Kingdoms Awakened

Season 2, Episode 1: A New Beginning

Cedar held a ruffled map as he sat on a wagon next to his friend. The wagon shook due to the bumpy path while there were several other cats on the wagon as well. "I heard they have free bus passes to the Kingdom of Diamonds. Apparently things like cars are cheaper around there." Fish told Cedar as she stuffed her face with a sandwich. Cedar was tired, but he knew they were close to the Kingdom of Hearts so there was no use in resting now. "Go to sleep if you're so tired." Fish suggested as she took another bite of her sandwich. Cedar shook his head, trying to keep himself awake and yawned before immediately falling asleep. Behind Fish, a couple was giving her a disgusted look. "What? You want some?" Fish asked as she held the sandwich in their faces. They shook their heads uncomfortably and jumped off of the wagon before they had reached their destination.
"We're just going to walk from here." The couple said as they tried their best to get away from Fish. The yellow she-cat just shrugged as she continued eating her sandwich.
Within about an hour the wagon had reached the Kingdom of Hearts.
"Hey! Wake up!" Fish shook Cedar as he laid alone on the wagon. The other passengers had already left and the driver of the wagon was getting impatient. With no other ideas, Fish prepared herself as she slapped Cedar awake. The gray tom jumped up as he woke suddenly.
"Huh?! What?!" He panicked as Fish stood over him.
"Oh good you're awake. Now come on. We're at the Kingdom of Hearts already." Fish nearly dragged Cedar off of the wagon as the driver went on their way. Cedar was still waking up, but once he processed what Fish had said he immediately perked up his ears.
"We're at the Kingdom of Hearts!" Cedar shouted excitedly as he rushed into the Kingdom's entrance.
"There's the Cedar I know." Fish laughed as she followed behind her energetic friend. Cedar stood in line to check over his items. Once they had reached the front, the guards immediately confiscated his sword.
"I'm sorry, but we don't allow weapons like these here unless you're a knight. Too dangerous." The guard said as they took away his sword.
"Wait what? I thought they were allowed." Cedar responded, clearly upset.
"Not anymore. Recently there has been some concerns so we're keeping weapons like these away from non-knights. You can come pick it up when you leave though. There's other weapons that are safer that are sold here. Here's your Kingdom of Hearts ID." The guard handed Cedar his ID before moving onto Fish. Cedar sighed as he dragged himself forward. As they checked Fish's bag, they only found a pile of snacks and a small dagger. Looking at her strangely, they handed her an ID and let her go inside the Kingdom without any hassel.
"So where to next?" Cedar asked as he looked around. The Kingdom of Hearts looked much nicer and cleaner than the Kingdom of Spades. It was much more organized and had a lot of nice buildings and a more modern look.
"Lunch?" Fish shrugged as she pulled out a candy bar.
"Let's not." Cedar flattened his ears at her as he looked around. Together they walked around the buildings. There were flowers, trees, bright colors, overall the atmosphere seemed happier and brighter. Additionally, the park nearby seemed a lot cleaner and bigger than the Kingdom of Spade's. Cedar stopped as he noticed a weapons shop. "Perfect." He smiled as he rushed in. The shop was filled with small daggers, shields, pocket knives, bows and arrows.
"I'm honestly surprised they sell any weapons at all." Fish shrugged as she looked around the shop. Cedar rushed around as he tried to decide what he wanted. There weren't many bows and arrows in the Kingdom of Spades, it was something special within this kingdom. He continued to look around and noticed a dagger that looked similar to his old sword. It was much shorter, but it was still a pretty good weapon.
"I want it!" Cedar shouted as he inspected the dagger. It was light overall, but it was probably the best he could get in a while.
"If you want that it'll be 300 coins." The cashier yawned in a monotone voice.
"300? Dang. We can't afford that." Cedar sighed as he put it back. He knew if he bought the dagger, they wouldn't be able to buy anything else. Fish had to drag her friend out of the shop as they left to look around. "Now what?" Cedar grumbled, still distressed about not being able to afford the dagger.
"Maybe we can find a hotel to stay for tonight." Fish shrugged as they began reading the signs as they walked by.
"Barber shop, pharmacy, groceries, library, hotel!" Cedar paused as he noticed the hotel. "Come on." He signaled for Fish to follow.
"Uh." Fish stopped in her tracks as she dug through her bag. "I think we have a problem." She turned her bag upside down to show that all they had left were a few snack bars and her dagger.
"What? What happened to the money?!" Cedar panicked as he turned his attention to a group of three laughing nearby and running off. "I thought everything here was candy and rainbows." Cedar flattened his ears. "Turns out nothings perfect." Cedar quickly dashed after the theives. He slid as he turned the corners of the buildings. He kept his eyes on the theives carefully, closing in on them as the three theives began to panick. Suddenly Cedar was stopped in his tracks. His breath was knocked out of him as a knight held him in his place.
"Hold it. Let me see your ID." The knight spoke.
"What? No? The theives are getting away!" Cedar shouted as the three theives turned a corner and he lost sight of them.
