'Ouch.'
'Ouch! Hey, who is shaking me like that?'
Lilith angrily woke up from her heavenly nap. After enduring an ungodly amount of pain, she was finally able to get some shut eye after the literal Goddess of Darkness threw her back to the inferno that is Spiritus. And in all honesty, Lilith wished she could stay fast asleep for an eternity. She had, quite literally, been dragged from hell and back. This whole nonsense about death and revival could wait until after she got some good shut eye. She forced her eyes shut and prayed that she wouldn't be disturbed again.
"It's dead. Let's throw it on the side of the street," a male voice resonated.
"It's sleeping. You hit it with a car! Of course it's going to be asleep after all that panic!" a woman responded, her voice icy. The two seemed to have an intense aura surrounding them, as if they were angry at each other.
"We could have left it at the vet."
"Why would we? You, if you don't remember, almost killed it! It's the least we could do!" the woman's voice became slightly closer, "Aw, what a cute little kitty."
"Cats are not supposed to be that color."
"Could you shut up already?"
'Oh, is there a kitty here? What color is it?' Lilith perked up. She really did enjoy cats, especially kittens. She forced her tired eyes open and began to scan around for the kitten.
"Oh. I guess it wasn't dead. Too bad," the male voice groaned.
Lilith looked around, confused and dazed. She seemed to be in a kennel of sorts, with a soft pillow bed under her. In front of her was black wire fencing, and two car seats. There was a radio and car dash in front of her, softly playing pop music at a very low volume. The time, 12:49 was displayed in large, white letters, across the sky colored digital touch screen.It didn't take long to realize she was in a moving car.
"Mrrow…"
"Mrrreeeow??"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!"
She was a cat.
It took a moment for it to register in her mind, but she was certain of it now. She was a cat. Not a human. Not a child. An actual animal.
'Damn you Sinistra!' Lilith cursed the Dark Goddess in her mind. She should have given her a human host. How was she supposed to do anything productive in this body. No, never mind that, how was she supposed to get her revenge?!
"Uh, Lucy? The cat is having a mental breakdown, what do I do?" The male panicked, grabbing the cage in attempts to hold it down.
"Hold on, we're almost home. Just calm it down," Lucy responded calmly, as if she didn't notice the absolute chaos that was occurring in the kennel.
"Lucy…!"
"EEEEEEAAAARRRR! EEEEEEEAAAAAARRR!"
"Adam, calm down. Just… hold the cage or something," Lucy sounded annoyed, as if she had enough of his nonsense.
"Lucy, this cat is actually going feral. It literally might break out of this cage!"
'You're damn right I might break out of this cage! This is so humiliating! To be turned into a cat, and OWNED by people?' Lilith thought, continuing to screech at the top of her kitty-lungs, convulsing like crazy.
"I'm going to be killed by a feral cat, with my sister sitting idly by-"
"Oh, be quiet, drama queen, the cat can't break out of it's cage. It's just in an unfamiliar environment!"
"Unfamiliar? Unfamiliar!?" Adam slapped the top of the kennel and shook it angrily, "This cat is way too over the top for that! It's acting as if it's going to be killed!"
'No! I'm not being killed again, damn it! Let me out!'
Lucy parked the car and angrily unbuckled her seatbelt. She rubbed her neck and sighed. "It's 1am, get the kitty quiet so we don't disturb the neighbors. I'll go get something."
"Something? Lucy, you can't be leaving me-" the car door slammed shut, with a subsequent locking noise, "with this cat… ugh."
'Look, kid, I don't want to be here any more than you do. Just do what your heart desires and let me go!' Lilith thought, but to no avail. There was no communicating to him in anything other than cat language, and no human truly knew cat language.
"If only I could accidentally slip your lock open…" Adam sighed, tapping the lock on the cage.
'Yes!'
"But I can't do that."
'No!'
"Lucy would beat me up."
'Then get beat up!'
"Hah…"
Adam raised an eyebrow, surprised. "You're suddenly quiet now."
Lilith was way too tired to do angry snarls and hisses anymore. The day was too eventful for her, and she'd much rather stick to the plan of sleeping for an eternity rather than fighting for an eternity. She curled back up into a ball, her eyes trained on Adam. This predicament would have to be addressed after her rest.
