Late Night Visitors

Janette turned around and jumped, pushing against Syri and falling on top of her on the bed. At first Syri thought it was funny but the panicked look on her face told her a different story. KuliKuli sucked in her breath when she turned around, behind them standing at the doorframe was a woman slightly over five feet tall, brown messy hair and eerie pink eyes that seemed unnatural to watch. Around her neck was a tightly fit collar, she wore no clothes otherwise and held a thin frame with an average bust size and a nice slim figure on her. She stared at them and tilted her head, calmly staring as her eyes never blinked, sending a cold feeling into them.

KuliKuli flexed her paws when suddenly they heard the window behind them shatter, causing Janette to yell. Syri hugged her tight, both girls sat in bed looking back and forth between the stranger in their room and the figure perched behind the broken glass in the dark. Janette was shivering hard, all she could make out was a pair of pink eyes staring back at them from outside.

They were trapped.

"MiMi... you too." Emyri spoke with a look of disgrace in her falling eyes. "I prayed I wouldn't see those eyes on anyone of my girls again. I really am a bad mother after all."

MiMi climbed through and stepped inside into the light, her face devoid of much expression aside from an angered stare. Her hair had grown over the months since they last met, now a more darker black tint to its previous amber brown color. She kept it flipped to her left side, exposing her face more and somewhat concealing her left eye and cheek. She had the prettiest eyes still, natural well groomed and with soft, peachy, healthy skin. Her much more sleek and thin tails waved behind her, hovering over the floor just barely with a brown furry tip at each end.

Emyri felt her presence grow stronger, as if her eyes injected some form of intimidation into her causing her strength to wane. Her fight or flight instincts were furiously reminding her to make a choice, now or never for there was danger nearby and yet she resisted. She wouldn't fight, and the sight of someone she cared for and saw her grow up into the beautiful woman she is now, a caretaker growing up after her natural mother, it was those memories that gave Emyri strength inside. She did not scream, she could not cry, she only could.

With a defeated sigh, she pulled in a chair and sat down, calmly and patiently waiting as MiMi approached her step by step. Her claws had not been extended, something she took note of and hoped for the best. Lifting her face to watch this woman stand in front of her now, looming over close enough to inflict harm, Emyri raised her paws and placed them beside MiMi's own.

"Look at you, it's been so long since we last laid eyes. I... I missed you growing up, something else to add to my growing list of regrets."

MiMI blinked, her ears erect and alert but her paws remained safe, for now.

Emyri continued, "I don't know if you can hear me, but I just want to talk to you in case you are still there. I made... a lot of mistakes. I made rash and silly decisions, and when my girls needed me most I grew selfish and could not rescue those who were not my family by blood. And I regret that, every day that I awake and feel my heart begin to break at the reflection of my greatest failure. You needed me, but I was not there. When it happened, I was scared like the rest. I croaked when I needed to be strong. I really am a terrible mother, even though I knew I should have been better, I just wasn't."

Looking up, she saw her words failed to bring out any reaction from her assailant. No, squinting harder she noticed her eyes had sorrow in them, or was she imagining it? Please let her be in there.

"You can talk, you can shout, you can barrage me with insults that I deserve. I just wanted you to know, I wish it were me who were in your place or each and every one of you. And I am sorry to have failed you all." She swallowed and shook her head, ending her confession. Now all that remained was her response.

Janette felt herself breathing hard, a pair of paws hugging her waist from behind. They were just... standing there awkwardly as if they were lost. She hoped KuliKuli would do something soon, but her hopes were restored when they heard several steps running up the stairs. The strange girl spun around, revealing her two gray tails before quickly scurrying out the window to join her friend right when Na'Vi, Dimyri and Reta entered the room with Felix behind them.

"What was it, is anyone hurt?" Dimyri asked, approaching the shattered glass. It was nothing but an empty black hole in the wall now, letting in the cold howl of the night winds. Her cat eyes saw through the blackness and she extended her arm out much to Syri's dismay.

"Dimyri don't!" She cried out, tightening her hold around Janette. Dimyri calmly retrieved a dirty shoe, raising it for the others to see. None of them knew what was going on, everyone was left puzzled and with questions to ask.

"W-wait, that's-" Janette stuttered, taking the shoe from her. "That's my shoe from that Kershan place."

Na'Vi and Dimyri exchange worried looks. Felix helped the girls out of bed, giving Syri a hand while Janette held her from the other side.

"Let's go downstairs, we might be safer there. Close the door behind you!"

KuliKuli nodded and waited for the others to leave before doing so. When she followed down the stairs, she froze like the rest of them. In their eyes, Emyri was sitting down with another Nekomata kneeling beside her. She raised her paw at them, pleading them not to interfere. MiMi never spoke a word, leaning in to rest her head over her mother's lap gently so. Dimyri held her breath and flexed her paws just in case, but Emyri quickly looked over and shook her head no.

Reaching in, she calmly patted her hair and brushed it gently so. The action brought back a familiar scene to KuliKuli, her eyes blinked as for a moment she recalled seeing her mother comfort someone else this way, someone who was crying at the extent of her soul, weeping at the loss of something close to her. She was tiny, clearly a child, and when her mother brushed her hair the way she did with this Nekomata, KuliKuli could see the weeping child open her yellow-gold eyes and hug her legs hard. This new Nekomata was similar, she was lost inside and for a moment Emyri was speaking to her without any words, just comfort. She continued brushing MiMi's brown-tinted smooth hair, admiring how soft it felt and how it seemed to flow naturally down like a blanket. She felt something odd behind her neck and parted her hair to reveal a familiar object, a collar fit around her. But before Emyri could react, someone whistled outside and MiMi gasped before pulling away and jumping out the window.

Dimyri was quick to help her mother up while the others moved in and either checked the window or checked to see if the doors were locked. Emyri smiled and let them know she was fine. "I think she is still there, did you see?"

"I think so." Janette seemed dumbfounded yet impressed. "They're still scary though..."

"It's their eyes." Syri reassured her, still hanging on to her to keep steady. "You see the color in them, it's not theirs anymore. You had those eyes too." She said, pointing at her sister. KuliKuli felt her heart skip a beat, that was what her mother had meant when she explained...

"She was different," Emyri added, "Yours were crimson. Theirs are pink."

"Guys."

"What difference does that make, how many of them are out there?" Reta asked.

"Guys!" Felix shouted, staring out the window. "We have bigger things to worry about. Janette, do we have a back door?"

KuliKuli felt her heart sink as she peered out the broken window in the back. "They're out there, master. So many of them."

Felix felt a pain in his chest as Dimyri walked over to look outside. Her lip quivered as she saw what looked like three Nekomata's sat side by side with a familiar figure behind them, and many of his men walking around the house with lit torches.

Everyone held their breaths as they could hear those men yelling and shouting orders, surrounding Janette's house with Perdilius and his pets sat in front to watch the entertainment that is soon to come. They were waiting for him to say something intimidating, something like come out or else, but not a word. Instead, he gave a thumbs up in the air. His men nodded and placed their torches into the ground, setting the woods ablaze.