The Great Escape [Plot/Closed]

I guess she's not out today... Klaus thought with disappointment. He'd spent about two hours within Thunderclan territory... a dangerously long amount of time... looking for Waterlily. The day had gone from afternoon to evening by the time Klaus gave up on looking for her that day. He needed to leave... his scent was likely noticeable now and the last thing he wanted to do was catch the attention of Minkstar and have his cover blown. As the pale tom flitted through the highest branches in the trees that would support his weight, he couldn't quite shake his disappointment at not finding her. He was like a golden ghost as he passed through Thunderclan territory undetected. Once he reached the edge of the territory, he climbed down from the trees and purposely landed on the border. If Waterlily came near the border like she usually did, she'd pick up on his scent and realize he'd been here. He didn't want her to feel like he'd forgotten about her.

Well I hope you're okay, where ever you are right now. With a last longing look at the deciduous forest within Thunderclan borders, Klaus moved onto the thunderpath and headed in the direction of twoleg place. Maybe he'd hole up there for tonight and try again in the morning. He trotted casually along the edges as monster roared passed him on the thunderpath. He'd gotten used to their loud paws and their toxic stench during his time as a rogue cat. At first he watched them carefully, as he'd seen some of them swerve off of the thunderpath sometimes. He could never find a pattern to their behavior either, so all he could do was watch and be prepared to slip between tree trunks for safety if one decided to try to eat him. As time went on however, his mind wandered to his current... predicament? Was that what this was? He brushed that question aside to be answered later. I can't think of any Thunderclan cats who know who I am by sight anymore... except for Minkstar. If only he'd die or get picked up by twolegs... Still, as he passed dangerously close to Skyclan territory, his eyes flicked over to the evergreens and rocky landscapes, he wondered how wise it would be to take residence so close to his old home.

Joining Thunderclan would be an eventual death sentence and you know it. He acknowledged with a frustrated sigh. He'd be an elder by the time everyone who knew him in Skyclan either died or got picked up by twolegs... If that would ever happen. If they found him in Windclan, Thunderclan would be a short walk away. He may as well try to join Skyclan or Shadowclan. His scent wasn't something he could hide indefinitely, and he'd have patrol duties as a warrior anyway. Joining Thunderclan wasn't an option, even if Minkstar died. Murdering him wasn't going to help.

A fence suddenly loomed beside him, separating twoleg place from Skyclan, and he scaled the wooden fence with ease. He dropped down on the other side as the sun tinted everything in orange. The reds, golds and oranges of leaf-fall made the entire landscape look like fire. Couple it with the pleasant chill in the air at this hour and it was nearly paradise. Nearly. The pale tom took a path toward a certain twoleg's nest that he knew left food and water out for the rogue cats. He scaled another few fences to get there, ignoring the scathing looks a fat kittypet gave him for entering their yard as they called it. The old she-cat wasn't even worth acknowledging, no matter how much she howled at him. He was up and over that fence just as quickly and easily as the others.

As he scaled the last fence, his eyes went immediately to the slab of cement by the twoleg nest where the food and water was left out. Except there didn't seem to be food at all. It was no big deal... the water was still there. Klaus was perfectly capable of catching his own prey. The container of water was further back on the porch than usual however... He got an odd feeling in his gut and stopped where he was. He looked around and put his ears and nose on high alert. Once he really focused... the scent of kittypet food finally hit him. It wasn't where it was supposed to be.... Curious, he followed the scent... And it lead to a structure that Klaus knew better than he would have liked.

There was a pile of dry kibble in the center of a cage.... but this cage was small. It was barely big enough to fit him in it, but it was all wires all of the way around. He approached it to see that there was an opening with no recognizable door of any kind. He stood there and studied the cage for several moments trying to understand why it was there and why there was food just sitting in the middle of it. The kittypet food wasn't too fresh... he didn't think. Kittypet food was so dry and weird it was hard to tell how fresh it really was.

A sudden rustling and wheezing behind him had Klaus spin in place and drop into a fighting crouch. A black and white she-cat was staggering toward him... wheezing with eyes that seemed to just stare through him rather than at him. Froth oozed from her mouth and she looked like she hadn't groomed in moons. The wind changed just enough to bring her scent toward him, and the scent on the wind carried sickness and decay. Had she been poisoned? Klaus straightened himself up a tiny bit out of concern, but something in his head told him, urged him even, to stay alert.

"Are... are you okay miss?" He called out to her as she stumbled and staggered closer. The she-cat didn't answer. Her eyes barely seemed to focus on him... then she looked immediately terrified as if he'd come out of nowhere and spooked her. She unleashed a caterwaul... but it sounded almost like a mournful wail. More foam fizzed around her mouth and saliva fell in sickening strings all over neck, chest and forelegs. She picked up her erratic pace, but was definitely coming for him. Klaus resumed his iron-clad defensive stance and hissed at her in warning to stay back. It was as if her brain was gone... she only wailed again and staggered closer.

