Zia stared out the low window, feeling depressed, anxious, and angry all at once. The daylight was starting to wane a little bit and she could smell nightfall in the air. That would mean that she only had another night to get things sorted out before they changed forever.

But, what did she want to change? She had no clue. Her mind was whirling in confusion and the only thing she wanted to do right now was to crawl into a hole and hide until everything had blown over. She hated having to think about what it was that she wanted to do.

There was Raptor, of course, to consider. Maybe he wasn’t the kindest, sweetest tom in the warehouse, but he held a special place for her, nonetheless. After all, despite their agreement to not become emotionally attached to one another, it was hard not to find some kind of sympathy and compassion for someone you had been sleeping with for several months.

Not only that reason, though. If it were only for that reason that she was considering taking his side and remaining completely loyal to him, then she might’ve decided to quickly dump him. After all, sex or not, there was something that made her think that perhaps it would be dangerous to stay on with him. Really, though, she was frightened of what might do if he learned that she had betrayed him.

Zia had only heard stories about his temper, but believed every word of them. She believed perfectly that he had killed basically helpless Jellicles out of spite and would do it again without a blink of the eye. She had seen that savage nature in him that he tried so well to cover up whenever possible. Only, it was hard for him to do that whenever Pippen was around.

She sighed, shaking her head miserably. And, Pippen. There was Pippen to think about as well. She loved him and, despite knowing that he didn’t return her sentiments, couldn’t help but believe that if she helped him in some way, that he would. Someday. Somehow. But, she couldn’t be sure of that.

Yet, there was something wrong with not telling him. Love him or not, didn’t he deserve to know if something horrible was going to happen to him? Didn’t he deserve to know so that he could be at least somewhat prepared? She knew that he did, yet something was making her feel awful about even considering doing it.

“Damn you, Raptor,” she cursed, slumping down onto her bed in disgust. “Why can’t I just forget about you?”

Suddenly, she felt the dam break and began to cry. She hated crying. It always made her feel so weak and here she was, crying, bawling, about the two toms that meant something in her life. She couldn’t just rashly decide on one or the other, but trying to think this over was making her heart break. She couldn’t handle this.

“Zi? What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

Zia’s head jerked up and she quickly tried to brush away her tears. Pacer stood in the door, watching her with wide, almost kitten like eyes. She waved him into the room.

“Pacer. Nothing’s wrong… I was just…”

Pacer walked in quickly. “Well, that’s crap, Zi. Come on, now. I know you quite well enough to know that if you’re sitting here crying, something must be wrong.”

She sighed, then allowed a small smile as he sat down beside her, tucking his legs underneath himself. “There is… only, I don’t know what…” she lied, praying that he wouldn’t see through it.

“Well, you can tell me,” he said softly. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“Oh, it’s nothing like that…” she muttered. “I guess that I’m just scared is all.”

“Scared of what?”

“Everything,” she admitted truthfully. “I’m terrified about the Rebellion. I’m scared that something will happen to Raptor before he pulls everything off. After all, there are more than enough people out here who would kill him in order to save the current status quo.”

“Yeah… I can see why you’re worried,” Pacer admitted softly. “But, Zia, he knows what he’s doing. After all, he managed to gather enough followers and he even managed to keep it secret until now.”

“I know…” Zia looked away from him. She felt bad lying to Pacer. He was always so sweet to her that it felt wrong lying to him. “Oh, Pacer. I sometimes wish that none of this had happened. Maybe, then, I wouldn’t have to worry about Raptor and… everything.”

Pacer watched her carefully for a moment, trying to decide whether or not he wanted to believe her. He figured he might as well. After all, maybe she had a thing for Pippen, but that was all right. She had never done anything to show that she was outright against the Rebellion. Besides, it made sense that she would worried for Raptor.

He finally reached out and touched her shoulder gently. Zia’s eyes turned to him, showing that she was still very much upset, but willing to accept his comfort.

“It’ll be all right,” he murmured, moving closer to embrace her.

