I jerked my head up, breathing harder than I had in a long time.

It had been a dream! A dream, and only that. Still, it had sent me into a state of panic.

Who were those strange cats, fighting on my side? Where had they learned those timed moves and gotten their speed and skill?

And who were those strange wolves, as well? What about that black wolf... Why had I surrendered to her?

I shook my head but it didn't help clear out the thoughts.

It was only a dream. It wasn't like I could control anything that happened while I was sleeping! There was plenty of time to think about it later. Mostly I didn't want to worry about something so... Terrifying.

I wanted to shake it off, to forget about it. My fur still spiked in fear as I stood up, nerves and on edge. I needed to forget, but the darkness and silence of the night wouldn't help.

After all, what would I do about it now? What could I do about it?

Still calming, I looked around in the darkness to see bare stone surrounding me. Ah, still in the cave, right beside-

Whew... I had turned to see Fallan's sides rising and falling as she slept, and heard her snores before I could make out her dark figure.

Wait. What about Hannah?

I almost spoke aloud, and if I had it might as well have come out as an exasperated yowl because that's what it sounded like in my head.

I sat up, my breaths still coming out quick and short, eyes wide open, fur fluffed up. So stiff and tense, but no what to get rid of it until I found Hannah.

After I got a hold of myself I silently padded around the cave, where I found a small puddle of water and bent my head down to drink and push the dream from my mind. As I drank in the cold cave water a thought popped into my head.

What if she had went in one of those tunnels? That would be dangerous, obviously. Who knew what would be in the large one?

Maybe it was just my mind, but I strangely recalled smelling something back there, when I had leaned in for a better view of the darkness. It'd been strong but faint, as if the creature didn't often come.

I hissed with annoyance and stretched my muscles, then padded past Fallan and to the back of the cave.

Maybe she had gone out for a little night-hunting... Would it have been better to look for Hannah in the forest, or back here?

No, that was still dangerous. If I found her anywhere, whether it was out of the cave or in the cave, I would claw her muzzle off!

Okay, no, I wouldn't do that, but the reckless cheetah would get a stern scolding.

Nearing the two tunnels I decided to enter the smallest tunnel first and not explore the large one in case I ran into trouble.

It turned out she wasn't in the larger one anyways. I shoved my large body into the small hole, crouching down and trying to fit through but barely managing to get past my shoulders. What was inside was no surprise at all.

Hannah was sleeping there, her body curled into a tight ball with her tail curled over her nose.

I awkwardly stretched out as far as I could and prodded her side with a paw. She did nothing but flip over and yawn, then drifted back to sleep without opening her eyes.

I growled softly. Must've been nice to actually sleep, and not have to get up and go searching for a stupid wandering cheetah in the middle of the night.

"Get up!"

One of Hannah's eyes flew open, staring at the ceiling of the small den confusingly. "What..." she mewed drowsily.

I poked her with my claws outstretched this time.

She turned over, and first lifted her haunches. Then, stretching slowly, got up and asked, "What do you want? I was sleeping good for the first time!"

I snapped, feeling mad about how odd I must look with my shoulders stuck in the doorway, crouched down with one paw out and one in.

"Why are you in here?," I demanded.

She stared at me for a second, then replied cooly, "its too cold in there, plus Fallan snores."

"Do you have any idea what could have been back here!?" She shrugged, and I flexed my claws angrily. What an excuse for doing such a dangerous thing! Of course Fallan snored; we all had to deal with it!

I was fixing to let out a growl until I heard the snooty reply: "Puddles, cave walls, stuff like that."

I snorted impatiently instead, struggling to hold onto my temper. There was no point to arguing anymore. It would take forever to get her out of here without that, but now I felt like I was already doing too much.

"Fine. Stay back here. See if I care!"

As I backed out of the tunnel angrily, I saw that Fallan was awake and positioned a few tail-lengths behind me.

Her eyes were wide with terror as she looked to the opposite direction of me and Hannah, ears flat and jaw wide. I hadn't seen my sister that scared in a long time.

What was she staring at?

Anguish built in my chest and traveled to all of my limbs like a volcano fixing to erupt, building up heat.

"Fallan!" I was pretty sure it wasn't a trick. She had been in a deep sleep and I didn't think she would wake by herself in the middle of the night.

Then again, I could have woken her when getting up to look for Hannah. Hopefully that was the case.

But the look of terror on her face could not have been fake. Fallan wasn't harsh enough to play a trick, and Hannah was but she'd been asleep.

