Subject: [DarkSlash] Kittyslash 10: Apo-Cat-Alypse (Warning: Character Death: Final Episode) Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 10:15:38 -0000 From: "sycoraxil " Summary: Once there were two kitties named Kitty Fantastico and Patches. Even if Patches was a zombie, they fell in love, and Kitty had five vampire kittens, while Patches laid an egg from which hatched a small green kitten named Molde. Unfortunately, things are about to turn very, very dark... I wish I'd had warning about it. The First made some educated guesses about Anya's vulnerability and isolation from the rest of the Scoobies and sent a hit squad to her apartment to abduct her. Its general idea involved a situation that would take the life of Xander or Giles and send Buffy over the edge. And so it was that I turned up with Patches and our fanged fivesome, determined to protect our vengeance demon ex friend. And then it happened. The First had brought insurance, five very loud and ferocious hellhounds, but my kittens had learnt a lot since one of them tried to make a meal of them, and retaliated in kind. They work as a team now, and...and they've grown up, they've reached their plateau age. They made short work of it, then the First itself showed up and made toward me. I hissed back at it and unsheathed my new adamantium claws, product of a little enhancement magick on my personal biology. I sprang for him, but then he unfurled a weapon- a hand full of antienergy, festering in a cosmos that should have had no place for it. And then. And then. And then. Patches leapt forward, his face animated in fury, trying to protect me and threw himself in front of the blast that was intended for me. And in a moment, a small feline world of love and commitment to one another ended forever, as my husband ceased to exist. His smoking remains landed in front of me, and there was a moment of silence. Patches was gone. I howled and moaned in grief and loss and Lestat, Louie, Claudia, Carmilla and Vlad stood there, not believing what they'd seen. Anya was watching as the First evaporated and came and held me, as her tears mixed with my own howls of loss, grief, pain and rage. Oz's van screeched to a halt, along with Willow, Tara and Doug, as Oz took in the sight of his long-time friend and wolfpack number two lying on the footpath, and his howl joined mine, as Doug held him. Willow and Tara walked toward us, as the kittens joined them in a funeral procession. That was five weeks ago now, but there's still a hole in my heart and I can't feel anything anymore. The kittens have grown, they don't need me, they have significant relationships with humans, vamps and other cats. Yesterday, I padded down the stairs, dressed in a leather catcoat, spiked collar and pierced ear, and they rose as one. Willow and Tara had been part of my life for so long and I would miss them. But the First had killed my husband and destroyed my happiness and he had to pay. I let the two humans embrace and comfort me, but the ice inside my soul was too great. Then I padded into the pentacle, which flared once, and took me away from them. Whatever it took, I would track that bastard down and destroy him for what he had done to Patches.