"There are no theives here." The knight glared at him as he confiscated Cedar's bag. All that was inside was some of Fish's snacks, his ripped cape and his ID Card. He took the ID Card and began typing in a small machine.
"What is that?" Cedar questioned as he tried to catch his breath. A piece of paper came out of the machine and the knight handed it to Cedar.
"Here's a ticket. That's one strike. Don't run around like that again outsider." The knight handed Cedar the paper and walked off without another word. Cedar looked down to read it and glared at the knight.
"What kind of knight gives tickets?" Cedar hissed to himself as Fish rushed over to her friend. "You got the money?"
"Nope, but I got a strike." Cedar turned to his friend and crumpled the paper up. "This place is nothing like what I heard about." Cedar huffed as he repacked his bag. "Come on. We'll probably have to sleep at that park we saw earlier for tonight." Cedar sighed as he stomped off towards the park. Fish shrugged and took a bite out of her candy bar before following her angered friend. The two eventually made it to the park and Cedar had found a place in the tree where he could sleep for the night. Fish slept underneath the tree, snoring away already. Cedar tapped his foot impatient as he flipped off of the branch. He couldn't sleep, he was still fuming about the situation that had happened earlier. He decided to leave his bag next to Fish, not that he had much more to loose anyway. "Hey, I'm going to go for a walk." He told Fish, she slightly opened her eyes, waving goodbye to her friend before dozing back off. Cedar headed off as he walked around to the streets. The lamposts ensured the pathway was lit and the streets overall were rather quiet. He passed by several of the stores they had passed by earlier before making it to the residential side of town. He noticed a window opened with the scent of cookies drawing him in. He wasn't usually the type to be drawn to food, but the scent of the cookies reminded him of something. Something he couldn't quite remember. He couldn't help but climb through the window to get a better look at the cookies. He noticed a batch of them sitting out on the counter in the kitchen. Just one cookie wouldn't hurt, right? He reached out for a piece before an arrow shot from the corner of the room, just missing his paw.
"Ahh!" Cedar stumbled back startled as he looked towards where the arrow had been shot from.
"What do you think you're doing?!" A girls voice questioned him as a silver tabby she-cat stepped out from the shadows.
"Huh? Oh. I, uh-" Cedar stumbled to find his words as he looked towards the she-cat. "Um- just that the cookies smelled really good and it reminded me of something. I didn't mean to-"
"Invade my house?" The she-cats finished his sentence. "Look, I don't know where you're from but you're obviously not from here. If you were you'd know better than to break into someone house especially in the middle of the night." Her tail swished behind her as she kept her position, her arrow still pointed towards the gray tom.
"Sorry." Cedar chuckled as he began to notice her blue eyes. His heart began to beat faster as he couldn't take his eyes off of her. "My name's Cedar." He began to speak without thinking. "Yours?" He raised an eyebrow towards her.
"Ivy." She said quietly, still keeping her guard up. "Where are you from, Cedar?"
"The Kingdom of Spades." Cedar explained as began to relax his position. "You won't shoot me, will you?" He questioned with a slight over-confident tone. Ivy flatted her ears at this as she lowered her bow.
"I don't need to kill you, but I'd suggest you don't try that with anyone else again." She sighed as she walked over to her cookies. "You're lucky I didn't shoot you in the face." She handed a cookie over to Cedar. He smiled as he took a bite.
"Mmm." He licked his lips. "These are delicious." She smiled at him as she took a bite of her own cookie.
"Thanks. Usually I eat these alone. Though it wasn't necessarily welcomed at first, it's nice to have some company." Ivy took another bite of her cookie. Cedar nodded as he finished his.
"Really sorry for barging in like this. The smell of the cookies just drew me in too much." He chuckled.
"Take some to go." Ivy packed five cookies and put them in a paper bag before handing it to Cedar. He happily took them and nodded his head in thanks.
"You've probably been the nicest cat I've bumped into today. Everyone else in the kingdom hasn't been treating me all too nicely." Cedar smiled as he began walking towards the door.
"Yeah, some of them aren't all tol nice, but it's not all that bad once you know the tricks and know who to talk to." She followed him to the door, opening it for him. "Don't go breaking into places and trying to steal things again, alright?" Cedar chuckled at this.
"Alright. But I may try stealing your heart next time." He winked at her and she rolled her eyes playfully.
"A flirt, huh?" She smiled at him as he walked out of the door. "We'll just have to see about that."
"Maybe we could meet somewhere nearby tomorrow? You know. Kind of like a date." Cedar smirked. Ivy laughed at his overconfidence.
"Maybe. The library. Tomorrow at 5 PM." Ivy smiled at him, returning his overconfident smirk jokingly. Cedar chuckled and nodded his head. They waved goodbye to each other as she slowly closed her door. Cedar stood in front, still smiling widely. Not the encounter he was expecting from a midnight walk, but it was definitely an interesting one. Especially now that he supposedly had a date. He then headed back to his spot in the park. He climbed up to his branch and rested his head before yawning. He felt exhausted now after the midnight walk. Fish was still asleep in the same position she was in when he had left along with their belongings still being where they were left. He slowly closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep as the night breeze rustled through his fur.