The little queen sunk into his arms, but, to his dismay, closed her eyes and snuggled against him, in obvious of comfort. Only, it wasn’t the kind of comfort that he wanted to give her. He wanted so much to hold her… like he imagined Raptor held her…

Patting her back softly, Pacer closed his eyes, too, trying not to feel too dejected. It wasn’t her fault that she had never thought anything more of him than a silly, little brother type. After all, he fought with her constantly and they were usually at one another about something. Still, he had always tried to keep himself from hurting her in any way. He loved her.

“Yeah, Zi. It’ll be all right,” he repeated, trying to convince himself of the same thing.

~*~

Anaakii had left Skeet’s room after he hadn’t shown up, hoping to find him somewhere. Maybe that little queen had recommended that she stay in there, where she would be safe, but she was growing anxious. What if Skeet had really been hurt? She prayed not.

She jumped, suddenly startled. Spinning around she herself face to face with a tall, strong looking black tom. She had to crane her head back a bit to see up into his face. She took a step back, almost stumbling. He smiled.

“My, my. What have we here?” he asked. Anaakii swallowed.

“Who are you?”

“I think the better question would be, who are you?” he asked in return. “You wouldn’t happen to be the girl that Pippen dragged back here, now would you?”

Anaakii shivered. She couldn’t tell why, but she was suddenly terrified. “I… yes, I am.”

“Well, ain’t that wonderful? Can you imagine my luck, running into you right here?”

Anaakii took a step back again, her tail swaying back and forth nervously. She wanted to get away from him badly.

“What do you want?” she asked, hearing her voice tremble.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll figure that out soon.”

Anaakii suddenly tried to run away, that horrible, sinking feeling making her know that something was very wrong. She let out a startled and frightened scream as she felt a strong, hurting paw clamp onto her arm. She was spun around quickly, facing the tom again.

He smiled coldly. “Oh, no, my dear. You’re not going anywhere right now. I have a few things I need to discuss with you.”

Anaakii shook her head violently, letting out another shriek of terror as he swung her around, suddenly shoving her forward. She jerked her paws out in front of her, crashing onto the floor of an empty room. Breathing hard, she spun back around so that she was sitting on her heels. The tom had already slammed the door shut and was throwing the bolt.

“What the hell are you doing?” she tried to demand angrily. When he turned to face her, the gray queen lowered herself closer to the ground.

“Just want to know a few things, little girl, is all.” He knelt beside her, taking her chin in his paw and forcing eye contact. “Mostly, though, I want to know why the hell you were with our dear, good friend Skeet.”

“I… he was showing me around the warehouse,” she murmured, trying to jerk her eyes away from his, but found herself unable.

“That all? I don’t suppose the two of you did anything.”

Anaakii’s eyes widened in horror. What the hell is going? “No… nothing happened at all. I barely know him.”

She suddenly reeled backwards, sprawling on the ground as his other fist slammed into the side of her head. Dizzy, she clutched her pounding head with both paws, staring at him in disbelief. He shook his head, giving her the smile that a humoring parent would give to its child.

“I do despise these little kinds of games, darling girl. You see, it annoys me to no end when someone thinks that they can outsmart me.” His claws jutted forward suddenly and he studied them carefully. “Things could be very painful for you if you want to continue playing games.”

“I’m not playing any games…” she muttered, shaking her head. She lifted her eyes to look at him. “No games.”

“That so?”

Anaakii suddenly found herself pinned onto the ground, the black tom pressing her flat, his claws held to the tender flesh of her throat. She let out a frightened whimper.

“Come on now, my dear. Don’t lie. Have you done anything with Skeet that you’d like to admit now. Or do I have to persuade you?”

“No!” Anaakii managed. “No! You don’t. I’ll admit it. We… we…”

“Had sex?” he asked bluntly, making it sound horribly dirty to her. She cringed, knowing that if she tried to deny doing that, he might very make true on his threat. She nodded, but just barely.

“Yes.”

