Crisis was briefly panicked, breathing heavily and trying to steady herself. “It was only a dream,” she said, calming a bit. But what kind of dream was that?

She was a very positive person by nature. Whenever something bad happened, she always tried to remind herself of the positive things in life. That would help her get through almost anything.

For example, when she was saved from the wizard’s stomach, she was able to quickly cope with the negatives: the horrible experience she’d gone through, the disgusting rotting corpse, the panic of having to vomit up Beth, by thinking about the positives. She was back where she was supposed to be, back to who she was supposed to be! She could meet back up with all her friends who she had forgotten about!

What were the positives now? The most relieving thing was that the dream hadn’t been real. The wizard was dead, he couldn’t hurt her anymore. But that just made her think of his horrible rotting corpse.

She was herself again! She was back in her home world with all her friends! But thinking about herself and her friends only reminded her of the last thing she’d seen before startling awake, the terrifying vision of her own face.

She remembered what Milly had said about there being a lot of nekos around, how she wouldn’t go hungry for a while yet. Briefly she felt a warm anticipation of this, but then she was reminded of the horrible dream again, where she had been a neko flailing and screaming inside her own stomach.

“This is ridiculous!” Crisis thought angrily. “I’m not a neko! I’m not a human! I shouldn’t have to worry about this! It’s just a stupid dream! I have no problem eating them! I’ve done it my entire life!”

The images and memories stubbornly refused to leave her mind, however. She tried once more to think a positive thought. Beth was still alive! That horrible vision of her ruined face was nothing more than a vision. She had both Crisis and Milly protecting her. She was safe.

But even as Crisis breathed a sign of relief, she felt another unwelcome tinge of sadness. Beth may be alive, but she might well hate her. She might not even want to be friends anymore. Especially since she was now in the cage, talking to that prey as though they were people!

She supposed it made some sense. Beth was a human after all, so even though Crisis had no reason to worry about eating humans, Beth had every reason to worry. But she needed to understand, she wasn’t prey herself, she had nothing to worry about!

This strange reluctance to eat her natural prey, that had made her feel uncomfortable, given her nightmares… it must have been affecting Beth too. She hated it. She had to show Beth, show herself even, that this was the new normal that they would have to accept.

She slithered back to the hut in the dark of the early morning and opened the door.

============================================================

Beth was woken from a restless sleep as Crisis opened the door. It was still dark in the hut. Why was she coming this early?

“Hey! Wake up! Crisis is back!” she hissed to the others, who sat up groggily.

“Crisis! What’s going on?”

Crisis moved her head near the bars and whispered, so as not to wake Milly.

“I’m going to eat that neko. I’m sorry, Beth. You just have to accept that’s how things are in this world.”

Even as Beth’s mind reeled in horror, once again desperately searching for something to say, she noticed that something was different in her voice. It sounded more determined, more malicious, where before she had seemed cheerful and flippant about the prospect of eating Rose.

“Crisis. Please. Don’t do this.” Beth saw Rose trembling in fear this time, barely managing to keep a straight face. She still stood tall though, and didn’t say a word.

“I have to do this! It’s the only way things will go back to normal!”

“No, Crisis! I know you. I’ve known you for years. You have always been kind. You always tried to help those around you, not hurt them, use them, kill them! That was the normal Crisis I knew! If this… if eating people is normal, then I don’t want to be normal!”

Crisis only shook her head. “That’s your choice. But I have to make mine.”

She unlatched the door of the cage and opened it, reaching in to grab Rose, who still stood still and quiet.

“NOOOO!!” yelled Beth as Crisis’ hand closed around Rose. As Crisis took her out of the cage, Beth acted impulsively. She grabbed Rose’s leg and held on for dear life, squeezing her eyes shut so as not to see the massive, hundred-foot drop below as she was dragged out of the cage, dangling from Rose’s leg.

“Beth! Come on! Don’t make this harder than it has to be! You don't even like her! You've done nothing but argue with her! She eats those smaller than herself too! She should accept this!” She heard a bit of hurt in Crisis’ voice. Crisis yanked her away from Rose easily with her other hand, and placed her back in the cage.

“I’m sorry, Beth. You have to accept this for what it is,” said Crisis as she backed up. She opened her mouth and dangled Rose over it. Beth could see her shake in terror.

Milly stirred groggily, having woken up amid the commotion. Her eyes widened when she saw what was happening.

“Crisis! Never leave the door open-”

Too late. The man in the cage with Beth saw his chance. He jumped up, yelled, and sprinted for the door.

“What the-” cried Beth as she saw the man running. “Wait, no! Don’t!”

The man jumped past Beth and fell out of the door. Beth instinctively tried to grab him, to stop him, but her grip wasn’t nearly strong enough, and she hadn’t anchored herself. She was forced to let go of his ankle to avoid being pulled down with him. He fell to his doom with a sickening CRUNCH.

Beth lost her balance, and started falling out of the door. Her hand shot up to grab the side of the door, and she hung there precariously, leaning out of the door at a sharp angle.

In her desperation to stop the madness, a truly insane idea popped into Beth’s mind. She glanced down at the ground, sick to her stomach. But she had no other options, and no time to consider, so on a whim, she went for it.

“BACK AWAY!” she yelled as loud as she could. “OR I’LL LET GO!”