-=Shiona POV=-

“We’re here.” Rosh said.

In front of us was a four storied building, or rather, a four storied castle made of various green, bronze and brass coloured metals with spires and towers with varying heights, some reaching not but a few meters higher than the roof of the fourth story while others reached a whole story and a half higher than the rest of the castle, and not only that but there was a large oddly shaped clocktower, shaped almost like an upside down pear cut in half, sticking out from the roof of the castle with a train-station-esque clock face covering its entirety, reaching even higher into the sky than all the spires and towers.

The outside had stairs leading to several different doors on different floors, as well as some here and there that went underground, presumably to a basement, and a small plaza with cobblestone flooring right outside the main entrance with a faded pattern on the floor.

Not only was the size and shape of the castle completely different from all the other scrap-punk houses we’d passed on our way here but it was also only covered in half as much rust as all the other building.

“This place is…?”

“Well I’d tell you but do you really have time for that?”

“You’re right, it doesn’t matter what this place is as long as I can find the fleecy here.”

“Well then this is the place alright, you go on ahead without me since the fleecy don’t haven’t been too keen on talking to any elves before. Well that and I just laz- Wha- hey! At least listen to end of my self deprecating joke before you rush ahead!” Rosh shouted at me, though I hadn’t heard a word after he told me to go ahead.

A *clatter clatter* comes from the door as I try its handle, however when the door doesn’t open I start knocking instead.

*knock knock knock*

“Hello?”

*knock knock knock*

“Hello!?”

*bang bang bang*

“Hey! Open up damn it!”

…

No response at all.

I walk away from the door a short distance before turning back to it once more, get a running start, jump and-

*SLAM*

-and dropkick the door right above the handle.

The doors don’t open but an indentation is made right in the middle of the two doors, repeating the same tactic a few more times causes the two doors to fly open.

Litly who had been playing in the snow until now walked up next to me while I was catching my breath looking inside the dark castle.

I stand still in the opening for a few moments to catch my breath and while doing so I spot something right inside.

It was standing just a few decimeters short of where the doors had flown past mere moments ago, if I had taken any longer to kick open the doors they would flown right into it

It was a small creature, and although I couldn’t see much more than its silhouette it looked very similar to Plush.

“Are you... one of... the fleecy?” I ask, trying to speak through my heavy breaths, however when the creature looks at my face and sees my rough breathing which created fog in the air it starts shaking and slowly backing away from me.

“Ah- Hey!” I call out to the creature but instead of stopping it turns around and starts running away as fast as it can.

“God damn it! Get back here!”

I start running after the creature with Litly in tow but I’m forced to stop once it become too dark to see more than a few meters in front of me and I lost track of the creature.

“God fucking damnit!” I shout.

I couldn’t use any magic wands to light the way either since I had to use both my wings to keep Plush’s harness from falling off when I ran.

“...I could just start walking slowly, eventually I’d have to find the right way after all. Oh fuck it, might as well get started…”

*step step step*

I look down to my side and see Litly sitting down next to me while panting with her tongue hanging out of her beak.

‘Even though you look like a cat you sure do act more like a canine don’t you?’

Crouching down I start petting Litly to calm down a bit.

Then I noticed that Litly was staring awfully intently into the darkness.

“Litly?”

She doesn’t look away from what she was staring at.

A smile spreads across my face.

“Litly.”

I get up and prepare to run.

“Fetch.”

Litly bolts off into the darkness like a guided missile.

*clang*

*thud*

*thump*

*crash*

Several such and similar sounds happened around me, sometimes getting closer and other times growing distant before finally stopping.

For a moment I got worried that something had happened but Litly soon came out of the darkness with the creature in her mouth.

Litly sat down and dropped the creature in front of her like a cat giving a dead rat or bird as a gift.

The creature immediately tried crawling away and escaping, obviously, but Litly put one of her front paws on top of it and started glaring right into its eyes.

The creature froze for a moment before sitting back down and hugging its legs in a fetal position.

Getting a good look at the small creature I could finally say with certainty that this definitely had to be one of the fleecy.

It looked like Plush if he was grey and more… plump.

Its hands and feet were pink and it had an equally pink tail right where you’d expect a tail to be.

Unlike Plush however this fleecy was still wearing its metallic mask and hoodie like Plush had been when he first appeared in my dream and when we first met in this world, though this one’s hoodie had two pink ears attached to it.

His mask was a bit different from Plush’s as well, Plush’s had been completely blank and smooth like some faceless apparition while this one’s mask had blue lines which made a pattern similar to a mouse’s or rat’s face.

A grey body with pink hands, feet, tail and ears made him look like he was wearing a mouse onesie.

The chubby rat fleecy had been sitting completely still, like it didn’t have a mind of its own.

Was it trying to trick us into thinking it wasn’t sentient like they’d done with the elves for so long?

Or maybe Plush is special and the other fleecy are actually all like this?