"Get back! I won't warn you again!" He spat, though his heart definitely began to race. There was something very wrong with this she-cat. She couldn't speak and didn't seem to register his words. Forgetting about the cage behind him, Klaus quickly back-pedaled, desperate to keep a safe distance. She was sick, he knew that... but he'd never seen this kind of sickness before. He might have had a conversation with an Asylum cat about this sickness at one point, but it had been so long ago he didn't have a name for it. The one thing he did know is that sickness could be contagious. He could not afford to be bitten.

And suddenly... a loud metallic clang and a flash of metal obscured his vision from the rogue. He jumped, only to hit the top of the cage. Panicking, Klaus thrashed around against the wires and kicked kittypet food in all directions, desperate for a way out. The rogue shambled closer... all sign of intelligence or a soul in her eyes... completely gone. The pale tom's fur brsitled and his claws unsheathed. He let out a long, low growl, knowing it was pointless but not sure of what else to do.

Then a crack of sound like a whip split the air. The rogue landed on her side fast and hard as a fresh wound behind her foreleg quickly became wet with blood. Klaus's eyes snapped over to where the noise had come from. A twoleg with thick fur around his face and... trees on his pelt came forward. Klaus stiffened. He recognized the stick in his hands... he'd seen what they could do to prey in the forest from Riverclan.

He's going to kill me... Klaus thought with a sudden rush of dread. He's going to use that stick on me in this cage and I can't get away. He thought the ringing in his ears would never stop. The twoleg touched the dead rogue with a hard hind paw. She didn't move. Only then did he reach down with thick forepaws and pick her up, carrying her away somewhere out of Klaus's sight. Was he going to eat her and then come back for him? The pale tom thrashed in the cage again, rocking it slightly, but otherwise completely caught. The twoleg came back in a hurry, but all he did was stand by and hold his paw up to his face... with a rock?


The rabid cat that he'd intended to trap had been taken care of, but now there was another caught in the trap. He didn't look sick, but he certainly didn't look tame either. Not having the heart to kill a perfectly healthy creature that he didn't intend to eat, the man called animal removal services. They'd be there soon, though they admitted it was rare that feral cats get adopted as adults. The man still agreed for the cat to be picked up and he would hold it there until they arrived. It would be taken to a shelter and evaluated for adoptability, and that was good enough for him. If the white cat didn't pass the adoptability test, then well... at least he wasn't the one that had to put him down.


It felt like an eternity being kept in such a confined area with such uncertain circumstances. Klaus lie down on his belly but kept his tail wrapped around himself, as if it could stop the teeth that flew out of the end of that stick. The twoleg seemed content to just walk around him, make soft noises at him, then walk some more. What was it waiting for??? End me or let me go! He thought with a mixture of fear and fury. He hated feeling like this. The anticipation of what was to come was far worse than just finally knowing what his fate was going to be. He'd thrashed around in the cage enough times that he knew it was pointless. His flesh would give before that stars-cured cage would. He simply lie there in wait, fear-scent choking even himself.

Suddenly a large monster came into view, going off of the thunderpath and stopping beside the twoleg nest. For a heart-stopping moment Klaus thought the monster was going to charge forward and kill him in the cage under it's massive paws. Another twoleg crawled out of it's belly, exchanged noises with the first twoleg, then approached Klaus. His fur couldn't stand any further out from his body, nor was he able to find his voice to growl or hiss or spit. The cage was lifted into the air, jostling the pale tom inside as the center of gravity within the cage shifted. He was being taken into the monster...

As soon as he entered it, a mixture of smells hit him. Other cats and even dogs had been in the back of this monster before. There was a small relief that sprung up within Klaus, recognizing a similar scent when the two-legs from the river had saved him. Was this all this twoleg was doing? But he wasn't sick! There were other cages inside the monster too, but all were empty. He forced himself to calm down and make his fur lie flat. Maybe they were going to try to make him a kittypet again... he'd just escape again. It was no big deal... It was no big...

Was that Thunderclan scent on the wind? Klaus sniffed again, grateful to be dragged out of his anxious uncertainty for even a moment. Was he experiencing a temporary madness from being so afraid for so long... or was that actually Waterlily's scent?

Waterlily decided to go hunting by herself that day.  It was a beautiful leaf-fall day.  The leaves were changing colors and a few began falling to the ground, which she enjoyed even if it made catching prey harder at times.  When she would get the chance, she would look around for that rogue that she met a while ago.  Today she wanted to, but for the majority of it she was busy in camp.  Once she was able to go out, she made her way towards the borders in hopes he would be there.

She walked around for a little bit, picking up faint scents every now and again, but not anything she could follow.  Finally, she found a scent that seemed fairly new and would be pretty easy to follow.  Waterlily followed it and it took her towards, if she was correct, Thunderpath.  She knew that was out of Thunderclan territory and she wondered what Minkstar would think if he came to know.  "I won't be gone long...  She thought.  No one will know.

