My eyes snap open, and then I close them when the cold light stings my eyes. My limbs jerk on instinct, trying to get in front of me. They're trapped though, a new set of chains back on my hands as I'm being dragged backwards.

Before I even know what's happening, I hiss and thrash against my chains. My eyes reopening and my head whipping around to glare at the guy dragging me again. Another hiss driving out as a strong unexpected anger bubbles up.

"Already awake?" The man yanks his hand forward and then back, throwing me off balance. And that's when I feel something impossible, insane.

"Paul wasn't lying that this one has an unnaturally strong ability to resist potion affects, but..."

I ignore their conversation, much more concerned with other things. I wiggle my spine, and I feel it again. I wildly shake my head, that's not impossible. I'm just delirious from whatever just happened. I should probably still be asleep, yeah that's it. I'm too tired to fully be aware of stuff. All this hissing too is just because of whatever happened to me.

They stop and my legs move with their own will as the open a door. Trying to get underneath me and steady me. Only for me to get shoved from the side. The completely hallucinated... thing actually moving and trying to balance me before I slam to the ground and the door slams shut behind me.

I take a breath, and gag. The blood in this room is so potent! And the urine, disgusting! I can practically taste it on my tongue! So disgusting! How did I not notice that completely unnaturally smell of the drug? It's so obvious! I feel like just by breathing I'm getting drugged.

"L-Lukas?" Petra's voice is clearly strained, I can hear every crackle distinctively. "Are you okay?"

I open my mouth, I freeze. Something on the top of my head just moved. And I could FEEL IT! I felt my hair brush up against it and then I could feel it. As if it were some part- OH MY GOSH IT MOVED AGAIN!

My heart pounding wildly in my chest and with my eyes squeezed shut, I roll on the ground and press my head into the ground. I felt it! The ground pressed into my head and then something on top of it, connected to me! That isn't right!

"Dude?" Axel groans and the- the things flicker towards him! "You... uh... you good?"

Taking very deep breaths to try not to panic, and focus in on the, err, area. I flicker them, totally willingly. Taking much more rushed deep breaths, I do it again and again. And then a few more times just to make sure I'm really not insane.

I flex my fingers, planning to pinch myself just in case, when something scratches me! And then I hiss! It just came out! Why would I hiss? I'm a human being, human beings grunt or say ow or something. They do not hiss unless it really hurts, and the simple scratch does not qualify.

My eyes pop open and to my surprise I can see clearly. Well, not clear clearly, but a whole lot better than before I left. Feeling my heart threatening to burst, for the second time today, I squeeze my eyes back shut.

"Uh... I think I've finally gone delusional." I silently plea for Petra to stop talking. "Am I seeing a tail?"

I groan, and my vocal cords betray me. It sounds more like an ocelot whining than a human in trauma. No, no no no no, I am not letting those thoughts travel down that path! I just need to think about this, take a lot of deep breaths and think about it very carefully before my head explodes.

The very unwanted tail begins to emit an achy feeling, terrible proof that the stupid tail is actually connected to me. I feel like I'm squishing my arm. Except I wasn't born with this limb nor are humans actually suppose to have tails!

My stomach clenches and a sob breaks free, but no tears. I can't even freaking cry anymore! What did they do? I swear on everything good in the worlds I will make these people pay!

Cool, tough claws slid out from my fingers. Hisses drive themselves out of my mouth while both my new ears and tail twitch wildly, muscles tensing up for action. The smell of blood distorting my thoughts to where all I can think of is more.

More blood, I want to smell their blood as I tear them apart! Growling I thrash against the chains, I got to get out of them! My ears flicker, hearing the links become straining but not breaking apart! A growl breaks from my lips though, if only I was stronger!

"What's..." My head perks up when Olivia's wobbly words drift into my ears. "What's that noise?"

A quiet hiss leaks through my mouth as I feel myself tear. I desperately want to keep ripping apart these chains so I can be free to hunt down these monsters. But I have to help Olivia. She's one of the main reasons I just went through all that.

I get to my feet effortlessly, surprising myself, and shuffle towards Olivia. Very carefully, I fall onto my knees next to her.