The black tom nodded, leaning back and taking his claws from her throat. “Well, that is rather convenient for me, isn’t it? Makes things so easy.”

Anaakii shivered, not wanting to ask what he was talking about. She cringed back in fear as he smiled, leaning back towards her.

“You don’t realize how much you’ve helped me out here, love.”

“What do you mean?”

He laughed, chilling Anaakii to the bone. “Oh, simple. You’ve served your purpose admirably. It’s a shame, really, that you have so soon. I wouldn’t have minded playing with ya for a bit.”

Anaakii hissed weakly. “Leave me alone!”

He backhanded her, knocking her head against the ground. Anaakii cried out, then held her paws up over her face. “Don’t hurt me!”

“Sorry, dear girl. I can’t have you babbling to everyone, now, can I? Besides, that’s the plan I had originally.”

Anaakii screamed as she felt herself being lifted from the ground and back onto her feet. She opened her eyes in time to see him swing a paw out at her, sending her to the ground again. This time, she bit her tongue, sending blood flowing down her chin. Crying out, the gray queen was struck again and again until she was sobbing and bloody.

Panting, Raptor smiled down at her. Damn, he thought. That felt good. I knew that getting my revenge on Skeet’s little hussy would be entertaining.

He knelt close by her again, enjoying how she cringed away, covering her face. He patted her head, almost tender.

“It’s all right now. You just wait here for the brave and dashing Pippen to find your like this.”

He laughed again, standing and walking from the room, leaving Anaakii sobbing hysterically on the ground.

~*~

Still angry and upset after his confrontation with Raptor, Pippen stalked through the hallways of the warehouse, daring anyone to approach him. Several of the other strays quickly ducked out his way. Maybe he didn’t have the same power that Macavity held, but the ginger tom was still a force to be reckoned with. After all, he seemed to have inherited Macavity’s short temper and his strength.

Pippen’s ears perked forward and he stopped walking, listening. He heard the sounds of someone crying. Sobbing, really. Frowning, he stood still for a moment, debating whether or not he wanted to find out who it was. Maybe it was just some queen who had broken up with her tom. Quite possible, really.

Yet, maybe compassion didn’t get to him, but curiosity sure did. Sighing and shaking his head, Pippen followed the sound until he reached an almost completely closed door. He hesitated with his paw on the door knob, then pushed it open. A gasp escaped him as he looked inside.

Anaakii was curled into a ball, sobbing roughly, the noise seeming to tear from her throat. He ran to her side, skidding down onto his knees beside her. He touched her gently, pulling back as she jerked away, not uncovering her face.

“Anaakii? My God, what happened?” he managed to ask, frightened.

The gray queen uncovered her face, staring at him in disbelief. Letting out a choked sob, she forced herself upright, flinging her arms around his shoulders, clutching him tightly.

“Pippen! Oh, God!” she moaned, whimpering into the fur on his shoulder.

Pippen quickly embraced the shivering queen, patting her back. Whatever feelings of animosity he had been feeling towards her immediately fled.

“Shh, shh. It’s all right. I’m here. You’re all right now,” he murmured, stroking her back gently.

Anaakii nodded, keeping her face buried against his shoulder. “Pippen, it was terrible. I was trying to find Skeet… and, this tom… he attacked me! I don’t even know why, really. I tried to get away and he wouldn’t let me…” She broke into a fresh round of tears, trembling.

Pippen suddenly stood, freeing himself from her embrace. She looked up at him in shock and horror, wondering what he was doing. The surprise on her face fled the instant he bent over and scooped his arms under her knees and behind her back. Lifting her from the ground, Pippen adjusted his hold to make sure he had her tight.

“It’s all right. We’re going to go and find Skeet now.”

Anaakii whimpered softly, wrapping her arms around his neck and concentrating on not passing out. She felt sick to her stomach and weak and dizzy. After a little bit, though, the swaying motion that he made when he walked calmed her somewhat and she managed to close her eyes, hoping and praying he would find Skeet soon.

“Pippen? Anaakii!”