So, she followed the trail.  As she came closer she began clearly hearing the angry roars of the beasts that went through Thunderpath.  She shivered at the thought of where the scent most likely led to.  She would go through a lot if needed, but she would not cross the Thunderpath.  The horrible scent of the animals that crossed Thunderpath reached her nose.  It was going to be hard to just say on Klaus's scent.

She climbed a fence to the side of her so she would not be caught in Skyclan territory.  She was pretty sure that for the most part rogues stayed to themselves and did not have groups.  If she had a choice, she would choose to fight one rogue cat instead of an entire patrol of warriors.

Waterlily looked out at the great landscape far through the land.  Twoleg place.  She remembered.  She wondered why the twolegs let those Thunderpath beasts stay in their territory.  Maybe they had some kind of deal.  Maybe the beasts would protect them and in return they get to stay on the territory.  That was the best guess that she had.  She looked over at one that seemed just to wake up.  She gasped when it seemed to swallow a twoleg whole.  The twoleg did not struggle or anything, it was kind of pathetic.  So, the peace theory went out the window.  Maybe the twolegs kept them there out of fear.  Her eyes then squinted at a twoleg that seemed to go out of the beasts mouth.  That was so weird.  She wondered why that was happening.  The twoleg place was pretty much a mystery to Waterlily.

Her mind went back to why she was there in the first place and she continued to try to look for Klaus.  She carefully balanced on the fence with a bit of effort.  She also wondered why the twolegs put the fence up in the first place.  If it was supposed to keep animals out, it was doing a horrible job of that, considering she could go into their territory at any time.

After a short amount of time walking on the fence, she finally spotted the golden and white tom that she was looking for, but surprise ran through her when she noticed that he was stuck in the cage.  The twoleg who seemed to catch him was just weirdly standing there.  She hopped off of the fence and went to a small piece of land that was right before the Thunderpath.  She got low to the ground in an attempt to not be seen.  Thoughts rapidly ran into her mind about how she could help get him out.

Not much time past from when she saw him and when the big Thunderpath beast came.  She got even lower, her ears flat on her head.  Then they picked him up and put him in the beast.  "Oh, stars.  What can I do now?  I need to do something!  She thought about how that twoleg was able to go back out of the mouth of the beast.  Maybe I can do it too.

The twoleg had turned after he set Klaus in the monster.  This was her chance.  No other monsters were coming, so she rushed through the hard, flat ground made with rocks.  She hopped into the monster, the metal cold beneath her paws.  She did not say anything to him, knowing both that the twoleg could hear her if she did and also needing to do this fast.  Her eyes darted around the cage trying to figure out a way that she could open it.  It was a lot more complicated than she thought it was going to be.  Okay, um...

Then the twoleg came back and saw her.  She swallowed, afraid of what was going to happen.  She got into the normal warriors fighting stance, but that did not make the twoleg stop at all.  Instead it just stretched it's paw out and grabbed her scruff.  She hissed in both anger and fear, but all the twoleg did was set her inside of a cage.  She tried to rush out of the door of the cage, but the twoleg closed it too fast, so she ended up just hitting her head on the cage.  She got into a fighting stance again.  Even if she was locked in the cage she was not about to let the twoleg know her fear.  But the twoleg did not interact with her at all after that and instead mumbled something to a different one of their kind and prompted the beasts mouth closed.

Waterlily stood normally when the twoleg was no longer there.  She closed her eyes and started breathing heavily for a moment, before turning to Klaus.  "What in the Dark Forest just happened?"  She asked, her tone filled with nervousness and anger.  The monster started moving.  The quick change in movement caused her to stumble and hit into the side of the cage.  She steadied herself and looked around at all of the monster and the cage, trying to figure out how to escape.

She could not even figure out the cage, getting out of the whole monster would be impossible.  Still, she tried to find something.  Some way that it might be able to be possible.  Something to give her hope.  "Please tell me that this happens to rogues all the time and you escaped just fine."  The movement that was happening without her paws made her feel kind of sick.  She did not know where they were going.  There were so many other animal smells in there, so where were they?  She had this feeling that were ever they were going somewhere horrible for cats.

He would never have believed what he was seeing if it hadn't happened right in front of him. Klaus stared in a mix of emotions he could hardly make sense of as Waterlily willingly boarded the monster. "What are you doing???" He asked, his voice definitely a few pitches higher than normal. Even when she asked him what happened he struggled to find words to explain it all. And just like that, the twoleg grabbed her by the scruff and put her in a cage as well. Waterlily hardly even fought them. Klaus for once was at a loss for words and just stared in shocked silence. The monster closed up and as the monster roared and began to move, Klaus flopped to his belly rather than try and fight the inertia.

"Are you insane?!" He asked her, his voice now a shocked hiss. Then she spoke, asking if this happens to rogues all of the time. He shook his head, but more to shake off his shock rather than to tell her no. He blinked a few times too, hoping that would help to clear his mind.

