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"It's a cat! A huge one! Vicious too!" He warned Barth.

Tybalt had almost forgotten that Barth was there. At least until he had intervened and started babbling on about a fire or something.

"What fire..?" He asked confused; temporarily distracted from the fight. "I don't see any fire. I think you need to rub the sleep out of your eyes, Barth." Not like he could speak. He was, after all, confusing Christof for one giant cat.

The fight was further postponed at the entrance of both Calder and Emily. Yelling something about wolves.

What?

"Wolves now?" He lowered the rusty pipe and stared blankly at the Kelpie. "What makes you think there's wolves? Bah! Not that matters! Wolves don't bother me. But cats--" He pointed again at Christof. "--must be eliminated!"

He was about to raise the pipe again when something bumped into him. A ghoul. A dog ghoul.

.....

Thank Jack it wasn't another cat!

"That!" He pointed at Christof again, expecting her to see what he saw. Which was a giant, ferocious looking cat.

He paused a moment, looking from Tybalt to Christof and back again. Then a NEW person popped in, but luckily it wasn't a ghost or in a reaper outfit. What was most confusing was that he pointed at Chistof and said he was a cat. "Christof is not a cat!" He said, pointing to the boil. Dogs. They were crazy. Speaking of, he had to watch out for those wolves. He bet the scent of them brought this ghoul over. She smelled like one.

Just as he was about to further explain why there should be not hitting Christof, the Igor grabbed Barth and started to move. It....was rather hurtful to see him go.

He heard the ghost boil giggling. See. He hates you. He would rather hang with that sleeping loser. Lonely Pony. No one wants you around.

Shaking his head despite the tightness in his chest, he moved in front of the Igor. "NO! You are not running away. We stay as a group. YOU ARE NOT GOING! Emily knows the way to the door. YOU don't. I'm leading. You don't steal people and run." He pointed to Barth. "Order him to follow us to the door!"

After that, he spun on Tybalt and the new ghoul. "YOU, there are no cats. Come with me. We're leaving. You...Uh.. whoever you are. You're coming with us. Tell the wolves to stop too. We're not kibble! Say we taste bad." If they could speak it, why not use their natural tongue to help them.

Lastly, with a much kinder tone, he looked back over his shoulder at Emily. "Where to?"

Israfel was stuck. On the path but stuck none the less. Huddled into a ball, the small blue siren sniffed and cooed. He could hear them, his sisters, his cousins, aunts, grandparents. All of them around him, telling him everything. How he was supposed to be good, if not better then his sisters. How he was a failure of his race. He would never sing. He wasn't like he was supposed to be. He was a failure. A broken siren. I mocking ghost in the hallway.

'IsraFAIL'

Sniffling, wings curled around him, a poor shield to the invading fog. He didn't need to see them, only hear them. The voices of those he called his friends, telling him what he already knew. He couldn't sing. He wasn't like other sirens. He'd never BE like other sirens. He was a freak. The voices of his family chiming in. Them voting on his fate. Slashing his voice box, casting him to the sea, letting him drift off and die. Or worse. Worse was life with out his voice, without his wings. No friends, no family. Nothing. He was a failure.

It was in his name.

"Israfail."

Even with his face covered, Barth started coughing. He could hardly see.

He just shook his head at Calder's order. It didn't work. Calder couldn't shift, and the commands didn't do more than glow. Not with the smoke restricting and choking them.

"Christof," he said weakly, not struggling, "not that way. We have to- get out."

Calder might have been trying to take control of their small group, but even so they didn't help. The fog was thick EVERYWHERE now. With a grunt, Christof's eyes narrowed, set with intent as he stepped around the Kelpie. Barth wanted out. He was just obliging. His stomach was in knots. Just... anywhere but where there was a rustle and a growl from the fire breathing monstrosity.

He just needed a few moments alone... and then she would love him again. Then she would trust him forever. Then he wouldn't be spare parts.

On the edges of his hearing came another voice, quiet, soft, and kind on the surface...

"Christof, you will obey orders. You will obey or it's back to the scrap heap with you."

His heart was racing, eyes wide as he pushed forward. No no no there were no mirrors out here, how could... how could he find him? NO. just... just keep going. He'd show him. He'd show her. He'd show all of them just what a good Igor he was.

Christof refused to come with them, and it seemed even Barth's order didn't work. How was that even possible? Didn't Christof have to do what he said? Why wasn't anyone as desperate to get out of here as he was? Why was no on listening? Why did no one care? They were just holding him up here with all this craziness that no one was thinking about getting back on track. His mind had been set on leaving, they all had been, but now everyone seemed to have forgotten the point.