Also it hadn’t once actually looked at my back and seen Plush, only time it had even been behind me was while it was being chased by Litly and I doubt it would’ve had the time to look at me while trying to flee.

Actually speaking of Plush...

“Plush’s skills talked about him having a ‘ghostly disposition’, whatever that means, so does this mean this one has a… mouse-ly disposition? Rat-ly? Then again Plush doesn’t really look much like a traditional ghost so maybe this doesn’t actually mean anything…”

Then the chubby rat fleecy reacted; the pink mouse/rat ears on its head twitched as I spoke about Plush, finally showing the slightest hint of being able to think for itself.

‘Actually don’t I have the perfect tool for finding out if someone can think or not?’

I reached into my bag and dug around a bit before taking out a small colourful piece of cloth the size of a bandana.

Cy and I had improved it bit since last time, embedding the magic crystal which acted as a battery into the actual cloth so it looked no different than a normal bandana, although it did get a blue tint of energy every so often.

I sat down and reached out to the chubby rat fleecy to tie the bandana around its neck.

“Now I’m gonna need some help from you.” I said with a strained smile.

“Like hell I’d help some crazy bitch who sent her cat after me. God, why’d this have to happen on my shift, can’t even call for help like this.” Came a very grumpy and spiteful voice from the bandana while the chubby rat fleecy still sat completely unmoving.

Now normally people would be pissed off if someone called them a bitch to the face, and frankly I actually was exactly that, but I knew that if I revealed I could hear its thoughts this early I’d lose my biggest advantage.

“You see, something strange happened to one of my… friends recently and I heard you fleecy might just be able to help.”

“Like! Hell! I! Would! Help! You!”

“As for what happened… Well it would probably be best to just show you…”

“Yes! Yes! Do that! If she takes me outta here without permission the others will know!”

I got up from the floor and went behind the chubby rat fleecy where it couldn’t see me, it probably thought I would pick it up.

Instead of that though I took Plush’s harness, and by extension Plush himself, from my back and took him in my hands.

To make it looks more serious I also took off the bibb that Lizz had put on him, doubt we’d’ve been able to keep a serious mood going if he was wearing a pink flowery bibb.

‘Let’s see now… Doubt appealing to its compassionate side would work with how its acting, which means… I’m so sorry for this Plush.”

The I reach the hand holding Plush and drop him at the floor in front of the chubby rat.

*splat* Came a wet sound as Plush landed face down in the muddy blue goop.

The chubby rat was still sitting still but-

“WHAT THE FUCK?!?”

-but judging from what he said it was due to shock and fear.

“Now unless you want to end up like him you little shit you’d better tell me where the others are, and don’t even try to threaten me I know you can’t call for help.”

The chubby rat got up from the floor and ran for his life once more.

“Fetch.” I told Litly once more.

Litly obliged and soon caught the chubby rat just like before.

“Try that again and I can’t promise I’ll be too fed up with your bullshit to not let my little friend here make you her chewing toy...”

I grabbed one of the fiery red baby tomato-like fruits from my belt and ate it, my feathers turning bright red like cinder in a bonfire, the harness I’d put back on my back againcatching fire and turning to ash.

“...Or maybe you’d prefer me doing something a bit more hands-on?”

The chubby rat frantically shook its head as it stared at me in horror.

Or at least I think it did, hard to tell with it wearing a mask.

“Now what to do with this other one…?” I said and looked down at Plush. “Oh! Let’s keep him as a hostage! I’ve always wanted to keep a hostage!”

I pick up Plush and start holding him with my feathers.

Since I’d eaten the fire fruit while Plush was on the floor I didn’t have to worry about making him sudennly combust anymore.

“This is the first time I’ve had a hostage, so how about this, I’ll let you run away and save yourself if you want to wihtout chasing you, but if you do I’ll kill this one instead. If you don’t want that to happen then come with me.”

A few moments later I severly regretted saying that as the chubby rat imeddiately bolted off once I’d finished talking, turned a corner and never looked back, the bandana falling off it as it ran.

‘Fuck. I mean, it’s not like I was ever actually going to kill my, err, hostage, but there was no way for that thing to have known that, was it just that bad of a person that it’d abandoned its own kind?

…

Not like I don’t understand with how I was abandonded by my parents in this world close to three years ago.’

Then before I could put Plush back down and start thinking of what to do next I spotted a silhouette come out of one of tha shadows and approach.

I couldn’t tell what it looked looked like other than that it had the shape of a fleecy.

“My my, what could this be? You wouldn’t happen to intend on taking that chubby rat’s place would you?”

The unknown fleecy nodded its head, though it was a bit hard to tell in the darkness.

“Goodness me, an awfully brave fellow aren’t you? Now normally I would’ve killed this one regardless, but just for you being so brave I’ll let him live a bit longer.”

The unknown fleecy seems relieved until I stop smiling.

“Now down to business, did you hear my conditions before or do I need to take them again?”