"I have only ever been caught once but... it was different from this. The twolegs that had me before took me to their nest and were gentle with me. I can't really explain it to you but this just feels different." He didn't want to scare her, but he didn't want to lie either. If she seemed particularly upset by this news, he would do his best to console her and try to look at the creek half-full. The monster did a series of jumps and lurches, some of which got Klaus's heart to race. The sooner he was out of this place the better.. he hoped.

"I guess there is a chance the twoleg will just let us go. Maybe they're moving us off of their territory and we can just make our way back." But oh how he doubted it. He curled his paws under him and tried to just relax. Whatever was going to happen was just going to happen. The cages were too sturdy to break and the monster's insides looked hard as stone.

"Why did you follow me in here? Aren't you scared?" Dumb question really. He could smell the fear-scent on both of them. Still, he couldn't help but ask. Did she like him that much? The thought made him feel guilty. She didn't really know him, and while he'd honestly taken Klaus as his new name, he wondered how she would feel if she knew what his previous name was.

But what did honesty matter now, if they ended up never returning to their homes? What if this twoleg was going to take them so far away that the forest would be come an impossible journey to make? Maybe he would never tell her the truth, especially if this was going to be his only companion for the rest of his life now... however short it might be.

You don't know that that will happen. You'll probably get taken to another twoleg nest with her and it will just take time to escape. It won't be a big deal. He tried to assure himself, but he still wasn't confident enough to bring it up with Waterlily.

She squinted her eyes at his question of if she was insane.  "Clearly, I am," she hissed.  She shivered when she was told how different he said it felt.  She felt like something bad was happening.  There were so many animal smells, and yet no animals.  The monster was moving, and yet for a most part it felt still besides bumping up and down every now and again.  This all just felt so weird and so horrible.  She hoped that he was right about the fact that they were taking them off the territory and then letting them go.  She prayed to the stars that was right.

She shivered a little bit.  "Of course I'm afraid."  That time, her tone was less angry and more scared and quiet.  "I followed you because I went hunting and picked up your scent.  I wanted to say 'hi' and I did not think that going off of Thunderclan territory for a little bit would be that much of a problem.  Basically, I didn't think, period."

She sighed.  The worst thing about this was honestly not knowing what was going to happen next.  "And I came on here to try to save your tail.  I could not just sit by while the twolegs kept you in a cage.  I was just crazy enough to think I could get you out."

She sat down after realizing that trying to fight her way out of the cage would not work.  It also made her more steady for when the monster would quickly change directions.  "How did you even get caught in the first place?"

The tip of his tail thumped against the bottom of the cage as she talked. She... followed him to say hi? He laughed, though it was of morbid humor given the situation they were now in. The rest of what she said was touching, however. It was too bad there just wasn't much one could do against twolegs or their weird tricks. "I wandered into that twoleg nest to drink some water and on most days it's safe. But today there was a sick she-cat there... maybe that was why the food was in this trap rather than on the stone by the nest's entrance like it usually is. I think they were trying to catch her... anyway I've never seen a cage like this before, especially not with kittypet food in the middle like that. I just wanted to look, then that she-cat backed me into it. I don't know what was wrong with her, but she seemed like she was dead without actually being dead. It was creepy."

The images of the dead look in her eyes and her mouth foaming as she staggered closer to him came back. It made his fur bristle and he forced the images away.

"Anyway, the twoleg killed her, but not me. So now... here we are inside a monster." How did that twoleg know to come to that nest specifically and take him away? Klaus had no clue. A slight screeching noise caught his attention. It sounded like it was coming from the monster and it had slowed to a stop. It's growling suddenly stopped shortly after and the twoleg got out.

"One thing I know about twolegs is that if you act aggressively they won't be nice to you. Just be calm." Easier said than done probably. He was definitely not calm on the inside, no matter how collected he appeared to be on the outside. The monster's belly opened up and the twoleg nonchalantly grabbed both cages. Klaus looked around but didn't recognize the area at all. He tried to recall how many times it felt like the monster turned one way or another, but he hadn't been able to focus much on it.

They were brought inside a twoleg nest... but a wave of smells hit Klaus so fast it was almost dizzying. It smelled like they were being taken to an entire clan, except they didn't carry the scent of the wild on them. He smelled some sickness, some sweet scent, the scent of kittypet food and a tiny bit of fear scent. His fur bristled and his claws unsheathed, but he forced his fur to lie flat a moment after.

Another twoleg greeted the one carrying him and Waterlily. They made noises at eachother briefly before the cats were taken to another room. This room was filled with cages... as well as many other cats. There had been talking and murmuring before they went through the door, but as they arrived, the room would completely silent.