I half-ran, half-stumbled out of the small opening and what I saw made me freeze in my tracks. It was a sight that nearly scared me out of my fur.

There standing in the darkness, was a huge, brown grizzly bear.

I mean, of course there was. It was a cave, after all, and a large one at that, and I should have investigated more before trying to sleep in here.

I felt surprised that it had arrived, when the scent from earlier hadn't been fresh. Did brown bears come out at daytime, or dawn or something? Perhaps we'd woken it, and it had came to this exit after tracking us through the tunnel.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Fallan shoot out of the cave, almost angry at her for leaving us to fend for ourselves, but in the end it was better because she would have just gotten in the way.

I clenched my teeth. Hannah was still in that tunnel.

The bear let out a huge roar that shook the cave walls (or at least so it seemed) and stood up on its hind legs, the thick brown fur rippling on it's neck as it reared up.

I shot into the tunnel while avoiding a narrow strike and could see that Hannah had heard what was out there.
Her bright green eyes were huge with fright, and she was frozen in her spot with one paw raised as if she would swipe at something in fear.

She was staring out of the opening, her ears laid back.

I hissed at her, "come on, we have to go!" but she didn't move a muscle. Fearful, I glanced towards the opening. The bear would surely come smelling for us soon, and crush us in this den with nowhere to escape it's paws.

I sank my teeth into her scruff and dragged her out halfway out, annoyed that I couldn't move her anymore. 

She'd braced her paws against the floor, and the tunnel was too small to pull myself through backwards.

Ugh! Stupid cat. Didn't she know we would be killed if we didn't leave?

Finally hannah went limp and I set her down, angrily frightened and exasperated. The bear could shove its paw through this whole and slice us easily- so now wasn't the time for standing in place like a bird on it's nest.

"We have to go!," I screamed in her face, my lips peeled back. My anger wasn't directed at her, I was just scared to death. Bears were powerful and could kill with a single swipe! This bear's gaze, with one glance (I could tell), had been full of rage for being awoken and finding a group of smaller animals in it's cave.

I went behind her and shoved her face through the tunnel, a little harder than intentioned.

That still wasn't enough because we had to make it outside and she wasn't budging.

"Move!" I shoved her to the side but it was too late.

The giant bear wobbled over to us on unsteady legs, and loomed like an oak tree over me and Hannah.

It roared once more, a deafening sound, then dropped onto all fours as if wanting to fight, but wanting the fight to be fair. I imagined it was a young bear, without scars on it's pelt but still just as impetious.

Hannah crouched down, an awkward high pitched noise coming from her throat. I couldn't decide if it was a scream, a growl, or if she was trying to tell me something.

The grizzly raised it's paw, ready to swipe at Hannah.

I jumped in front of her, managing to scoot her back, and felt a few claws scrape my muzzle. Relieved that the would wasn't deep and the bear had been thrown off by such a sudden movement swamped me.

The giant monster growled and stared me straight in the eyes, angry that I was staring right back and had my claws out in a panicked defense for Hannah.

With a snarl that I hoped showed my rage I stepped backward, pushing Hannah closer to the cave opening.
Though it probably couldn't understand me, I growled anyway.

"Fight something that can defend itself, coward!"

I unsheathed my claws more, hoping he wouldn't realize what I wanted most was just for Hannah to have a chance to get away.

The bear drew it's lip up in a snarl, revealing a low row of yellow teeth and dark gums. He got onto his two back legs (apparently changing his mind) then drew his front paws down, with his giant paws splayed out.

He's trying to crush me! I shot to the side just in time before that paw smacked me and would have cracked my spine, shaking in fear.

The bear followed me as I crept away, ignoring Hannah as she closed her eyes tight and crouched along the cave path.

I drew back my right paw and swiped it across his giant nose, but all that I felt was thin air.

I'd probably missed because of the darkness, and because the bears angry face was farther than I'd judged. It was still difficult to see in here, though I could feel the cave getting lighter with the coming of dawn.

The grizzly circled me, waiting for me to strike a blow again. I crouched down as if giving up, lowering my hackles.

Hah! I figured it would be smart enough to not fall for the I-give-up trick.

The bear returned to standing on its hind legs, and was about to finish me off with a killing paw-swipe with those long, blunt claws.

But I was quick, thanking the Sky-cat for giving us our cheetah speed.

I shot through his legs, my eyes closed as I turned and leapt. Then, after leaping on his back, clawing up his spine.

