Crimson Rose: The Crooked Man and the Crooked Cat

Chapter 10: Spider Fight

She'd said since he caused Edmond to die, she would kill anyone the Crooked Cat dare called a friend.

Looks like she was holding him to that promise.

"Oh, Noir, where are you?" she asked in a sickly-sweet singsong voice, "Don't you want to see me suck your friend's body dry?"

Annette freaked out even more. She couldn't stand the sight of poisonous spiders, especially enormous ones. She couldn't understand Itsy Bitsy. To her ears, she was clicking her pincers furiously. Her long, spindly hairy legs on her chest prevented her from running away.

"Annette, use the sword to pry her legs off you and run to the clearing!" instructed Noir, pleased by how Annette instantly obeyed and pried the surprised spider off of her.

Annette took off toward the clearing, the giant spider hot on her trail. All of a sudden, the field darkened. Noir gazed towards the sky and saw a large cloud blocking the moon from sight: the exact break he was waiting for. Shifting into humanoid form, he bolted from the bushes and leapt to the giant spider, his clawed hand making contact with her face.

The spider was thrown back several feet as she screeched in pain. Three bleeding claw marks stretched across her face.

Screeching with rage, she instantly launched for him when Noir jumped and kicked her square in the abdomen. Itsy Bitsy tried another head on charge, but it proved to be a major mistake.

Noir's claws made contact directly to her abdomen and ripped out a glowing object from the inside, much to Itsy Bitsy's agony and Annette's disgust.

It was very clear who won the fight. What Noir held was a little glowing green glass marble. As the moon appeared from behind the clouds, he tossed it underneath the moonlight and it instantly turned to ash.

Annette and Noir watched as Itsy Bitsy groaned in pain and she shrank back to her original spider size. Itsy Bitsy looked up at Noir. "Thank you." she said gratefully. Then, slowly but surely, she crawled into a hole in a tree and disappeared from sight.

With the murderous spider gone for good, Noir turned his attention towards Annette. She was kneeling by a tree, trembling with fear.

Noir, covered in spider blood, approached the shaking girl slowly. Annette trembled with fear as the red-stained being neared her. "Don't touch me." she said shakily as she buried her head in her arms. She was so scared that she badly wanted to cry.

Then, she started to shake and sob quietly.

Noir stopped his approach. He was a cat; he could sense human emotions rather well.

Shrinking down to cat form, Noir padded over to the sobbing girl and curled up next to her. He rubbed his head against her, trying his best to comfort her. For at least 20 minutes, they sat.

Annette's trauma was slowly wearing off. Slowly but surely, she was convinced that the spider would have had her for dinner. Noir wished he'd never left Annette alone.

What was he thinking? Noir had no idea if Annette could accomplish what the cat has asked her to do.

Human. She was only a human. A mortal girl. Sure, Edmond had been a mortal too, but he had the Cursery Objects. Annette couldn't perform magic and she evidently couldn't fight well. Shifting slowly to his human form, Noir gently put his clawed hand on Annette's shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

Annette pushed his hand away and gave him a glare. "No, I'm not! I had my book stolen by a magic cat, and he forced me into a world I don't belong in!"

Noir knew she was deeply upset. He didn't blame her. She had a rather frightening experience with terror. "Why? Why would you trap me here?" Annette's rant continued. Noir backed away slightly. The cat has never done anything wrong in the eyes of anyone he'd known.

Having Annette shouting at him really choked him up. Rage rushed through Annette. "I've had enough of this, Noir! A killer spider almost killed me! I want to go back home!"

"But, we still need to get rid of the..." Noir didn't get to finish his sentence. With rage in her eyes, Annette fiercely slapped the cursed cat hard on the cheek. Noir felt the stinging pain on his cheek where she slapped him.

"Forget it, buster! There is no 'we', crazy cat! Only 'YOU'!" said Annette, venting all her fiery rage on him. "You took me from my home! My mom's probably worried sick about me!"

"Give me back my book now, buster! You're going to take me home and you will leave me alone!"

Noir stared at her, shocked. His mouth hung agape, his heart tightened in his chest. Her words stung him more than the pain in his cheek did.

All he ever wanted was a friend and his home back. But apparently, that's not what fate had in store for the lonesome cat. Tears formed in the corners of his golden eyes, then in no time at all, began to trickle down his face.

"...Alright, Annette...if that is what you want...I'm truly sorry for dragging you into this....I humbly apologize...I only wanted a friend." said Noir, his voice starting to crack. He held out his hand, Annette's sketchbook in it.

When Annette heard Noir's statement, her anger vanished. As she took the book back, she felt a sudden pang of guilt wash over her.

"I feel like a complete idiot." thought Annette. "That poor cat. He must have been lonely all this time. All those years with those fearsome creatures on the loose. His master's gone and he's alone. He shouldn't have suffered such a cruel fate."

Annette felt like she wanted to cry. She yelled at Noir, blaming him like everything's his fault. But what's worse was she slapped him. Her pips started to tremble and tears pricked in the corner of her eyes.

"Take the left path over there and you'll find your way out. I'm so sorry, Annette..." said Noir, pointing to a forest path.

The cursed cat turned to leave, when suddenly, a sharp pull on his tail stopped him. The suddenness of the tug caused him to stumble and fall right into Annette's arms.

She hugged him tightly. "I won't leave just yet. I'm sorry you had to endure such cruelty and I'm very sorry I slapped you. But I promise you; I'll never leave your side. Let's go cure the nursery rhymes together."

Much to Noir's shock, Annette apologized for her actions, even though it was mainly his fault. He never thought that she would be so forgiving towards him.

And much to his eventual acceptance, he slowly but surely returned the hug.