Feathers

Chapter 4

Even though he was tired, it took a while for the bluish gray tabby cat to fall asleep. When he did, fell asleep touching noses with Finch. She was the cat with the closest age to him and he pretty quickly figured out in the time that they interacted that both of them had a lot in common.

When he slept, he slept peacefully, he didn't really have any dreams about anything, it was just a blank deep sleep.

Five minutes later, Feathers woke up from his sleep, he couldn't sleep well because his mind was too filled to the brim with thoughts about what was going to happen next. His gaze then landed on Finch who was up staring at the sky from the fence. She was saying something but he couldn't tell what she was saying. He padded over to where she was without making a sound and perched beside her. "Can't get an entire night of sleep?" He asked, "Me neither," Feathers added with a small sigh.

"It's all my fault! When me, Pheasant, and Fox were trying I was slowing us all down! If I would've been able to run faster we could've escaped and hid from the cats and Fox's sacrifice would've never happened!" She exclaimed with her voice cracking, "Fox's death is all my fault!" Finch told him, closing her eyes tightly and shaking her head. "I should've died instead." She cried out into the night.

Feathers shook his head, "No. Finch... he had the choice to do this. He saw something good in you when he did that. He died because he trusted you to help us. He wanted you and Pheasant to save the other cats!" He told her before licking her on the head, "And you're going to make him proud."

Finch didn't say anything and just sighed, "But he was my best friend. You don't understand, Feathers. My best friend got himself killed to save me. You have no idea what it feels like." She opened her eyes slightly as she spoke.

"Actually I do. When my owners threw me out of the house, Silver, Tetra and his brother took me in. Starling was my best friend from that moment on and then later that night Lightning found us. Monsoon and Hurricane tried to murder me and then Starling died jumping in front of me. He gave me the task to also help save the cats on the streets and that's why I'm here right now. I'm going to make sure he didn't die for nothing, you should do the same." He told Finch as his blue eyes softened, "And I'll be with you every step of the way."

Finch suddenly licked his ears before she wrapped her own tail around his and dug her nose into his long fur, "Thank you Feathers. For everything."

The blue-gray tomcat nodded and then started grooming Finch, "You're welcome. We're gonna avenge Fox. I swear upon my life." Feathers hesitated before speaking again, "We better get some rest before tomorrow though."

Finch nodded and laid down in the grass and curled up into a ball. Feathers curled up beside her and dozed off and had a dream of his own, he thought.

Eventually he woke up again and stood up, it looked exactly like he was really awake, and it felt like it too. Then he looked around and saw a cat reach out a shimmering paw to touch him on the shoulder.

"Hey Feathers, long time no see. You've grown." The black cat chirped to him before purring a bit. "Did ya miss me?"

Feathers ran straight into the black cat, and then through him, purring as loud as he could, "STARLING!" He exclaimed before jumping up and smiling at him while closing his eyes. He looked down at his own paws and realized that they still looked normal. "Quick question... What is happening right now. Is this a dream or something?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"It's hard to explain but I'll just explain it as well as I can. I'm like this all of the time now. I'm invisible to every cat except for you, you'll find out why... eventually. I'm just walking around like normal though, and living like normal, although I can see a bunch of other dead cats, it's like a different world of cats but the same surroundings, and I can float through things, does that make any sense at all?" He asked Feathers, tilting his head to the side.

Feathers shook his head. "Nothing you have just told me made any sense. I don't care though. I'm glad to see you." He told Starling before purring a bit and then looking more serious, "Am I doing the right thing?"

"What do you mean? Like with planning, fighting, hunting, or something else?" Starling asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I guess I just mean... I guess, am I making you proud with this operation? Is it a bad idea? Is it not making you proud? Is this the right thing to do?" The blue gray tabby asked the black cat, question after question.

The black cat hesitated before saying, "I cannot tell you if you're doing the right thing... That's up to you and everyone else. But I will tell you that you are making me proud by being true. You aren't hiding from the problem and running away from it, instead, you're turning back to face it and solve it and save cats you don't even know. Those are things that are found in great cats. What I can tell you is that you're amazing, and what you're doing makes me proud but you have to decide if it is the right thing to do." Starling smiled and licked Feathers with a small purr. "I'll be with you every step of the way. I promise." He looked at the sky before saying, "You should probably get some sleep though. I'm pretty sure tomorrow is going to be a very long, tiring day. Good luck!" He exclaimed before licking Feathers' ears and sprinting off, disappearing into a few bushes.

Feathers smiled as he curled up beside Finch and dozed off, sleeping easier now.

It felt as if the small cat only got a blink of sleep. He woke up to Tetra getting up close to his face and eyes, "Come on! Wake up, sleepyhead! Everyone else is waiting for you!" He exclaimed before violently shaking him back and forth.

"Alright! Alright! I'm awake..." Feathers mumbled, opening his eyes to see the sky was already lit up. "How long did I sleep in?" He asked now upon his paws looking around frantically.

Pheasant smiled and spoke up, "We've all been awake for hours but we wanted to make sure you got your beauty rest... fluff-head." He teased with a small smirk as swatted him in the head with one of his paws lightly.

"Hey! At least I look more beautiful now!" Feathers exclaimed as a joke and started to groom his fur quickly until he made a quick hairball and coughed it off. "My fur is so pretty that this hairball could be traded for five mice!" He joked.

"Aye! I'll auction it off!" Finch exclaimed before speaking quickly, "Five mice over here, five mice over here, four mice? four mice? One mouse?" She asked, pointing at the other cats with her light brown paw. "One mouse tail even?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"How about I get paid to take it! I want to be paid seven hundred mice to take that!" Pheasant exclaimed, pointing to the hairball with his tail.

Feathers playfully growled and lashed his tail before biting Pheasant's tail fur and hanging on.

"Alright! Fine! Sorry! I meant seventy-thousand mice!" He exclaimed, trying to get Feathers off.

"Are we leaving or are we playing?" Silver asked all of the cats, her green eyes narrowing.

All of the other cats rolled their eyes before all agreeing that they were leaving. "Leaving."