Come back, Always

"How is he, any broken bones we should be worried about?"

"Not so much broken, battered fits the description best. Subject shows **** swelling in the joints with a particular focus on the wrists. Signs of internal bleeding under the arm and around the back, a few cracked ribs but by some miracle that's the only area that's fractured. What worries me most is here."

"His head?"

"Pay attention to this side here, it's a sign of swelling in the cranium. This is what's keeping him..."

The voices were beginning to stutter, almost like he was losing focus toward their exact words. It was hard to distinguish, he could make out two different voices in a conversation but with his head rattled he had hardly any focus to think for an explanation. What scared him wasn't the lack of sound, rather the opposite as his ear drums would not stop ringing incessantly. He wanted to cover his ears, he wanted to open his eyes and see his friends and family again.

"You're early today."

"Mother says I need to be the first to be awake if I'm to be the next Head Mother."

"Ah, the rise with the sun and sleep with the moon bit. Her mother taught her that too. She really struggled with that one."

"I wouldn't have thought. How is he?"

"Well as you can see, he's looking a lot better. Swelling has reduced significantly, his body seems to react well with the treatments I've done so that's good."

"Maybe sis won't bite your tail after all."

"Yes, speaking of how is she?"

"Still feeling groggy, she hasn't been in the healthiest state of mind since she came to."

"Is she outside again?"

"No, I told her it wouldn't do her any good to punish herself like that. He's with us, we're all taking care of him."

"Indeed."

"Thank you Mimi, I'll just be here for a moment longer."

"Very well."

Someone was walking away, little steps growing softer and farther away. He could tell it was just him and this other presence left. What was her name again? He knew it was a woman, that much he could tell. His mind, it's not working as well as it use to. He lost it some time ago, must have fallen because it slipped from his grip and shattered. Now he's been busy picking up the pieces one day at a time. At least, he hoped it had just been days.

His eyebrow twitched, putting his mind back was such a pain. It felt damn near impossible, was he putting it back the right way? No one ever taught him how to do it, can it be fixed? No, he thought to himself, don't think like that. Do it for them, do it for her. Do it for her.

Do it for whom?

"Do it for her." That voice again, soft like a whisper yet he could sense the shakiness in her throat. "Please Felix, I need you to do it for her. She needs you."

Felix... yes, he remembered. That was his name, is his name.

My name.

He found himself waking up again, welcomed back into a sea of never ending darkness. Something was bothering him again, some form or thought or presence. It was nagging at the back of his head, he tried so very hard to open his eyes again.

"Subject is still in his own space, his body is healing well but-"

"Auntie, call him Felix."

"Oh! I-I I apologize, I didn't-"

"He has a name Auntie, please. Just call him Felix."

"I'm sorry, your Auntie... I know this isn't about me, but when this is your life you begin to form a funny way to manage things. It sounds cold, but this is how I do it. If I keep myself outside, it helps me become less sad about this."

"I know Auntie. I just wish he would wake up soon."

"Syri, he will. Just... give him some more time."

Time.

Time.

Time.

How much time has passed, he wondered to himself. He sat down, knees raised to his chest as he sank his head into his folded arms in his own private world. All alone, he had been alone for so long. Alone in this world of night, this place devoid of light. Zimi said he was looking better but he wished he could see for himself. He raised his hand, flexing his fingers and making a fist. He couldn't tell if he was making a fist or not, he hoped he was but his eyes were useless, had been useless for days now. Or was it weeks? Months?

Another piece. He found another piece to place his mind back together, the Nekomata's name is Zimi. He remembered her now, they hadn't met for very long but she was the cat girl healer, in charge of caring for the wounded, the sick, the elderly. That's a lot of work for a woman without hands to work with. He wondered how often she would use her tails to get the job done.

Felix.

The thought reminded him of how often KuliKuli would use her tails in her Nekomata form too. Wait, KuliKuli?

"Felix."

KuliKuli, that's her voice he was hearing. His arm flexed briefly as he looked up in hopes of somehow hearing her again.

"Please come back."

I will. I will come back, I promise. I-I remember now, KuliKuli.

Felix.

So many thoughts, so many memories began circling his mind, overwhelming him with a sense of familiarity shining a new light into his world.

Felix.

**** number 5311X, Felix. That is who I am.

The pieces were coming together, fragments began to collect on their own before coming into place, each shard adding a new light into his view, his darkness. Felix, **** number 5311X. Storm, thunder, a thunderstorm. Thunderstorm, tool shed. Tool shed broke down, he went to see for himself the damage that had occurred when he came across an **** white furred feline drenched in the rain and freezing under the wind. He took her in, cared for her, fed her, taught her the chores around the household, the farm, the garden... taught her how to speak more fluently, began to... fall in love with her. Her eyes, those beautiful golden eyes and her perfect smile. The kind that makes your worries disappear. And her paws felt so warm and fluffy,

"Please come back, I miss you. I need you."

KuliKuli whispered to herself, her ears hanging down in her state of melancholy. Her tails stayed in place, hung around her waist loosely as she herself leaned over his chest. Her eyes once filled with a curious wandering nature to them now kept a darkened shade below. Her beautiful smile had long since gone, her cheeks were kept stained and she hadn't bothered to fix her hair to make herself presentable.