That made him roar with rage, fear and confusion.

I closed my claws in on his nose while balancing on his head, then raked them down his face. I felt the hot stench of blood hitting my nostrils as the bear swung his head back and forth, trying to shake me off.

Snarling, my teeth sunk my teeth into his ear, still clinging onto his neck, feeling more confident that I was winning now. It wasn't so hard when the bear couldn't swipe at me!

He let out a ear-shattering howl of pain, then threw me off and ran to the back of his cave again. I hit the ground with a thud that took my breath for a few seconds, but after standing up I realized there would just be a few bruises on me.

I arched my back, and, hissing, I threatened, "if you come back you'll get some more, you mangy old rat!"

Normally I wasn't one to gloat, but just in case he came back... Well, he needed to know what would happen to him. Most creatures were lucky to survive a bear and chase it out of its own cave, but this was his home and he'd be back.

I gave my back fur a couple of licks to smooth it down, trying to stop the heavy breathing and wide, scared feeling in my chest, then turned around to look for my pride-mates.

No need. She had gotten out of her shock and was walking stiff-limbed towards me, still wide-eyed but now jaw-slacked.

"Come on," I meowed breathlessly. "Lets get out of here."

Me and Hannah fled together out of the cave, running hard the opposite way of the bear's scent trail as we dodged trees.

As we slowed our paces, Hannah asked a question that I couldn't yet answer with great confidence.

"Spirit, why did you save me even after Fallan ran away?"

I didn't bother to look at her, and instead used the excuse of needing to catch my breath again. I kept on walking, looking around for Fallan, but let my thoughts travel to Hannah's question as well.

Well... Why DID I save her? Maybe it was just in my blood, because it felt like a natural body response to move and protect her and Fallan.

"Instincts. Wouldn't watch another cheetah die again."

I could tell she was staring at me. I didn't have to look; I could feel her gaze burning into my spotted pelt and sat half-turned away from her.

"What do you mean, again?"

I let out a wheeze as if it killed me to keep on talking about this. Which, it kind of did. I didn't like to talk about death, if you understand what I mean. Sometimes I would lay at night and think about it-my mother's death was too sudden and surreal and unnatural...

But there was no reason to dwell on it now. The past was gone, over, and I would never have any reason to need to think of her in this lifetime.

Except for getting to Cheetah Pride. That was my mother's one hope, and she herself would've walked the hills with us to get there. She was the reason I knew how to find it.

I finally turned my blue gaze towards Hannah, and could guess that the tone I was about use might make her think I was blaming her.

"I watched my mother get killed by wolves, Hannah. You were there, and the same thing happened to you, right? Before?" I added most softly, hoping I didn't sound harsh.

Her gaze and ears lifted, her gaze growing misty as she looked at me. Then, she nodded.

"I'm sorry, Hannah. Now for the love of the Skycat, can we please find Fallan?" I jerked my head away from her before she could reply, deeply hoping she would stay silent.

"Spirit," she whispered slowly, "I need to tell you something."

Ugh.

I sat down again and wrapped my tail around my paws. Her eyes were low and she actually had the nerve to flick her tail impatiently.

"What is it?" I said abruptly. Maybe this really was important, but if not then Fallan was a higher priority.

She sat down as well, shuffling her small paws in the grass and sweeping her tail back and forth.

I shifted uncomfortably under my haunches until she finally replied.

"Spirit, when I was being held captive by the wolves..." I simply gave a tiny nod. The wolves had formed a tight circle around Hannah as a kit, dragging her along with them for some amusement. Shortly after seeing her I'd gotten Hannah out of her situation. "I heard the guards say something about you."

"Go on", I urged her, my ears prcking up. This was getting interesting.

She sank her head down until it was paw-lengths from the ground. I growled at her now, impatient as ever. She needed to get on with it and stop sulking because my sister was lost to us somewhere.

"They.. They said that they were going to kill you and your mother. But they were going to kill us kits all at the same time," she finished with a nervous flick of her tail. Hannah's eyes were even bigger than usual, and flicked towards me uncertainly.

I felt a low growl rise up in my throat instinctively. Even though I already knew this, I still couldn't help but get angry as I remembered that one moment when Ash took the life of my mother, before me, and I'd had to watch as a kit. I was about to tell her that it was no news to me when she carried on.

"But that's not all. They also said that Ash was going to have pups. And one of them carried on, but I didn't want to listen anymore and I was scared, so I moved away."

All of a sudden memory flooded through my mind.