Blinking, I can actually see her somewhat, able to see her outline without straining my eyes. Although I don't need to see to know how thin she is. That the once magnificent armor she wore replaced by a ratty prison uniform.

My stomach clenches, and still no tears. I kinda wish I could cry right about now, it'd make me feel human at the very least.

"Rrrroww..." I cough, wishing my hands were free so I can grab my throat. That was NOT the sound I wanted to make! Oh my gosh, oh gosh, I can still speak right? I kinda need to communicated to tell my friends everything!

"L-Lukas?" My stomach clenches again hearing exactly how terrible her voice sounds right now. "What did they do to you?"

My head falls, and I don't even try to hold back any of the sobs anymore. I'm not human anymore! That's what they did! I'm now a-a-a cat! I'm an ocelot! They turned me into some human ocelot thing!

I'm scared to think what they might have done to Jesse. What happened to him? He's probably alive, I think. But he has to deal with alone. Maybe it's even worse for him, getting more treatment from that vile man. Although I don't exactly have tears to shed for him anymore.

Taking a deep breath, I try to speak again. Various meows and animal noises spring out of my throat until I force my vocal cords into speaking like a human because there are some very important things I have to say!

"Rye... I don't know..." My throat feels raw to even force out that out, but after what I just went through, I can deal with it. "But... something similar happened to Jesse."

They all gasp, I probably would only hear Olivia's though if I still had normal ears. This is actually the first time we've even said his name since when I asked where he is. Sad, but it would be more depressing actually to talk about him being gone and thinking if he's in a worse position. Which he definitely must be.

"The ocelot's an ocelot." I just hear how Petra eye rolled at that. "How cliché."

I growl, unintentionally, at her. "I didn't exactly want them. You don't understand how agonizing it is growing new limbs, I probably would've have died if they didn't threaten you guys."

No reaction from that, and I did go overbroad. But I don't really have the ability to think carefully about what I say. If I feel angry, some sarcastic remark is probably going to fly out of my mouth with a few hisses and growls before I can even take a breath.

"Hold up." Chains rattle as Axel turns to me. "You got claws now right? You can totally pick these chains now!"

I open my mouth, and let it close. Axel makes a good point, but I'll have to do mine first-

My heart thrusts against my chest and all my muscles tense up. At once my claws spring out of my fingers and begin to search for the key entrance. The idea of freedom firmly planted in my mind, the roots spreading wildly.

My muscle tremble at the thought of moving freely. I could run and climb, and most important, attack those demons for ever trapping me up in here in the first place. Then my entire pride can escape-

I freeze, pride? Shaking my head, I dig a claw into the keyhole. I am not a cat, I don't have a pride. I'm in a team, the Order of the Stone. I have to get a grip on myself. Just because I have a tail and a few more ocelot abilities doesn't make me a cat. Keep your cool Lukas, just keep your cool.

The thought of Jesse springs up and I push it away before I can feel sad. Finally, a faint click goes off and the chains rattle as the fall from onto the ground.

Rubbing my wrists, surprisingly not sore after I threw myself against the bindings earlier, and then I wonder why I don't feel that bad at all. I was in incredible pain and misery, but now nothing. I'm not even tired and not that hungry. They must have done something.

"Any day now Lukas."

Rolling my eyes at Petra now, even though I know she can't see it, I start working on Olivia's. Who has nicely already turned her back so I can work. Hers pop off much faster, as I can move my hands freely and I know it a bit better. Although claws are naturally curved, which makes things interesting.

I move onto Axel's as I hear her sigh in relief to have them off. Once his come off though, he immediately scoops Olivia into a hug. And when I get Petra's off, she pushes me into their hug. And I sheathe my claws before hugging them back.

It feels really nice, just to hug my friends again. I suppose we all could have mashed our bodies together earlier, but it wouldn't have been the same. It wouldn't have been like this really protective feeling that everything might just turn out alright after all.

Then someone's hand presses into my side, and that safe feeling is replaced by the familiar dreadful one. I stiffen up, because when their hand pushes the cloth against my skin, I feel bristles rubbing together.

"Sorry Lukas." Olivia breaks away from the hug. "Cats don't really like to be hugged do they?"

The others pull away, and my forearm rubs against someone else's. And from Petra's grasp, I think she just figured it out.