She opened her eyes, startled suddenly. Were they really there already? She turned her face to see Skeet standing next to her, his face filled with concern and horror.

“What happened to her?” he demanded.

“I don’t have a clue,” Pippen said, sounding tense. “I found her like this.”

“Give her to me,” Skeet said suddenly, taking the gray queen into his own arms. Anaakii sobbed weakly, clutching him for dear life. “Oh, God. Anaakii, tell me what happened.”

“The tom… he…” She shook her head, feeling ill again. Skeet started to talk again, but stopped when Pippen’s paw fell on his shoulder.

“I think I know exactly what happened,” he said softly, his voice sounding low and dangerous. “And, I want you to, at all costs, stay in here and bolt the damn door. Don’t leave, no matter what.”

Skeet started to protest, stopping when his brother suddenly spun and hurried from the room. He stood there, staring after him blankly for a moment before turning to the bed and placing Anaakii on it slowly. He brushed a paw across her forehead.

“Are you all right, though?”

She shivered, then nodded slowly. “It hurts, but I don’t think he broke anything…”

“That’s good,” Skeet reassured her. He sat down next to her, drawing her into his arms. Anaakii pressed herself close against him, feeling him tense for a second, then relax. “Just relax,” he muttered. “I’ll make sure nothing happens.”

At least, I’ll try.

~*~

Pacer’s head jerked up suddenly, his eyes growing wide. Zia opened her own eyes, startled to see Raptor standing in the doorway, an almost concerned look on his face.

“What’s going on? Have you been crying, Zia?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, but not moving out of the doorway.

Pacer tightened his hold on her, causing Zia to shoot a quick look at him. He loosened it then, forcing a quick smile at Raptor.

“Everything’s fine, Raptor,” Zia said quietly. “I was just upset and Pacer…”

Raptor nodded slowly. “Well, that’s nice.” He smiled at Pacer, who cowered back in fright. “Would you mind leaving us for a bit?”

“I guess so,” he said quickly, hugging Zia once more.

Raptor watched him leave, then turned back to Zia. “Now, darling, tell me what’s wrong? Surely, nothing has happened that I need to know about.”

Zia shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just tired is all. Worn out with this whole Rebellion thing. It’s doing a number on my nerves, I guess,” she lied smoothly, wondering if he would be able to tell.

Raptor nodded thoughtfully. “I see. That would make someone a bit upset. Understandable. Only, I don’t think that’s the reason.”

Angry, Zia bared her teeth a little. “Why not? Would should you doubt me? I haven’t given you a reason, have I?”

“Not yet. Officially, that is. But, you see, you’re little infatuation with Pippen is quite dangerous. I’m wondering if maybe that would serve as a reason to be upset.”

Zia got up from the bed, walking away from him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s-”

She let out a cry of surprise as he grabbed her arm and spun her around. Zia suddenly found herself forced up against a wall. She struggled to push away from Raptor, but he pressed her against it harder.

“You’re hurting me,” she said, trying to sound forceful.

“Good,” he growled and she stared at him with wide, horrified eyes. “I want to. You see, Zia, if I find out that you’ve betrayed me, I will kill you. I want you to understand that.”

“How dare you threaten me,” she muttered weakly.

Zia cried out again as he forced his mouth against hers, forcing a rough kiss from her. His paw wandered onto her body, making her feel suddenly unclean and used. He broke away from her, panting. She pressed herself close against the wall, terrified what he would do to her.

“Listen to me, Zia. If you so much as talk to Pippen and let him have even half a hint, I’ll kill you. And, I’ll do it such a way that you’ll wish you were dead long before it’s over. Understand me?” Zia nodded, numb with fright. “Good.”

He shoved her away from him, knocking her to the ground. Zia cast a hostile look up at him, but didn’t dare say anything. She settled for watching him contemptuously as he scowled down at her, then walked from the room, his body still betraying his anger.

She pounded a fist onto the ground. Well, that settled that. No way in hell was she going to help him any longer. She got to her feet, determined to find Pippen. She had to find him.