"What are you staring at?" Klaus hissed at rather disheveled looking gray tom. The tom didn't answer... just continued to stare. It took a lot of will power to keep his fur flat. They were lifted into an open, empty cage with nothing but a box of shredded paper in the corner of it. The front of Klaus's cage suddenly lifted, a clear opening now present... but only to lead out into the bigger cage. There was some soft material lining the bottom, so as he stepped onto it, he was suddenly aware of the uncomfortable pressure on his paws from the wire cage being relieved.

Just as quickly as the twoleg had let him out, he opened Waterlily's cage as well, leaving no room for Klaus to run by him or jump over the cage. He didn't think he could just leave Waterlily here anyway... not after what she had done for him. Was it poorly planned? Absolutely, but the good intentions were there. That made her better than most of the forest.

Waterlily stayed quiet during his story.  She was aware that the twolegs would give food to rogues on occasion, but she did not know that they tried to trap cats with it.  She looked at the cage again.  It was harder to see a way out inside of her own, so she tried to see in the cage Klaus was in.  It was not like anything they had in the forest.  She remembered how cats said that some of them were kept in cages by the Asylum cats, but she bet that they were not like the ones her and Klaus were trapped in.  Her paws ached from the bars and her side hurt from when she hit into the cage.  However, these were very minor things compared to the rest of what was happening, so she did not really feel it as much as she would normally.

The cat he talked about in the story seemed like one an elder would make up to scare kits, even though she was sure he did not make this up.  What could have happened to the cat to make her act like that?  She thought, but didn't say aloud because she already knew that Klaus did not know the answer.

Waterlily nodded to his advice about the twolegs.  It was definitely really hard to act calm now, but she would try.  As the stomach of the beast opened, sunlight pored through, filling up the dark backing.  She was not used to the abrupt change in light, so it caused her to look away for a moment.  Her eyes adjusted in just a few seconds time, so she was able to look back no problem.

The twoleg stanched the cages, making it even less steady.  Waterlily's fur bristled as she looked where they seemed to be going.  It appeared to be a very large twoleg den.  Waterlily thought about how she could move around a lot in hoped to make it hard for the twoleg to hold, then she could try to find a way out from there.  It was very unlikely that the plan would work, but it was the only one she had.

Then she remembered what Klaus said about staying calm.  Reluctantly, she did just that.  When they got in with all of the smells of the other animals hitting her nose at once, she realized that this was not a twoleg den, but a place for other animals as well.  Many different noises hit her all at once also, causing her ears to go down on her head, trying to drown out the sound.  She heard Klaus say something to a different cat and she was surprised that he could even talk at this point.

When her cage opened, she hesitantly walked out into the larger cage.  She looked all around, trying to find a way out.  There was nothing that she could see.  She quietly whimpered.  "Do you have any idea where we are?"  That was the only thing she could say.  She had sensory overload, filling her with even more fear than she had at first.  It was hard for her to speak, focus, or do anything normally.  Her only hope was that Klaus had somehow been here before and knew how to escape, but she knew that was probably not the case.  She swallowed, looking out at all the other cats around.  Some were whispering to each other, some were looking at Waterlily and Klaus silently, others seemed like they could not care less about anything that was happening.  They all were trapped, even some that seemed to be around kit age.

Oh stars, what did I get myself into? She thought.  Cedarheart, if you're listening, please help me get out of this.

Dawnhawk watched as the twoleg closed the door to the bigger cage and walked off. He put his paws on it immediately trying to test how sturdy it was. Besides a slight clanking and very little movement, the cage was just as sturdy as the last. With a frustrated sigh he sat down and his tail thumped furiously on the cage floor. Waterlily spoke and Klaus looked at her. Unfortunately, he had just as few answers for her as he did when they arrived here. "I was in something like this once. Twolegs came to get me and took me back to their nest. It might happen for us." He was doing his best to be reassuring, but there was a literal smell of despair in the air. The last he'd been in didn't have that smell to it.

"It's call'd a shel'er," A voice from a tom across from them spoke. It was the same one that had been staring at them when they came in. Klaus looked back down at him, now intrigued. "'umans come 'n 'ere an' lucky ones get adopt'd. You two though..." The gray tom had a grim smile on his face and shook his head slowly. "Good luck. W'ld cats like you too nev'r get out alive. 'umans don't wan' sav'ges like you."

Klaus felt a flash of rage at the word "savage". He threw his forepaws so hard against the door of the cage it banged and the lock rattled. The cats around them all jumped, some scurried for cover and others hissed their displeasure. The gray tom only snickered.

"Maybe they don't want mangy, raggedy half-dead crowfood like you!" He spat. "The two of us will get out, and when I get free of this cage I'll- " He nearly threatened to skin him alive... but then he remembered who he was with. A Thunderclan cat might pick up on that comment and start looking for clues as to who he was. The gray tom only snickered again.

