RUN!! RUN FASTER! THEY'RE GOING TO CATCH YOU IF YOU DON'T GO FASTER!

Rainbows of glowing portals and their strange frames blur past me, but I'm frantically trying to pinpoint only one. One portal amidst the seemingly never ending hallway. There's only one right portal, and I have no time to stop and look at them closely.

I should have been more careful, I should have practice my sneaking skills a bit more. Sure, I'm a master at redstone after all the times I've snuck out to watch Harper work. However none of the knowledge I've extracted from her will help me find the right portal in time.

"THERE'S THE ESCAPEE!"

I risk it and look behind me. The only creature that has ever comforted me is thankfully still with me. But the head gladiator, a ruthless dog to the Old Builders named Emily, is tearing after me with the other meatheads. And in her hands is a massive axe.

A burst of new desperate energy propels my legs. The Old Builders don't like dealing with noncompliant people, and will silence them for eternity in the mines. An escapee is definitely someone who is noncompliant in their eyes.

Not too mention they will also kill my beloved without a second thought.

My body is alight with fire, burning my muscles yet pushing me harder at the same time. I'm trying to remember what portal leads me home, but it's taking everything I have to not collapse into the darkness prickling at the edges of my sight.

A gladiator is getting closer, and I can feel steps pounding in the ground, getting stronger and stronger. I need to get to my portal soon, or there won't be anything else left for me.

A portal up ahead spots my eye, and I'm already sprinting towards it. Although my hands are shaking with doubt, I have no other choice. The gladiators are too close for me to think about it, I don't have enough time.

I jump through the yellow glowing portal, that is the correct portal color. The light sting my eyes and my stomach rolling around in chaos.

I get spit out into air and the hard ground greets me into the world. I groan and attempt to move my worn out body, when something slams onto my back. I just lay there, waiting for my beloved to get off. He had just as much of a crazy day as I've had.

He crawls off me, and rubs up against the side of my head. I smile, and lift my trembling hand to rub his head. His purrs sooth me and he softly licks my cheek, still supporting me throughout everything. And despite the fact I almost got him killed today.

"Don't worry my beautiful cat, I'll protect you endlessly for the endless kindness you've given me."

I don't think the gladiators will follow, they have strict rules and will become competitors if they don't follow them. Although Hadrian will be furious at Emily for letting me escape, no head gladiator has ever let a competitor escape before.

I smirk despite my exhaustion. Due to Emily slacking off and too occupied being a stuck-up to do her job, I managed to study the Old Builders and gladiators at night. Practicing all the skills I needed to get out and learning exactly how to escape from that blasted system.

A zombie groans in the distance, a great reminder that just because I got away from the gladiators, doesn't mean I'm safe. Fur bristles against my neck, my savior hissing and unsheathing his claws.

"I suppose we gotta get out of the dark." I take a look at my surroundings, a forgotten graveyard around me. "And this creepy place is giving me the chills."

My beloved stops hissing for a moment, meowing in agreement before arching his back at a spider's hiss.

I haul my weary body up and stand on unsteady feet. My legs jiggle more than smile, and my body is tighter and quivers more than a bowstring just released. I'm already panting from the one simple action.

I don't know exactly where I am at the moment, but most people are really kind in my world. I should be able to find out where I am in the morning.

"Come on, if there's a graveyard then the house of the person who used tend it has to be here."

I stretch my arms, I can already feel the acid stiffing in my body. Despite the groaning in my bones, I walk around a bit as I survey the area around me. If I'm shuffling like a zombie through these woods, then a spider will have no problem tearing me apart.

I groan, my body is burning with overuse and I can barely move it. I'm pretty strong, working in the mines will do that, but I can only take so much without food. How in the Nether am I suppose to protect myself and my best friend if I'm struggling to stand?

Fear is trying to crawl back up again, trying to break me into submission again. It's trying to fog my eyes of the real world, and clutter my head with useless thoughts. It wants me to just curl up in a little ball and accept my fate. Just accept the bliss of darkness and let all of my grievances melt away.

Why do I want to try so hard when I'm so broken down. My insides screaming with fatigue and my old scars afflicting me again with familiar sharp stings. It's been so long since I've had a proper meal and my body aches for water.

My savior nudges my leg, almost as if he's reacting to my thoughts. His support, his care, dispels my fear easily. As long as someone out there cares about me, that's all I need to keep going. If this creature is willing to stand by me, despite how broken and worn torn I am, then I will gladly always have his back.