That black female wolf! She had that evil glint of the eyes of Ash, and looked a bit like him as well.

She must have been one of Ash's pups. I had not ever seen Ash being fond of another wolf, let alone heard of him having a mate. But, I had only met this wolf for a short time and I still couldn't imagine him with a mate or family.

I was pretty sure, though, that whatever wolf wanted to be a mate with Ash was just as evil as he was. His offspring might be as well.

This was bad news, all the same. Another evil wolf out to kill me, of course. Nothing was ever simple.

I remembered when I was a kit as Hannah stared intently at me, waiting for a reply. My thoughts wandered elsewhere for a moment and I let them. My mother told me that one day she would take me and Fallan to Cheetah Pride.

"It's perfect." She had said. "There's cheetahs everywhere, and plenty of food, with lot's of water and no wolves. The cheetah's there keep each other safe." She had told me the way to get there, and to this day I'm not sure how I remembered it when I had been only two-paws old. I also remember how she fought with such courage and dignity as she was dying. And of course, she made sure that Ash got a few nasty scratches before she was struck down. Grief welled in my throat, so much that I had to sink my claws in the ground and look away.

I absolutely needed to clear my mind of the haunting, remorseful thoughts. Hannah was bringing them upon me like a powerful water-wave.

"Never mind that, Hannah. All that matters is we find Fallan and be on our way."

She gave a tiny nod and then pulled herself up. Hopefully she could take a hint and see that I didn't like talking about the topic. I felt sure that Fallan wasn't either because she usually had a bright mood, if she wasn't too hungry or tired to complain instead.

I stood up and we set off through the trees, calling Fallan's name as dawn approached.
Hannah bent her head to look up at a tall, giant nest that humans lived and worked in, cocking her head to the side.

It was one of the large, more open human sleeping-places. Most of it consisted of an invisible barrier of some kind, that you could only tell was there by the light's angle. I didn't know for sure what it was because like every other cheetah, humans confused me.

I yowled for her to come back; She was far too close and in plain sight- the curious feline had wandered over there while I wasn't watching. We had just now started coming across a few dens, and they constantly reminded me that at some point we would come upon a black path that we would have to cross. The description my mother had given me of what ran around on them scared me.. But that was a thought for another time.

Fallan had been found up in a tree, terrified that the bear would come get her. I'd said something about hawks and that had gotten her down soon after. The unfortunate encounter with the bear had left her shaken- she'd checked every bush and rock for danger today, but even she wasn't as nervous as Hannah.

Hannah shuffled her paws with anxiety while padding towards me.

"Its getting dark. Where are we going to sleep? Do we have to travel at NIGHT? Will we have to sleep in a human's den?" she meowed louder than I would've been uneasy with, causing my fur to rise timidly.

I reassured her quickly, trying to calm and find answers to her question in my head fast so that she wouldn't continue yelling and arouse human attention.

"We're going to be fine. Now keep traveling by bush and undergrowth.. Remember, keep low and quiet." We were behind a tree and mass of bushes right now, a good ways away from any possible danger. Silently, I thanked the Sky-cat for the cover she was providing us and that the landscape wasn't barren.

I peered out from behind the tree we were hiding in again and scented the air; it stunk of human's food and stink, as it had for a long time now.

I flicked my tail to Hannah and Fallan as a signal to keep moving. We kept traveling while it was nearing night, keeping to bushes, trees and undergrowth. My fur caught on twigs and once I stumbled over a rock, hissing as my skin was scraped.

I'd seen only a few humans so far and they'd all made my hackles rise. Their nests were growing thicker as the trees thinned out, alarmingly giving us less cover. Some of them had cubs and others were weak and frail, with many wrinkles and stiff movements. Some were short, some were tall, some dark and light or covered in different, unnaturally colored furs. To Hannah and Fallan, they seemed all the same, they were whispering. I couldn't help but notice that if we were spotted we'd probably look the same, too, as other species couldn't very well tell different creatures apart. It was like they lacked seeing what we saw.

Mother had told me that the females had a long mane that grew from their heads, and males had a short patch of fur that covered the top of theirs. It didn't really matter to me, though. Any human was an enemy, and I made sure we didn't get spotted by any as we saw some lounging around on crafted pieces of wood. Around them, their kits tossed a brightly colored ball between each other, yelling in joy and waving their bare paws around in the air. It was such an odd sight that I turned away.

Mother-cat had told me humans can kill you with long metal sticks that shot out hard berries, which made me grow even more tense as I watched the two humans chat together quietly. They must've not known we were here, but what if the kits did?

