CitrineLeaf's Player Appreciation Week Oneshots (Carmen Sandiego)

"Caring For Injured Cats 101" Cat!Player & Carmen

!WARNINGS!
Blood, Mentions of Violence, I... do not know if this counts as animal abuse, but a human/animal is injured pre-story.

Prompt: Day 1 Carmen | Blacksheep

Description:
When Player gets hurt, Carmen does all she can to bring him to someone who can help; a veterinarian.

The rain fell heavy on Carmen as she ran.

It doesn't matter, Carmen managed to think, tucking the little bundle closer to herself, nothing but him matters. Her coat had been soaked through, the rain washing the layers of dirt and blood out of her coat, seeping all the way down until its icy chill could settle close to her heart, but she couldn't allow the little ki- not a kitten, just... young. So, so young, and dragged into a battle he shouldn't have even known – to suffer the same fate.

So, she ran. As fast as her legs could take her. Her lungs burned, her injuries from the heist tore and bled but none of that mattered, she wouldn't die from being out of breath and hurt.

He would.

The emergency veterinary clinic was open later than most. That's what she'd learned after a quick and desperate Google search – no hospitals, hospitals are too dangerous, Carmen's mind ached, it's not fair, he needs treatment- but every clinic needs to close eventually, and they wouldn't stay open for a patient they didn't know was coming.

She arrives just as a woman on the other side of the glass is flipping an open! sign to closed! No words are exchanged before Carmen rushes to the doors, readjusting the bundle and rapping her knuckles against it desperately. Open, open, please- please!

The woman does it, her expression scrunched up with annoyance as she lifts the door upon just a crack. "Ma'am? We're closed, the vet is heading home, and-"

"I-" Carmen pants, struggling to catch her breath," I- know, but he needs help, p-please..."

She reaches for the bundle, untying the haphazardly torn cloth from around him. Her fingers come back red, the rain hadn't been enough to clean his blood off his fur, hadn't stopped it from flaking and clinging to everything. One eye is swollen shut, and Carmen's certain a cat leg isn't supposed to bend that way, but as she watches, the tiny, helpless (hopeless) thing's chest heaves up and down with great effort.

The woman gasps in shock. Suddenly, a hand is on her back. All of her instincts scream to fight back, to throw her over her shoulder and run, getaway, get somewhere safe, and, like the faculty always said, never go to the hospital.

But this isn't a hospital.

"Come on, we need to get him inside." Carmen fights her instincts, allowing the woman to shepherd her inside the safety of the building.

The door is shut behind her, locking all three of them away from the ice-cold rains. Unlike the outside, and the failed (failed, her brain hissed, your worried about a heist when he's dying?) heist, the waiting area smelled of cedar and antiseptic, too much antiseptic, clean only because it was scrubbed that way. Like the cleaners, like VILE-island... Her nose twitched, irritated, but the thief fought against the urge to sneeze, instead letting herself be led to the counter. The woman parted from her, going to slip behind it- Carmen noticed a door behind her, most likely the actual clinic areas- before she came to lean over, raising her hands towards-

Carmen stepped away, clutching the bundle closer. VILE... tearing him away by his scruff, sharp, dagger-like claws tearing through his fur, her helpless to do anything when she should have been his protector. He was her ward, and Carmen had failed. She couldn't fail again.