I reach down and pick him up, my beloved purrs going straight into my heart. Already giving it new energy to beat stronger, to keep on going for him at the very least.

We rub our heads together, taking the moment to not worry about the monsters surrounding us or the pain dwelling in us. Just to be together and love each other.

Yet as I raise my head, the night sky enters my sight. My head spins and I clutch onto my beautiful cat harder, needing his support even more now. A tear slips out of my wide frozen eyes, the first time I've cried since my savior blessed me with his presence.

"No... That isn't right..." I can't tear myself away, although the mere sight shreds my soul. "This can't be! NO!"

My calcio savior lick my face again, and nuzzles his head into my neck. Those tiny actions are the only things keeping my sanity together, since my heart shatters knowing that I'm still very far away from home.

"The sky... it has two moons. Two moons. The sky, my sky, is not suppose to have two moons Winslow. It's just not..."  He looks up at me, his big green orbs ignorant of what my sky is suppose to be like, but trying to comfort me anyway.

I fall to my knees, releasing Winslow. I use my hands to cover my face, not wanting to let my beloved see my tears downpour out of my eyes. My body starts to shake with sobs, each one feeling like a blow to stomach.

I pour my soul out, my broken shattered soul out in the open to all of the world. To the world that isn't mine, to a world that isn't my home. Anyone who sees my tears, who sees my grief, will have no idea who I am. I am a stranger to this world.

Winslow suddenly hisses, and I raise my obsidian block of a head to him. A creeper is running away scared, although zombies still shuffle closer. Winslow claws at them, but backing up to protect me.

I scramble up scooping him in my arms and running away. I don't know what to do, I'm just acting on impulses now. Tears are still streaking down my face as I carry Winslow through the trees, through the monsters chasing us.

Everything is in turmoil, I don't know what I'm feeling. There seems to a million iron blocks on my back, crushing me under their weight as I try to continue running. At the same time, everything is numb... as if my body is still stuck in the moment where I'm gazing up at the moons.

My legs are telling me that I've ran for hours, but time is wrapped in my mind. I remember holding Winslow above my head, since I had to cross a river and I knew he wouldn't like that. I let go of him to climb up a cliff, dragging myself pathetically up when Winslow easily jumped from ledge to ledge. Yet everything is mostly a blur of dark green.

I'm about to keep running, to try and get away from... everything. When my legs fold up, and I barrel into the ground. My legs, they're completely numb. I can't feel them, I can't move them, they're now just dead weights attached to my body.

My savior stops and trots back over to me, nudging my face with his cute whiskers. He curls up next to me, eyes closed and purring in bliss. A golden ray of light glimmering in his orange fur, yet shinning spectacularly in the white fluff.

I turn my head to the sky, where a single sun is rising up. Killing all of the monsters that pursue me. The fiery sun pushing the two moons away, granting me the blessing of not having to see those accursed reminders that this is not my world, that this is not my home.

I start to weep again, mute cries that lightly shake my body. I don't even have the energy anymore, just tears silently slipping out as my stomach jerks inside of me.

Winslow purrs louder and nuzzles into me, pressing up into me harder. I slowly stop sobbing and relish his warmth seeping into me. I sigh, as my mind slowly accepts that this nightmare is reality.

"Well Winslow, I know I told you how awesome my world is back in Competitor Village and how you're going to see it soon, but it's going to take longer to get there than I thought. You won't have to worry about me disappearing into mines though, that's a good thing right?"

My beloved softly meows in agreement, his purrs becoming more of a rumbling. I run my fingers through her fur as I feel my depression creeping down upon me, crushing yesterday's dream of being able to sleep under my own sky again.

Winslow purrs come to end, as the calico curled up next to me falls asleep. My own darkness wrapping around me. A blanket to comfort all of my weary muscles, and a shield against the blights in this foreign world.

As everything starts to slow down, one final thought slips into my head. I can't help but imagine that I would be on the path to my old home, with my old comfy bed, already making plans to make room for Winslow if we never went through the wrong portal.

****

Well now you know how Cassie Rose got stuck in that world!

This actually isn't how I first imagined how Cassie got trapped there. But I like this version soo much better! I'm already planning one of the future oneshots to be affected by this one. Not a squeal per say, more of a ripple effect.

Yep, that's all. Next oneshot is Flames! Adios!