I wondered if they had decided to stop talking to me.

Jye’s voice was small, so small compared to how large they’d trained to be. “Is it?”

“You can’t stop yourself from caring about someone,” I said. “Your love for them does fade with time and distance, but it’s still always there somewhere.”

Jye loosened their grip on their legs, and leaned back to hear what I said next.

“Your brothers and sisters didn’t protect you, didn’t support you, didn’t help you. There’s no denying that.” For a second I thought about Axel, but refocused, “But you were kids. I’m sure, as much as they could, they cared about you too. So you’ve every right to care about them. Your parents though…”

“Nah, fuck my parents. I’ll never forgive them. I hope they died when the Gates appeared, but I’m not that lucky.”

That Jye was back to their usual self made me feel a little better. When they didn’t ask another question I turned to check on them, but saw their eyes were closed and their breathing had slowed. Probably emotional exhaustion. Or just plain exhaustion. The past day had been stressful, and that was putting it lightly.

“You look like hell,” said a smug voice to my right.

“You should see the other guy.”

“Got a mirror I could borrow for that?” Axel said, grimacing to sit up.

Using just a minor bit of force, I pressed down onto his shoulder. He struggled for a second before thumping limply back onto the bedroll beneath him. Axel was scowling at my hand. I gave him a look that said, “It’s gonna stay there because I know you’re an idiot.”

“How’s your HP?”

“About half way back now. You can probably let me sit up.”

I pressed down harder on his shoulder. That was good. It meant he was regenerating at a reasonable rate, similar to when Jye had broken their leg during the party’s gym practice. A huge weight lifted from my shoulders. Knowing that Axel would be okay, that I wouldn’t be the reason he’d died. Suddenly I could breathe freely.

“Did you mean that promise?” Axel asked.

I scoffed. “I’d have said anything.”

“Anything, huh?” he said. He sounded hurt.

Clearing my throat, I swapped hands so my left was holding him down. “But I did. Mean it, that is. I think.”

Axel’s eyes grew wide. It was one of the first times that I’d seen him look surprised since the Gates had activated. The expression was comical on him. His mouth was slightly ajar, blonde brows high. It gave me a thrill to know that even after all this time I could still shock him. Especially with how he had called me predictable. This would show him.

“If this is the end of the world, all I have left is family and friends. Out of everyone, you’re practically both. What’d be the point of winning without you?”

I was surprised by his reaction. He started laughing, low and quiet at first, but then it built into full body shaking, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Oh, yeah, that wasn’t concerning at all. I filed the reaction into the “Worrisome Axel Behaviour” box in my mind and let him continue until he tired himself out again. The laughter died down into gentle snoring.

Sooner or later, we’d have to talk about why he was acting so crazy. He’d been hiding something since our classes had been granted. And lying every now and again. Axel was deeply affected by something, so much that it was causing these insane mood swings and unjustifiable behaviour.

Before the Gates, he would have never even considered hurting a cat. They were his and Chrissie’s favourite animal, even once taking home a stray that still lived with Axel’s parents until a few years ago. My sister had named him Scribble, after how he’d been scratching and playing in the dirt like he was doodling.

Meow.

It was like I could hear Scribble now. The vets had called him the healthiest Tom they’d ever seen. It wasn’t a surprise he lived for so long. He’d passed at the guessed age of eighteen, close to the longest the animals could healthily achieve. I always thought he lived that long for Chrissie, living out his whole life for her. It was a silly thought, but whenever I’d visit Charleville and see Scribble it made it more bearable.

“Meow.”

There was Scribble again. Wait, that wasn’t his meow. His mewling was closer to a squawk. As he’d lived on the street for the first few years, he hadn’t learned how to meow for humans. Slowly, Axel’s family taught him, but even then, it was never a proper meow. This sound I was hearing…

In the corner of my eye, I saw the movement of the calico bobtail. It was back! It was fortuitous that everyone else was asleep with how trigger happy they’d been before. I was not about to try and fight the party to keep the cat safe again, not with how everything had turned out last time. With as little sound as possible, I stood from the wall I was leaning against and approached the cat.

Leaning down, I turned my back to the feline. It was cat behaviour 101. Don’t face it, because that would be seen as aggression. Presenting your back showed you weren’t trying to dominate it. Out of the three of us, I was the only one who’d need to learn these tactics. The felines had been naturally drawn to Axel and Chrissie.

“Are you lost, little guy? How’d you end up in the Dungeon?

The paws stepped closer until it was right behind me. I tried to peek at it from my peripheral vision, but only caught a glimpse. Then I felt the soft fur brush up against me, the warmth of their small body. I had always wanted to get a cat for Axel’s and my apartment. My parents had been allergic to cat dander, so I wasn’t allowed one as a kid.

Lifting a hand, I tried to pet it, but it darted away, strutting in front of me.

“Don’t like pats?” I asked.

It flopped onto its back and trilled at me. What a sweet little kitten! But the stomach presentation was one 100 percent a trap. If I tried to touch the tempting belly it would rabbit kick my hands to shreds and tear into my skin with its claws and fangs. I’d fallen for the trick too many times to count. But the behaviour was definitely basic cat. There was nothing off about it, except maybe its willingness to reapproach us after what happened.

It was probably just desperate.

Grabbing some of the protein+ plain jerky from my backpack, I shredded it and put some out for the cat. It was too salty for normal cat food, but as a rare snack, it would be fine. No sooner did I put it down did the cat snatch it up. Without even chewing it, she gobbled it down. The poor thing was starving. I rummaged further through our inventory, searching through Wren’s bag since she had quite the stock from Woolies, and found some spam. Again, it was high in sodium, but since cats got most of their hydration from food, it would be better for her.

I peeled open the can, and scooped out some onto the removed lid. She wolfed it down.

“Damn, you can eat, huh? Well, that’s all I can give you right now. I can feed you at this time each night, but you gotta make sure the others don’t see you. They think you’re a danger to us. But you’re just a cat, aren’t you?”

She didn’t respond, just licked the can lid, green eyes pleading for more.

“No more. Now scram before they wake up.”

I reached out to pat her, but she ran, this time disappearing into the shadows. Well, this was going to be a problem for future me. I had almost killed my best friend to save a cat and was now secretly feeding it behind everyone’s back. Was this a type of betrayal? Did this make a bad person?

My brain hurt.