It had been so many days, days turned into nights turned into weeks. She regained consciousness a few hours after the tower had collapsed, laying in a cozy matress beside her two sisters under the safety of a wrinkly tent. As soon as she was awake, her sisters followed soon and they found themselves quickly surrounded by their friends and love ones. All but one, one man whom she had spent the rest of her days with in hopes that one day he would come back to her.

Months ago, she felt like she was all alone in the world. No father, an upset Mother, and two teasing sisters who didn't understand her. She had experienced a rough break up with Na'Vi, and was captured and tricked into leading bad people into her home to catch the rest of her clutter. She just wanted to be left alone, she felt like she deserved to be all alone. So she ran, she ran far off in the middle of the night while her family slept. She wanted to outrun her memories, outrun her mistakes, she wanted to never stop running until her lungs could not manage anymore. Until one night the sky was clouded with strong winds and pouring rain, and the white furred cat came upon a lonely tool shed several yards away from a lonely house with light emitting from its windows. Noticing that the tool shed was left open with its door swinging and banging loudly against it, she took advantage and lept inside for shelter, hoping to keep herself dry. When the metal tools inside would thump against the wall repeatedly, ringing so loud that she covered her ears with her paws in her cat form. But it was the sudden groaning of the structure that made her look up at the ceiling to find it falling down upon her, and then.... darkness.

Nityri had gotten her wish, she would forget who she was, what she had done, she fell **** that night, being granted the temporary gift of starting over. When she opened her eyes, KuliKuli was born.

She wiped her tears away with the tip of her tails, sniffling and pulling back to get a good look at him. It felt like a long time ago now when she first laid eyes on him, just a stranger who saved a cat from a thunderstorm one night and who had taken her home with him. He looked so frail back then, not to an unhealthy proportion but he lacked muscle tone and he had this sad look in his face. When she first saw him sleeping she thought his hair was a mess, rather frizzy and displayed like a brown mop on his head. He didn't smell, unless you count the scent of horses and cows as a bad smell, and he didn't have the best clothes. But he had a good heart, he accepted her into his home even after she revealed herself as a Monster Girl to him. He cared for her, taught her farming skills and became her teacher when it came to speech and vocabulary. He wasn't the smartest man in the planet, but he taught her plenty.

Oh Felix, he protected her from the big bad wolf and helped her family when they were being hunted. He stood up against Perdilius and risked his life searching for her, he did the impossible and saved her. He helped save everyone, so many people did. Just staring into his sleeping face, so peaceful and calm, she could at least rest well knowing he was not under any pain. He was safe now, but she worried for the worse. For when she suffered a blow to the head, she had forgotten herself and her past life. Would Felix suffer the same fate? Such thoughts brought more tears swelling in her eyes, and she began to pout and whimper once more.

Her ear twitched, something moved. She grew accustomed to his soothing heartbeat, she could hear it without needing to press her ear to his chest. But this was movement from his body, she could sense it. KuliKuli's face shot up, eyes red and staring at her lover's sleeping body as time slowed to a crawl.

His eyebrow twitched.

KuliKuli gasped, leaning forward and placing her paw on his chest.

"Felix?" She whispered to him, inching closer and closer until her nose nearly touched his own. "Felix, are you there?"

She glanced down, seeing his left hand begin to flex. Nervous, she placed her paw on his hand for a few seconds, watching him slowly close his fingers around them. It made her smile, she looked up to face him and came eye to eye with Felix. He blinked, feeling groggy and weak with a lack of focus in his vision. He was seeing a blur, but in a few short moments the colors began to form an image, a pretty image. A smiling face with alerted cat ears, beaming eyes, and tears running down her face. KuliKuli sniffed as her nose began to run, cupping his hand with both paws and feeling her heart begin to race. With a shaky hand, Felix reached up and caressed her face, parting some of her white hair to reveal her beautiful gold eyes.

"KuliKuli?"

"Felix." She whispered back, the both of them wrapping their arms to embrace each other tight, faces buried in each others neck. "I-I thought I lost you."

"I thought I had lost you." He smiled, feeling himself sink into her as his body began to wane.

She squeezed him tight, holding him up with her own strength. He could feel the wetness of her tears rubbing off on his neck, but he didn't care. He held her still, rubbing her back and closing his eyes.

"You came back for me."

"Always." He assured her, kissing her neck before whispering, "I thought I lost my KuliKuli."

She froze, pulling back with her head hung down, sniffling. "What if you did? I'm still... of two minds."

She poked at her temple with the tip of her tail to accentuate her point. "I still have Nityri in here, and KuliKuli. I don't know what that makes me."

Felix reached out and lifted her face up with a finger under her chin. "It makes you whole again, the real you. KuliKuli... Nityri, I love you. All of you."

KuliKuli began to cry again, he reached out and wiped her tears off her face before her tails coiled around his arms to pull him away. Leaning in, KuliKuli crawled over him and he smiled back as they stared into each other's eyes briefly. Until they closed their eyes together, leaning forward as their foreheads pressed against each other, and a moment later leaning in as their lips locked together once more. His hands found their way around her waist, and she sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his head.

Emyri stood at the entrance of their tent watching the two with a smile on her face. Feeling herself getting emotional, she had decided to step outside where Dimyri and Syri were waiting. She nodded silently, and the two hugged their mother tight as joy filled their hearts to overwhelming levels. While inside the tent, Felix and KuliKuli were none the wiser, their attention fully committed to each other as they held onto that kiss for a long time.

Two lovers, two souls. Two halves, made whole again, together again.