"You-" Petra coughs a bit and groans, I nearly forgot about their hunger with all this stuff happening to me. "You have fur!"

I awkwardly hold my arms away from me, the sudden worry that I'll find out my entire body is going to be covered by it and I'll know once my shirt touches it. I can't believe I didn't notice it earlier, I guess I was freaking out with the tail to much to tell.

Before I can say a word though, my ears twitch at the faint sound of more footsteps and some grumbling. Slowly getting louder as they approach us.

"Handsss behind backsss!" That was more a hiss than a whisper, but it's harder to control that when the footsteps grow ever louder. "Someone'ssss coming."

Axel looks over to the door, confusion falling over his face. "I don't hear- oh shoot there is!"

I glare at him before moving the chains under me as they all quickly bring their hands behind their backs. "Don't ever doubt cat earsssss."

Sitting on the chains and closing my eyes, I look as miserable as possible. Which isn't really hard to do. The muscles have had much practice for how ever long I've been here. But when the panic of them taking one of my friends so they can go through what I just did sets in, I don't have to try, it just comes. Since there are way too many doubts if they'll have the strength to survive that.

The door bursts open, and maybe that's why the needed obsidian doors, the iron ones weren't even strong enough with how many times they slam them open. The light floods in and I hear my friends wince. I've already decided to just rely on my ears, my eyes have already gone through enough grief.

There's a clang and some gruff voice. "Our leader has graciously gave this as a reward to you for your success."

My nostrils flare, is that bread? The door creaks as the man closes, but then creaks back open. "And we figured you'll love this."

A purely heavenly smell fills my nose, blocking out the extremely pungent odor that I've been dealing with. The door shuts and I snap my eyes open, seeing a fish arc through the air and towards the ground.

Unable to control myself anymore, my body blurs to catches it. Once in my hands I immediately bite into it. The blissful taste blocking out everything as it expands in my mouth. Truly exquisite and divine in its nature, the juices leaking on as I chew exceeds greatness itself.

I waste no time tearing into it, my teeth making short work of the heavenly meat. Just the smell and the taste combined are making my senses go haywire. I swear I have never eaten anything so amazing.

My stomach flips in joy when the delightful meat falls into it, finally some substance in it. The extremely nourishing fish instantly becoming churned by my stomach, squeezing out the its precious juices.

When the fish has been reduced to nothing but bones, my heart aches. I must, before I die, experience such divinity in fish again. I refuse to die before then, and nothing can stop me!

Sighing, I begin to gnaw on a bone, holding onto the others for later. I look up and the bone nearly falls out as I forget to bite down. Everyone's starring at me as they slowly chew their food.

"Wow Lukas..." Petra's voice is muffled by the bread, and chews a few more seconds before swallowing. "That was really entertaining."

Axel snorts and covers his hand, trying not to laugh his food out. "You were even purring! I gotta get my hands on a fish sometime, that was great!"

My face heats up, and blushing was the one thing I would have been fine with losing the ability of. Looking away, I dishearteningly chew on the bones again. The, actually kinda nice since it's a normal feeling, sense of never being able to live this down.

Although purring? Really? Just another thing to add I suppose. If my life ever becomes normal enough for me to get a crush, I will never be able to hide it. I'll probably purr every time they're around. Which would be horribly embarrassing.

Deciding to actually do something, I hold the bones in my left hand as I pick the lock on my feet with my right. It falls harmlessly to the ground with a few clinks before I move over to Olivia and work on hers.

She was the only one who didn't tease me, although I would bet she wanted to. But starvation hit her the hardest, her mind is much more focused on savoring the bread as long as possible rather than making fun of friend. Who will probably have to go to therapy for the rest of his life because of this day.

I move onto Petra's after hers, silently wondering if I've gone insane. Fighting a world eating wither didn't do it. Getting thrown off into a void by my former best friend didn't do it. Being falsely accused of murder while trying to be murdered myself didn't do it. Having my mind taken over by a computer and watching myself fight my best friend with killing intentions didn't do it. Literally dying and then helplessly watching the very same friend fight through terrible odds to save everyone didn't do it. But turning part cat after watching my friends slowly starve to death, I guess that might do it.

Although I wonder how I don't have trust or attachment issues yet.