"Okay, what's actually happening? Is this cat bipolar?" The cage slightly shook. Adam sounded both exasperated and confused.
'After what I've gone through, you have no right to be confused. Go away,' Lilith nearly sobbed. She could still feel the knives plunging into her back.
The car door reopened, and in came a hand and an opened can of wet cat food. Adam took it apprehensively, and poked at the kennel once more.
"You're not going to attack me, are you?" Adam muttered, his face scrunching up in disgust. Lilith flicked her ear in response, staring Adam straight in the eyes. He, similar to her previous life, had gray occulos. And gray locks, as hair usually follows the occulos. Pinned back messily with a hair band.
Slowly, he unlocked the kennel door, his eyes trained on the cat as if it would fly out of the cage and cause hell. The thought did cross Lilith's mind, but at that point, there were too many unknown factors for her to pull through with such a plan. There was a chance she didn't even know how to maneuver such a small, four-legged body. It was uncomfortable just being in it.
The kennel door slowly opened, accompanied by a slight "skree" from the rusted metal hinges. Lilith rolled her eyes. 'Just give me the can already,' she raged internally, wanting to reach out and grab it.
The door quickly flung open, as Adam fearfully slid the can into her kennel and slammed the door back shut. The feline gave it an inquisitive sniff.
'It smells like regular cat food.'
She took a small bite of the food.
'Tastes like it, too…'
It tasted just like when she ate it as a dare back in high school. Not awfully bad, but definitely something she didn't quite enjoy. Honestly, a bit too bloody for her taste. But she continued to eat it, anyways, since the small body she resided in was hungry and practically salivating at the scent of food.
"I knew food would calm her down. Now bring her in, we gotta go get her settled down," Lucy demanded, before closing her car door. Adam rolled his eyes and left, too, coming back through the second row doors to grab the kennel Lilith laid in.
Lilith's cat body was practically trembling at this point. For something with far too little food and body mass, she had caused quite the scene. Now, she was repaying with the uncomfortable shaking feeling and near-starvation, which only really hit her when she started eating. She ate a little faster, but to save what little dignity she had left, she tried to eat as cleanly and as dignified as possible.
Suddenly, Lilith nearly flew to the top of her crate, her head hitting the top of the kennel. Lilith hissed in response, jumping into her little kitten paws and into an offensive pose.
"EEEAAAAAAAARRRRR MRRRREEEEEAARRR!" Lilith continued to hiss, scratching at the metal wire door with her claws. Adam threw the cage down onto the ground carelessly, which nearly resulted in the concussion of the poor cat inside the cage.
"Why would you do that?!" Lucy barked, grabbing his shoulder.
"I didn't do anything!" Adam smacked her hand away, stepping back from both her and the crate. The two bickered on and on for a few minutes, while Lilith finally calmed down and finished her canned food. She slowly swayed her tail, patiently listening to the two argue with each other over "some mongrel". Lilith remembered to keep a mental note of the names being thrown, as some of them were actually a bit creative.
Lucy's face suddenly came into view of the crate. Lilith nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise, but now she had a better look of Adam's companion. Light orange occulos with similarly colored hair, which was long and straight, so much that it seemed almost silky. It pooled onto the ground as Lucy took a good look at Lilith.
"You wook a wittle tiwwed, awen't yoo?" (You look a little tired, aren't you?) Lucy cooed, poking her index finger through the cage door. Lilith simply looked at her finger, slightly insulted by her baby talk. She could understand her, though, as she would also talk to small kittens in the same tone of voice. Or any household pet, for that matter.
"Leah," Lucy smiled, before finally standing up straight, removing herself from Lilith's sight, "her name is now Leah."
'I hate that name,' Lilith thought.
"My coworker was talking about how she searched up the meaning of her name, and that it meant 'weary'. Like, tired."
"So you're naming the cat after your coworker?" Adam shuffled his feet, confused.
"No, I'm naming her after her. And she's tired right now!"
"You're..." Adam thought for a second, stiffening, "god awful at names. Not only that, you gave them a human name."
"What's wrong with human names?"
"It's not human! Give it a name like... Cyan."
"You're so lazy," Lucy groaned, finally opening the door to the house and picking up the crate.