She had said they could go through your skin and even your flesh, and could kill you so quickly you wouldn't have know what killed you. I had no doubt that the humans would use their death-sticks to protect their young, just as I would use my claws to protect Fallan and Hannah.

I hadn't seen any humans with anything that had a long stick yet, but they could be hiding one. Although I'd never seen one before, I wasn't curious and didn't fancy seeing one. I lowered my head even more and quietly growled at a kit that was walking closer. Though a good distance away, I didn't like the fact that it was approaching us and let the fur on the back of my neck rise.

Hannah and Fallan's heads sagged as I glanced towards them and they dragged their paws on the dusty ground, trying to stay hidden. I slapped my tail on the ground, a warning to stay still and silent immediately. They took a hint but the human was now standing right in front of the bush we were hidden behind, and talked to itself in an odd crackling voice that I couldn't understand.

The human-kit then stopped and lowered itself  to the ground, reaching a long, hairless pink foreleg out to pick something up. Then it got up and trotted back to its companions.

I breathed out in relief and started walking faster. The kit had simply been looking for something and it hadn't been us, thankfully. For a while longer we continued on fast-pace, another day's travel drawing to an end as night fell.

I could see that Hannah and Fallan were becoming tired when I decided that we should stop soon. There were a couple of trees around that could hide us from any wandering humans, but now it didn't really matter. We hadn't seen any of them for a while, and the light from their nests glowed in the distance but not close enough to cause worry.

The Sky Cat's tears began to fall down on us as rain, and I immediately looked around for a place to sleep, not seeing anything but trees yet smelling something odd up ahead. Me, Hannah and Fallan were hungry, cold, and tired.. So whatever was up ahead we might not be able to face.

But Fallan had complained many times, and wasn't about to stop anytime now regardless of the odd animal smell.

"Can we just go already? Maybe there's a den up there. We've walked FOREVER! At this rate we're going to fall off the end of the ground." I answered with a simple "No. We'll find somewhere drier at some point." Then, turning around, I twitched my whiskers. "Plus the ground doesn't end."

I had said this many times now. Fallan never did seem convinced. I didn't want to sleep in a human's den unless absolutely possible because who knew what could be in one?

"I suppose we can go closer to the human-nests, since most animals are scared of them and I don't want to come across another bear," I muttered. Fallan studied me with her head sideways, then bounced on her toes through the woods.

"Great! Then we can hunt and find somewhere dry to sleep near the humans. I want to see one up close," she said half-way to herself. 

Hannah was at the back of our line. She stared at one of her spots on her fur when I looked back at her.

She obviously knew there was no reason in arguing, but why couldn't Fallan? Whenever something bothered the chubby cheetah she just HAD to complain or get what she wanted.

"We aren't sleeping anywhere next to humans." I heaved a sigh and trotted ahead of Hannah and Fallan to see if I could scent any danger, my paws starting to drag in tiredness at the thought of exploring what was up ahead.

My eyes popped open as I smelled something thrilling. The trees were thinner here again, only as wide as a cheetah's chest. The strong prey smell swallowed up the scent of pine-sap. 

Mouse! My mouth instantly started watering. I'd been too hungry to remember the odd scent that was mingled with it. I threw my head around and meowed excitedly. "Hannah, Fallan, come here!" They came up a few seconds later walking at a faster pace than usual, as if they hadn't expected me to actually go along with Fallan's pestering.

"What is it, Spirit?" Hannah asked me while Fallan scented the air.

"There's shelter somewhere around here, and food. Can't you smell it?"

Hannah and Fallan drew their cheeks back in a smile. I could tell they were so happy to hear that, and so was I... A whole day of walking took a lot out of us. I could smell lots of yellow grass, and mice mostly. Underlying that was such a faint scent of humans and other unknown animals I guessed I was prepared to try this place out. Was it another cave? A ravine, or den in the side of a river-bank? We had slept in trees, abandoned burrows, and hollowed-out logs.

But wherever my choices were leading out paws now, I hoped that it wasn't somewhere where the humans would ruin it. 

My dream crossed my mind briefly as we walked through the light drizzle of rain, whiskers dripping. If there were humans there, was it a good thing for us to make this choice? After all, my dream had involved two human-cats, also known as pet-cats, who fought on my behalf. If this place and the cats were linked, that meant that my dream was also linked to the living world as well. My dream might not be just a dream, after all.

It might be real.