First responders, both civilian and superhero, had converged on what had once been a four story apartment building. Rubble and destruction was all that remained, as if the hand of some mighty and terrible god had reached out his hand and swept it across the area. Grim work lay ahead as officials danced around whether to deem the work a rescue effort or recovery effort. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as the men and women on hand picked their way through the debris. They would work just as hard whether or not there were live people to be found or simply bodies to remove. A great man had sacrificed his life to stop the tornado from taking more lives. It would dishonor his memory to put in less than their best.
Cait didn’t fully understand why they were all working so hard, but his curiosity compelled him to stay and observe. The black and violet striped cat paced around the outskirts of the demolished area, unnoticed as everyone worked diligently. He’d grown up in a world that even at its most fickle and chaotic held a cold sense of logic to it. The force of nature that had leveled this building was tremendous. Even if there were survivors, by the time rescuers could reach them—
The Cheshire cat’s ears perked up as he caught a sound. It was faint, and had it not been for his keen hearing he would never have noticed it above the din. He stood stock still for a moment, pupils going wide as he focused. He didn’t even notice how he held his breath as he waited to hear it once more.
”Help…”
There it was. Cait shot forward like a runner coming out of the starting blocks, weaving his way around debris. He darted between the legs of crews on site, eliciting curses and expletives as he tripped a few. Despite the fact that he was a large cat, he nimbly picked his way into what remained of the building.
”Can anybody…anybody hear me?”
His sense of smell picked up on all the stray scents of the area. His paws left their scent as he maneuvered through areas that no human could possibly fit through, until finally he came upon what remained of a stairwell. The door was barred shut by fallen debris, warped so that even with the door cleared it would be difficult to open. Blood, tears, sour breath and sweat lay beyond.
“Help me…please…” a woman’s voice called desperately. Cait could hear the muffled sobs of another inside. The Cheshire cat glanced behind him. It would be awhile before someone would reach this place. Too much time, because no one even knew there were live people there.
“Somebody! Please—“
“I’m here,” he called back, cutting off her plea.
“Oh thank God. Can you get us out? My daughter and I are trapped…”
Cait could barely maneuver, but he did his best as he inspected the area. “…I don’t know that I can—“
“Oh, God—“
“But I can go get others that can—“
“No…no, no please don’t go. Please? Please??”
He let out a slow breath. “Are you sure? It will take some time before others get here.”
“Yes…I’m sure. Please don’t leave us alone. Promise me you won’t leave?”
Cait hesitated to answer. He was never one to enter in to oaths lightly. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to enter into one now, especially when the wisest course of action was to climb on out and get heavy lifters who could actually get the woman and her daughter out of there.
“Promise me you won’t leave us here alone,” the woman demanded, her voice hitching on a sob.
The Cheshire cat sighed, as he found he couldn’t deny the woman’s request. “I give you my oath that I will not leave this place, until others far more capable of freeing you arrive.”
He felt the shiver of power run from the top of his head, to the tip of his bushy tail, down into the pads of his paws. His oath was his bond, and he would not break it. That being said, he had only promised not to leave his post. He had said nothing about using other powers at his disposal to gain the attention of rescue workers nearby. He gestured with his paw, calling up a simple spell of light. It pulsed with warmth and life, pulsating as it grew brighter. Violet let burst free through the cracks and crags in the layers of debris. For two hours, Cait kept the spell going, talking with the woman and the child as people on the outside worked their way to the light source. But when the rescuers finally arrived, a man with super strength accompanied by a pair of EMTs, Cait had slipped behind a veil of invisibility. He trailed the humans as they hauled the victims on backboards to awaiting ambulances. An emotion filled him that he simply couldn’t label as he watched the ambulances drive off. Whatever it was, he found it to be far more satisfying, and far more fulfilling than anything else he’d felt before.
And he liked it. And he wanted more of it.
This kind of behavior was unusual for his kind. Cheshires were tricksters, some serving as heralds for the various factions that existed in Faerie and others simply enjoying romps in the mortal world that rarely worked in favor of the mortals. The sense of fulfillment he’d received over this one act didn’t figure into the modus operandi of his kind. The more he thought on it, the more he realized that he didn’t particularly care about all that. He was the 13th child in line to inherit his father’s throne. Not only would he never ascend to the throne, he didn’t particularly want the thing anyway. So…why not keep doing this?