Now that all of our legs are free and everyone's happily leaning against the concrete, well I'm not but I've had a different day. I'm leaning against the concrete coming to the conclusion that I'm partly in shock and partly insane because I've stopped freaking out and now just kinda want to laugh at all the horrible stuff that keeps happening.

Maybe I should change that to mostly insane now.

"So, Lukas." Food seems to have replenished life back into the warrior that lives in Petra. "What was it like out there? Tell us everything."

Part of me wants to say nothing and not bring the memories back up, it would be like touching a fresh wound. But then Axel and Olivia lean forward too, all of them so eager to learn about the place we've been trapped in forever.

Sighing, I look at all of them, still not wanting to bring anything up. "It's a lot brighter, that for sure."

Olivia groans. "Come on Lukas, we need to know."

Growling under my breath, I roll my eyes and begrudgingly give them a straight answer. "We're currently in a very long hallway of cells, all of them identical on the outside at least."

Petra's fists curl and she scowls. "These monsters."

"Yeah, well these monsters are also have some pretty high grade armor. If I recall correctly, I would say they're a lot like Magnus's or my type of armor. Not metal but still super tough. Not too mention it's been designed to keep them hidden in the shadows."

Axel grunts, crossing his arms. "Great, the first time we meet ninjas they kidnap and torture us. What a let down."

"Axel!" Olivia elbows him and I slightly smile, Axel's jokes just make me feel better.

"They have quivers full of arrows, and I'm going to assume that they're tipped. I didn't see a sword though, but I'm not willing to bet that they don't have a strong sword arm."

My claws burst out as the memories burble up, and I thankfully stop myself from forming a fist. I can't stop myself from my heart being to pound harder and harder in my chest though.

"And the end of the hallway, that way at least." I gesture, oh how I missed that, to the left of the door. "There are other rooms. I don't want to say labs, since the one I was in felt more like a torture chamber than anything else."

The sight of that man fills my mind and my fur, that sounds so wrong, stands up on end. I bitterly realize though where I have fur now. Up my sides and onto my back, ending at the shoulders. Patches on my forearms, thighs, and shins. Not too mention the fur on my tail or ears either.

"The leader or whatever was in there, and apparently he's some big ol' hotshot." My fingers flex, my tail twitching furiously as I begin to snarl. "He has that voice, y'know. That voice that just irritating gloats with how much power and respect he has."

Everything becomes tense, and I strangle the air, trying to reach into the memory and attack the real man. "And when I get my claws on him I paint his perfectly white 'lab' of his with his own demented blood!"

My brain registers what I just said and my anger freezes. I cough and very lightly scratch the back of my head, although I can't seem to calm down enough to sheathe my claws.

"Anyway, this guy is bad news, everyone calls him sir and treats him with the upmost respect and stuff. And he told me, before putting me through that- that-" I end up snarling, intentionally again, with a few more hissing thrown in.

I shake my head, human time, not cat time, I need to be human right now. "Jesse has already gone through it, so I'm guessing he'll be overseeing all of our 'experiments'. He used you guys as incentive to convince me not to die part way through it, so expect that if we can't escape before it's your turn."

Olivia sighs, her face crinkling. "Oh man, I wonder what happened to Jesse. How has he been, uhh... changed?"

"I don't know that, but I'm guessing he's doing one at a time. Jesse, me, then one of you guys until he grows bored of us I guess."

Petra slams her fist into the wall. "I see why you hate him so much, I'm feeling the urge to knock a few teeth out of him right now."

A horrifying thought drives itself into my head, my fur standing up on end again. "Well, I think I'm going to sleep and the food will last longer if we sleep, so you all should too."

They nod and lay down, and I do the same, listening to their sighs before they slip off into sleep. It doesn't take long to fall asleep here, you're always tired here. But I don't think I'll be able to join them anytime soon.

Because I fully believe now that I was wrong just then. That the 'gracious leader' didn't give us food for a reward that I survived. I'm pretty sure he was giving us strength. And soon enough, maybe even all at once, he'll grab Axel, Olivia, and Petra all at the same time. Although I don't know what I'm going to have to go through next.

I gaze up at the ceiling, feeling human now but wondering how long that will last.

And I can't help but wonder if Jesse has it worse.