"Righ'.... Ev'n if ya did get out... I'm due f'r death tom'rrow. You'd only be doin' me a kindness." With that, the gray tom turned his back and curled up into a ball. Klaus pushed himself off of the door of the cage and plopped down hard on the soft material lining the bottom of their cage. He tucked his paws under himself so Waterlily wouldn't see that they were shaking. His heart wouldn't stop pounding.

"Don't listen to that fox-heart. Just because he's given up hope doesn't mean we're going to die." Although he wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure, himself, or Waterlily. The lights suddenly went out and plunged the shelter in darkness. He sighed again and his brain buzzed with plans or ideas of how to escape. Unfortunately for him... none of them seemed plausible.

Waterlily put her head down when he talked about the twolegs coming for them. She closed her eyes. "No," she whispered softly, almost inaudibly. The twolegs won't come. They won't come for us. We're wild cats who will want to fight, no one wants to have a cat that will hide and fight against them.

She heard a voice, to which her head lifted towards the source. She knew what he was saying was right, no matter how much she did not want to believe it. But upon the shelter cat finishing speaking, she notice Klaus get very defensive and yell at the other cat. She felt pity for the random cat talking to them, because he was in the same circumstance as them. "Klaus!" She yelled when he seemed to be near to threatening the other cat.

Due for death? What does that mean? How would a cat know that they're going to die a day before they do? Klaus tried to comfort her and she wished it worked. She shook her head. A moment later, all the light there ceased to exist. She could barely even see her own paws. She sat down, dipping her head. She still had hope that they could get out of this, they just needed to have a plan, which would be nearly impossible to think of when in the complete darkness.

"If we can't find a way to escape, the twolegs will kill us. That's what he meant, right?" She sighed. "We don't stand a chance against an army of twolegs, so I guess that's just more reason to escape. But I can barely see anything right now..." She was half talking to herself at this point.

There was nothing she could do. Nothing tonight at least. "Do you have any family?" She asked him, realizing that her kits was one of the main reasons that she would want to get out of there and not go to a twoleg. Maybe it could bring him some hope.

Klaus decided to stop trying to instigate the cat across the room from him. It had clearly bothered Waterlily.

"If we can't find a way to escape, the twolegs will kill us. That's what he meant, right?"

Klaus didn't want to answer her. It infuriated him that their lives meant so little to twolegs that if they weren't kittypets then they didn't deserve to live at all. What cruel overlords they were... She sounded so hopeless too. As hopeless as he felt.

"Don't worry yourself Waterlily." He spoke to her with more confidence than he actually had. "Twolegs like cute black cats like you, and your eyes are wicked cool. They'd love to take you to their nest. You're not going to die." He really hoped he was right. He lie down on his belly beside her and rapped his tail on the floor, gesturing for her to do the same.

"Do you have any family?"

There was a pause and he was glad for the darkness for a moment.

"No. I've been on my own since... well for a long time. How about you?" He scooted in closer, hoping that if she needed the comfort, she would understand that she was welcome to lean on him. It was going to be a long night for the both of them. They may as well get comfortable.

A small smile crept on her face when he gave her hope and complimented her at the same time.  "I'm sure that they want a handsome golden tom like you also.  We'll both get out of here."  ...right? she finished in her head.

She noticed the pause, but after hearing what he said she bet that it was just because he was sad about whatever happened.  She did not want to keep asking questions if that was the only answer that he wanted to give her.  "I have a few kits."  She paused but then added quickly, "I don't have a mate, though."

When he came closer, Waterlily would normally move back a little, but... she did not.  She didn't want to.  She felt something when she was with Klaus.  Something like what she felt with her previous mate, but stronger.  So, instead of moving away, she leaned closer.  She closed her eyes as an attempt to not cry.  She wanted to be strong, but she felt so hopeless.

Klaus allowed a small smile on his face, not that she'd see it really well in this darkness, when she called him handsome. Well, he knew that, but hearing it from someone else was always nice. Not only that but she was comfortable with them being so close together... Well, if he was going to die in this place then at least he had this much going for him before he did. His ears picked up the sound of a voice, words he couldn't quite hear... but he knew the tone to be of a kit. His heart sank. He knew kittens were taken back to twoleg nests more often than adult ones.

... There was a sudden tenseness to her, one that he felt more than saw... He put his forepaws over her's and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Hey, it's okay. We'll get out, whether twolegs take us home or we escape. Don't listen to that raggedy gray tom. If he wants to give up hope, let him, but it won't be us." He sounded far more confident than he felt. He could tell she was upset... and it actually bothered him. Klaus rested his tail gently over her own and was content to hold her there until she'd had enough and pulled away.

Her warmth was comforting... and it occurred to him how little positive physical contact he'd had. It was a good feeling... a warm feeling. The tension in his shoulders melted and it actually drew a sigh of relief from his lips.

"Maybe... we should try to get some sleep. It'll be harder to outrun twolegs if we're tired." He still managed to sound so sure and so light-hearted about the situation. Hopefully he was just as good of a liar when trying to comfort someone as he was when he was intending to hurt them.

