All Our Times Have Come

The blue pointed tom cat sat in front of the clear barrier that let sunlight leak in to the flat branch. It was his spot, as he could only pace around the rest of the strange enclosed territory for so long before he felt the familiar hopelessness rising in his throat. He couldn't quite bring himself to lay down, but his paws were warm from the light. He just felt like he should be doing something. He sighed, but was interrupted from his spiraling thoughts by the appearance of the strange bald twoleg and the smelly dog that he often took outside.

His ears pricked. He was feeling much better than when he had first woke up in this prison. Was today the day? He had attempted to dart out before, but hadn't been quite fast enough when his head was still all cloudy from...whatever had happened to him. Now his mind felt clear and sharp. He dropped down from the flat branch, making his way closer to the strange moving tree that the twoleg and dog would move to access the outside.

He crouched, whiskers twitching as he waited, and then...

The sunlight was so bright all of a sudden that he thought the tree would fall on him before he made it out, but he heard the twoleg vocalizing in a most unpleasant way as his paws moved away from the furry ground and onto a hard surface for a moment before blessed leaves and dirt were underpaw again. An involuntary purr rumbled from his chest as he tore off, over the fence and away from his unlikely savior.

As he continued away from the garden, the ground changed once more. It wasn't long before the tom's paws felt raw, and he had to take shelter behind some awful smelling twoleg thing. His stomach rumbled at the slight hint of twoleg food, but he wasn't quite that desperately hungry yet.

Klaus was not above going to twoleg place for food and water. He was a good hunter, but everyone had their off days. All of the things that had happened lately, killing leaders, raiding camps, the usual, were beginning to mess with his head and his sleep cycle. After the third squirrel he missed, he wasn't going to waste energy hunting anymore. Not when twolegs apparently liked him enough to give him food. He'd followed kittypets' and other rogues examples, waiting outside what he assumed was the equivalent of a twoleg fresh kill pile by the way it smelled, and waited. He noticed it was mostly twoleg kits that would come outside with various types of twoleg food.

A little girl brought him a chicken strip, though he had no idea what it really was. He mewed and rubbed against her leg as she set it down. He allowed her to touch his silky fur for a moment as a reward before he bent his head down to snap the chicken strip up. He didn't have to wait long for a saucer of water brought out by an adult twoleg. He lapped that up shamelessly. The clan cats were idiots for not taking advantage of this.

A sudden flash of fur zipping by startled him. Another cat went flying around a dumpster and hunkered down, looking absolutely terrified. He looked in the direction he'd come from and could hear twolegs yelling irately. He didn't have any chicken strip left to offer the other cat, but he knew if he waited long enough something would come along. That is... until the twolegs started running in his direction.

Time to go.

Klaus pivoted on his heel and ran in the direction of the other cat. He slid to a stop by him.

"If you want to get away from that guy, follow me." He bolted away a good distance before remembering that most rogues were not as fast as Windclan trained cats. He slowed down a bit to let him catch up if he was following. He lead the loner into the woods where the twoleg would have a hard time spotting them among the trees.

"Climb up." Klaus told him, right before he scaled the fence that truly marked the border between the forest and twoleg place. Another Skyclan leap upward and he was high in a pine tree. Unlike the other trees, pines kept their needles throughout leaf-bare. The pine was ideal wo hide in, even with someone who had bright fur like himself.

He was surprised as the taller tom slid to a stop near him, timing so good that he almost thought that he might be in a dream. He wasn't going to complain, though, and decided on a whim to trust this strange cat. His shorter legs and the lack of physical activity recently meant that he lagged behind, but he managed to catch up when the other slowed his pace.

His nose wrinkled as he was commanded to climb the tree, his whiskers twitching in a displeased way, but he knew he had to get somewhere that the twoleg would lose him for long enough to let him go. He jumped, grabbing at the tree trunk with his claws, and dragging himself up at a painfully slow speed. His webbed paws were not made for this.

He was panting a little as he finally pulled himself up next to Klaus, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Thank you," he finally managed.