They're not your friends...

Calder turned about, looking over to the little ghost boil from before who was standing several feet away. He was idly stroking a misty white wolf. Calder breathed in, nostrals flaring, and could smell the scent of one. In fact, ,he smelled it close by. Why would his senses lie to him?

"What do you mean?"

He asked, and the little boil started to unwrap a piece of candy, taking his time as if the questions were unimportant or just far too easy to answer.

You saw it. Christof dissappeared. I cut him into bits.

He paused a moment, before looking down. Back then, he ran after Christof and saw him disappear. That was when everyone showed up, including Christof, as if nothing happened.

But what if it did happen?

What if from that point on, everyone else was fake? What if Chrsitof really was gone and he was being kept in the field by these fakes?

"I really am all alone." He whispered, before looking up at Emily. Or maybe not? He at least had Emily. Her weight on his back was as real as his back....pack.....had been?

He looked around. His backpack!

Stepping away from everyone, these fake impostors, he turned about, heading away. "I"m sorry, Emily. I almost got us killed. You should have told me they were fake." Not that she was blaming her. "Those aren't our friends. Christof vanished. It's the ghost boil. He's playing tricks with us."

He heard the little boil following him, laughing as he unwrapped his candy and popped it into mouth. Calder could still smell a wolf, and looked back to see the misty wolf following alongside the ghost boil.

The fog rolled over the fake friends and he moved deeper into the fog. He had to go deeper, into the thick of it, just as Emily had said, but first he needed his backpack. He was sure he left it on the path when he set Barth down or was it back when he first spotted Emily.

It was in the rustle of corn, the hush or stalks brushing against stalks, and the rolling fog, that he smelled fish. FISH! He left some in Christof's bag. Moving over, he noticed one dead fish laying on the ground and followed. Then he spotted the notes and map pieces. Well, more than the ones he had. The papers fluttered in the soft wind, some caught between the corn. Adjusting his hold, he leaned down and worked to grab the papers, but glanced at a few with confusion. This wasn't his bag, was it?

Either way, he needed his things. He wasn't going to get lost without them - more than he already was. Finally finding the sack, he stuffed the papers in and grabbed his flashlight, looking over everything to see if he missed any. Taking the straps of the bag, he slipped it over his shoulders and went back to holding Emily on his back more securely. "Let's go, Emily." He said, the sudden weight of being alone again, knowing that Christof was gone...and that everyone else had left him, settling heavier on him than the fog.

"Let's go home."

((THE CAT IS REAL TYBALT BWUAHAHAHA OTL ))

It was confusing, the maze of corn. It wasn't long before Night found himself lost and confused. He heard voices, but they were muffled and though he had his sack and...weapon of sorts, He didn't feel safe at all. A small meow escaped before he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, "Hellooooooooooooooooooo?" He yelled at the top of his lungs. When no reply came, he continued the path in the field. The fog got heavier and he felt like he was hearing just to much stuff. His vision was cleared but it wasn't long before he felt like he was going in circles.

"Where the Jack am I!?!?" Night growled out as he shoulder his backpack and reached out, his hand touching a famalier face of a friend, "Tybalt!" He said as he came out of the fog and right smack dab into the black dog....and other dogs! One he also recognized as LW, the little wolf....but he didn't know any of the others. "Tyyyyyyyyyyybaaaaaaaaaaalt" Night said in a creepy clingy voice. Finally someone he knew!

((Ignore the dice! Was going to respond to prompt but forgot I was trying to enter in /FAIL FAIL OTL OTL))

Tybalt was about to answer when someone bumped into him again; knocking him tot the ground---AGAIN! What was he? A student magnet!? Unfortunately this time, rather than attracting two canine ghoul's, he a attracted an all too familiar face. A very feline looking face.

Night.

"N-N-NIGHT Y-YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Oh Jack, he really was seeing cats. He wasn't hallucinating! This was real!

Backing away as quickly as he could, he shuddered when Night spoke his name in the creepiest voice he had ever heard, making the black dog very tempted to hide behind the two ghoul's.

"I-I was chasing after someone... Or rather... two people..." He looked over his shoulder in the direction he had last seen the kelpie and the witch. Great. They were gone...

"S-something's really screwy in this place..." He said, still keeping his distance from the black cat. "Everyone's going crazy. Barth got dragged off by this monstrous cat and Calder and Emily ran off that way." He pointed in the same direction he was looking. "I think he's hallucinating and seeing some ghost or something... I'm not sure... and Emily..." His voice trailed off; lost for words. Though like LW, he too noticed that his bag was missing.

This was really strange...