In truth, he doubted he'd be sleeping very much...

A kit was heard a bit off.  She did not enjoy that a cat so young could be in a place like this.  As much as Waterlily was scared, she bet that the kit was completely terrified.  She wished that she could get them all out of there, but she had no idea how to do that, especially because she did not even know how to save herself and Klaus from this.

Her eyes opened as Klaus spoke, even though she could not see anything.  She could tell he was still scared, but he was so optimistic.  She wished she could be that hopeful.  She wanted to, but she could not.  Sighing, she closed her eyes once more.

He spoke once more and she hesitated, but disagreeing would not necessarily do her or Klaus much good.  She knew she could not sleep, but she did not need him to feel the need to stay up.  "You're... probably right."  She tried to make herself calm enough to sleep, but with her fear, the weird complete darkness, and the little noises, it was near impossible.

The night passed more slowly than any night he could remember. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing as rhythmic as he could, but he was far from asleep. Every little noise, every little shuffle from the other cats around him would take him from any sort of sleep he may have gotten and cause him to be wide awake again. He curled snugly around Waterlily, feigning sleep for hours. When the first bit of light began to peak through a window, his eyes were open. He took in as much of the sight of the quiet, still room that he could, racking his brain for a solution to get out.

The cage was solid, the walls were solid and even the window was closed. He didn't have a house cat with a magic collar to open doors for him this time. There was one way in and one way out of the room and that was the big door the twolegs used and only they could open. It really did seem hopeless... Maybe a twoleg would take them both and they could escape that nest much easier, but this one was designed to keep cats in.

More light spilled in through the window and some of the other cats around them began to stir. There were quiet murmurings going on around him, but he didn't pay attention to what the other cats were saying. It all seemed like casual conversation anyway. A noise caught Klaus's attention from beyond the big twoleg door. It sounded like twoleg voices. The faint scent of kittypet food hit his nose, and he tried not to acknowledge that it actually made his mouth water. More twoleg voices and the sounds of many doors opening and closing....

Klaus uncurled himself from around Waterlily and sat up with his eyes fixed on the door. The other shelter cats were wide awake now, all leaning against the wire bars of their cages and staring at the door expectantly as well. So the twolegs are on their way to feed us.... He tapped Waterlily with his tail without looking to see if she was already awake. This might be their chance to get out.

He was about to turn his head to explain his idea to her when the main door finally opened.... and a cacophony of noise erupted from the room. The cats in all of the other cages practically started howling in anticipation of their meals and the two twolegs that came in with bowls of kittypet food lining each arm were talking... very loudly. Their movements were stiff and jerky... were they angry?

"They seem aggravated." He said out loud to Waterlily. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He watched as they opened cages and stuffed bowls of food into each one, shoving them harder than necessary at the live animals inside. Some cages seemed to close normally while others were closed harshly. As more bowls went into cages, the voices of the twolegs became more intense.

One of them had run out of bowls of food and turned back around to go through the door, to which Klaus assumed he was going to retrieve more. A small piece of wood was wedged under the door to keep it open. The last few bowls were stuffed into the cages nearest to Klaus and Waterlily, but by then both twolegs had run out of food. The second one also left to get more.

"I thought maybe we should try to run passed them when they opened our cage but in the mood they're in... and that there are two of them... I don't know what they would do if they caught us." Maybe they should try again tomorrow. Would that be too late to escape? The twolegs returned in no time, both arms lined with bowls again. Down the line they went, putting bowls into cages. Finally they reached the cage Klaus and Waterlily were in and opened the door... only for one of them to tilt their arm just a bit too much and send bowls of kittypet food crashing to the floor.

Before Klaus could even react, one twoleg whirled on the other one and slammed the cage door so hard he had to pin back his ears to protect them from the sharp noise. They were yowling at each other now, wild movements in their arms almost like that of fighting cats though no contact was made. They were so busy with each other that they didn't notice the cage door swing open freely. Klaus however, did.

He shot out a single paw and hooked his claws under the wire-like barring and eased it to a closed position... but only just. He froze, his heart pounding, willing the twolegs to go away and not notice that he was keeping the cage door in place and nothing else. Go away... go away... He shot a nervous look at Waterlily briefly. For what seemed like an eternity, the twolegs yowled back and forth, gesturing on occasion to the spilled kittypet food on the floor. Finally... finally the two of them stormed off and out of the room... leaving the door wide open.

"This is our chance! We need to move quick!" Klaus spoke quickly. He hoped Waterlily understood him. He pushed the cage door open with ease and dropped down to the cold stone floor below. Other cats in the shelter began to meow at him, some begging to be let out as well. He ignored them.

"We don't have time to save anyone else! We have to go now!" He almost pleaded with her. His eyes went to the open door and looked immediately beyond that for a way out. He crept cautiously to the edge of the doorway and looked around. The twolegs sounded further away. What was encouraging in this practical maze was that Klaus could pick up the scent of the outdoors coming from his left. That's where he was heading. The temperature change as well was notable. Surely Waterlily would notice it too?

