running off, down the hallway to the guest rooms.
"H-Hey, wait up!" OStar called out, quickly following before Afina vanished once again.
"We can explore the other rooms!" she was meowing as OStar caught up.
"The other rooms?" Charlotte's hostile voice demanding her to get out echoed in her head.
"That's a bad idea," she said with a frown.
"Not the other's rooms, other rooms as in not guest rooms," Afina laughed, "It's hard for me to open these doors. It took me ages just to open yours!"
"Ooh," OStar realized as Afina continued onward, passing everyone else's rooms.
"But what if we get lost?"
"We won't, don't worry,"
"I still don't think this is a good idea,"
Afina stopped and turned around, frowning up at OStar.
"I just think maybe... We should stay in the main room?" she offered with a nervous smile.
Afina kept her frown as her tail drooped. "But that's no fun..." she pouted.
"Maybe it will be, come on,", OStar purred, trying to lighten the mood as she turned to go back to the main room. Afina followed but kept her doubt and her pouty face.
"Oh, cheer up," OStar chuckled as they returned to the main room.
"No, you're boring," Afina huffed.
OStar decided not to take that personally as she padded off to a bookshelf. "There are books here. You have little paws so I doubt it's easy for you to pull these out and open them," she meowed back at Afina, pulling out a random book.
"Reading is boring too!"
"I've seen you reading with Rual sometimes, so don't give me that,"
Afina made a small mocking noise and OStar pictured her rolling her eyes.
"Just one chapter," she encouraged, motioning for Afina to sit beside her.
"No,"
"Please?"
"Fine,"
The small cat slowly dragged her paws over and sat down, acting like a pouty child.
"It'll be fun, trust me," OStar mewed, nudging Afina with a paw.
"For you," she replied. "Exploring is more fun, you get to see new things!"
"Well, let's explore this book, it has new things,"
"You're acting like you're my mom. Remember I was the one who brought you here in the first place!" Afina puffed, straightening up to look older and more mature.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember, I haven't forgotten," OStar chuckled as she looked down to read the title of the book she had pulled out.
"Afina?" Charlotte's voice made her freeze. Her prediction had been right.
Looking over, OStar saw the teenager in front of an orange portal. She wasn't carrying the silver box, so she must have left it somewhere in the elemental world for safekeeping.
"She'd better not lose it," OStar silently cursed, unsure if Cat thought the same thing or not.
"Charlotte!" Afina cried out in joy, hopping up to her paws and dashing over, leaping up into Charlotte's arms.
"OStar was going to kill me with boredom!" she added as she was caught.
"Oh, well I guess I've come to save you," Charlotte replied, giving Afina a smile that OStar knew for sure was fake.
"Where did you all go? Where are you all in the first place?" the little cat started questioning, wanting answers.
OStar got up to watch the two, staying silent.
"Uh... You'll find out soon enough," Charlotte said quietly, looking over at the white cat. "Are you sure you want to stay here...?" she asked.
OStar responded with a slow nod, curling her tails in close. "I'm sure. I'll still be here or around town when you guys come back, don't worry..."
Charlotte nodded as Afina shifted her gaze back and forth between the two, looking even more confused and a bit worried.
OStar watched the pair go back through the portal, having it close once they were gone.
She sighed, now completely alone inside a giant mansion.
It didn't feel right to stay, but she couldn't run off, not if Charlotte and the others still held onto that box. The box was the one thing that might hold many answers, maybe even answers to explain why OStar's world was the way it is now.
"It would be very anticlimactic if it was just some kind of family VHS tape," she thought as a joke, but then actually got worried that it might just be that. It would still provide some memories, but OStar didn't really care about the time she ate some cake at a birthday party.
"Trust me, it won't be like that," Cat smirked in her mind, amused.
"How do you know?"
"Just a gut feeling, it would be odd for that to be the only thing surviving as the place collapsed, and kinda stupid," she answered honestly.
OStar thought about it for a moment, but didn't question it more, believing Cat's words. She moved to put the book back in its spot, having lost interest in reading. The room felt cold now that Afina was gone. She was a little bouncing ball of positivity and light, similar to Estella, but more uplifting and motivating. The princess was just more blinding to any negativity rather than fighting through it.
"Why was the box there, though?" OStar decided to ask once she'd returned the book to its proper place.
"Someone left it there," Cat answered.
"Left it there? Who?"
"I don't know! It just makes sense that someone had left it there, well, dropped it there. I know you saw the dent too,"
OStar stopped and remembered the dented-in corner of the box, it did look to have been dropped at some point. "Yeah, I remember, but who would've left it?" she tried asking again. "I told you I don't know, but if I made a wild guess, it could've been your brother," Cat murmured, sending chills down OStar's spine.
"My brother...?" she pondered on that thought, realizing what it could mean.
"If my brother left that there... Then he could still be alive!"