"Stay close..." He said before he trotted along the wall with his belly low to the ground.

Any attempt at sleep was useless.  She pretended to sleep for much of it.  Most of the night she kept her eyes open, but still did not move.  She stared off, waiting for light to come so that she could try to come up with a plan.  Or to even hear that door that the twolegs walked through open, at least that could mean one less obstacle in the way for them.  Her eyelids got heavy at some points, but closing her eyes was the closest thing to sleep she could get.

When the light first poured into that dark room, she closed and then blinked her eyes many times while getting used to it.  Other cat's talk began to start moments later.  Her ears flattened to her head, not exceptionally excited about all the noise.  She stayed laying down, but her eyes flicked from one cat to another in there.

It was astonishing how many cats were in there to Waterlily.  From young kits appearing no older than a few moons, to some cats old enough to have grey in their fur.  It was like a clan, if all the cats were separated.

Her ears went up when the gibberish words of twolegs reached her ears from outside of the door.  Klaus must have heard it too, for he sat facing towards the door, which appeared to be what all the other cats were doing as well.  He tapped her with his tail, causing her to turn her head and look up at him for a moment before looking back towards the door.  Once the large door finally swung open, she got to her paws and locked her eyes on the two twolegs.

Her claws were unsheathed.  She watched as they shoved food into the cages and squinted her eyes when they forced the food in harder than needed.  Klaus spoke up about the fact that they appeared angry, which Waterlily felt also.  "I wonder what happened."

She watched them both leave to get more food after waiting and waiting for them to open her and Klaus' cage.  She sighed once they left.  She listened to what Klaus said but did not respond.  The stupid cage they were kept in was so annoying.  If that was not there... if it was just open... they could escape.  The only thing standing between them and being able to go to the forest was a few little metal bars.  It was so aggravating.

The twolegs came back with extra food a few moments later.  They went from cage to cage until they got to the cage she was in.  Her claws were unsheathed, and her eyes narrowed looking at the one opening her cage.  A moment later, the food was dropped, and they were screaming at each other again.  The door swung open, and she thought of just running out, but when Klaus closed the door with his claw.  She smirked knowing what he was trying to do.

She waited... and waited... and waited for what felt like forever for the twolegs to leave that room.  Once they were gone.  Klaus spoke and she nodded knowing exactly what he meant.  Right after he landed to the floor of that large room, she followed.  The cold was a bit shocking on the bottoms of her paws.

The volume in the room increased as the other cats begged to be let out.  She turned back towards them, ears flat against her head. She wanted to help, she wanted to so badly.  Most requested that they help open their caged as well, so all of them could be free.  One, though, that she could see was not.  An old white and brown she-cat that was old enough to be seen with grey in her fur in one cage just looked up at them.  Waterlily paused a moment, wanting to help the other cats.  But she knew Klaus was right.  Letting the rest out would be bad for Waterlily.  The brown and white she-cat nodded at her, almost like saying "go".

So, filled with guilt, Waterlily followed behind Klaus.

They crept out of the doorway.  She looked from side to side.  The twolegs were farther away and no one seemed to notice them yet.  The temperature change was noticeable as she and Klaus went to the left.  As they got closer to the exit, she started to see more twolegs.  She stayed low.  There was another door like the one that lead into the room where they were in cages.  This one was closed and just as big as the other one, there was almost no way for them to push it open.

"There's no way for us to open the door.  We'll need to wait for a twoleg to open the door and then run out," She whispered to Klaus.  "It's kind of risky, but it's our best option right now..." And just as she was finishing speaking, she realized there could be a better way.  "Wait." Across from them was a cabinet with a window above it.  The window was open enough for them to get through, with just a screen in between the building and the outside.

"Follow me." She said and started to walk as quickly and quietly as she could towards the window. She hopped on the cabinet.  Her paws made a sound as she landed on top of it, but thankfully no twoleg seemed to hear.  Once there, she was close enough to the window to run her claws down the screen.  She did this a few times until there was a large enough hole for her and Klaus to fit through.

She looked from side to side again, happy to not see any twolegs around.  Outside, she could see some monsters which appeared to be sleeping in beds drawn with yellow lines, however no twolegs could be seen around.  She hopped down from the window, landing on the weird smooth rock ground that the twolegs seemed to like.

Once Klaus was out, Waterlily wasted no time rushing towards where she saw trees and grass.  She crossed the place where the monsters walked, but this time there did not seem to be as many out.  She then went on the grass, which felt really nice on her paws after being in that twoleg place.  Waterlily was no longer running away from that weird twoleg nest filled with animals, but she was still walking faster than normal.

"I can't believe we got out of there!" She exclaimed happily.  "Staying over there, we're closer to the forest, but it will probably take us a while to get towards the clans."