Darkness. Everywhere, everything... Whatever you'd think.

The soft rustling of disturbed leaves sent chills down materialized spines, cats waited in the shadows as they bristled.

Then,

Step

Step

Step

Of paw pads, no cat moved as suddenly, a firgure emerged from the dark. Lean figured but stern with choices, clever steps mixed with certainty, bouncy and elegant. How can a cat show all of those emotions at once, well, it's this.. "cat."

Every cat watched with uncertainty and weariness as the midnight black cat moved along, vines drapping around it and dragging behind.

Purple eyes kept itself intended to it's destination, but then the abrupt stop of course made every cat freeze.

Eyes narrowed, it turn its head, its gaze burning.

"I'm going to sperate myself from this doomed clan," it spoke, loud and clear, with an unforgettable edge to its voice.

"And since there was some that agreed to my lovely, lovely claims," the cat raised a paw, extending the claws that were safely kept within. "I'm willing to take them with me."

Silence engulfed the cave once more, then a lilac laperm stepped out of a nearby shadow.

Monique, the unique cat.

Monique made her way to stand in front of the black cat, then she also raised a paw, her fur bristling nervously.

"I-"

"-will like to come with me, yes yes," it dipped its head. "You agreed with me, you come."

Monique's eyes flashed with surprise, her fur dropped and her mood seemingly lifted.

"I- well- yes.."

"Behind me, please," it meowed pleasantly.

She cautiously circled, then glanced towards one of the cave's darkest shadows.

"Can.." Monique started.

Just one head turn silenced her, and she looked downward. Eyes searched Monique, intent but calm.

"They speak for themselves," the cat smirked, flicking a ear to the direction of the gaze."So whoever this she-cat was going to mention or recommend, come out."

Hesitancy. Undecided thoughts, then with the prickle of ears, cat heads turned to another set of approaching paws.

From the shadows, another cat skidded down, his paws unsteady.

Surprise briefly dawned on the black cat, then it disappeared, replaced with fake warmth, he knew.

"Hello, Bex. Fancy to see you here, considering you are one of the King's favorites." Even with a cheerful, low tone of voice, Bex felt threatened, as he was actually a favorite of the King.

It made a mocking bow, but didn't lift even as Bex meowed,

"..yes. After hearing what my mate, Monique, had said about it," he flicked his heavy blue-ish tail to shocked, pleased Monique, "I decided to betray the king and come to your side."

The silence that followed after was unbearable.

"Dim-Link," the black cat, still in a posture of a mocking bow, whispered. "That's my name. I heard you all," its face hardened as it fixed itself, "had been referring to me as 'weird.' Very, very disrespectful."

Dim-Link scowled as it fixated its gaze on every cat hiding, and hisses emerged.

Bex felt his fur lift, then Monique shook her head as a 'no, don't.'

"Well," Dim-Link suddenly said, cherry-toned with good manners. The switch up was always unpredictable. Bex hated it. "Anyone else?"

*

A lot of cats decided to go, even with the warnings and threats of Dim-Link, they still persisted, that's good, Bex and Monique weren't by themselves.

*

Days turned to weeks, and eventually, tiny mews echoed in ears of cats.

*****

Neonate.

Unnamed shook her head as she finally opened her eyes, the world unfolding before her.

Light drafted in as warm beams, and big, jade green eyes met hers.

Oh wow, her brother! He had a coat of blue fur, silver on the tip of every single hair. He was staring at her, his eyes already open. At the sign of his sister's eyes opening, he wiggled with tiny body in delight.

"Yoou up!" he squealed. He got up on shaky legs and walked over until he fell over.

A gigle escaped his mouth as he tried again, but Unnamed was only confused. Who was he? She didn't know that was her brother.

"Who you?" she meowed for the first time. Her voice was high-pitch, but she didn't seem to care.

"Brot-brother.." he said, his words unsure. "But.. but yooou up! So yoou.. yoou.." didn't seem like he knew how to say the word 'you' properly, huh.

Turning away from her brother, Unnamed tried to stand up. Her claws scrapped on the bed of leaves.

Legs shaky but steadily becoming stronger, she took some of her first steps. It was solid, but she soon fell down.

O. She thought, it was somehow.. um, fun?

Suddenly, heavy paw steps filled her ears and a random cat bursted in, but the scent that flooded her nose completely changed her thoughts. It was her mother! And her giggly brother's too, of course.

Her pelt more curled and twisted than ever, Monique panted, her rose red tongue out.

"That's good, I only needed to go on a short hunt," she murmured when she spotted her two children. Shs batted her eyelashes, than heaved a sigh of relief, sitting down and began to clean her pelt.

"Urgh, that thing really spooked me," Monique grunted, "glad I didn't get any injuries."

Thing? Injuries? Strange to her, Unnamed padded to her mother, still struggling with secure footing, and looked up at her with big milky gray eyes.

As distracted as Monique was,the lilac laperm still glanced down at her daughter. "I wish I can name you now," she meowed. "But that's against the rules, only the Monarch can."

Monarch. Unnamed thought. Sounds serious. Serious?

"Good for you though," her mother squinted her eyes, making it seem like she completely closed them, "your going to be getting your name... In about two days."

Two days. Is that far or near? Sooner or later?

Then looking defeated, Monique plopped herself down in a position where she made her paws disappear under herself, but she still swept her tail to get Unnamed and Unnamed 2 attention.

**

Today Unnamed and Unnamed 2 was going to get a name! It was supposed to be exciting, so Unnamed acted excited, she was excited anyways.

That's how mother got her name! By just being named! Mon-i-que, mother's name, and no father introduced.

Unnamed wondered why, but Monique was busy trying to make her daughter and son presentable.

"You have to look as good as you can," she whispered as she picked out a stray stick from Unnamed's bluish-gray pelt.

But as inpatient as Unnamed was, she still held still until the long, searching licks stopped, then tumbled into her brother.

"You have to get cleaned now!" Unnamed squealed.

"Aww, whyy?"

"Because.. names!"

He got up and shook out his patched lilac pelt. "Veryy really??"

He still made his words long, which Unnamed thought to as he's never going to grow out of it.

"Yes!"

"Hey! Lilo- my child, come here," Monique stopped herself from saying something, didn't she? Custom? Name?

Hm, Unnamed got off her brother, allowing him to get up.

"Me?" his big green eyes were questioning, then when Monique came over to pick him up, delight crossed over his face.

"It's me, me!" he meowed as he was carried to the other side of the medium sized room.

Leaves tied to the roof of the den with strong fern stems hung low, which Monique batted away with her silky tail.

A tiny creek ran along the edges of the den, as if it was a barrier. Freshly picked ferns laid in a neat stack beside the entrance, green in total.

Unnamed stared at it as she waited for Monique to finish up cleaning her son.

Those are suppose to be hung up, right? Even though she had no idea why it was hung up on the roof, but she was relatively curious at that.

"Mother, what are those for?" Unnamed asked, looking at the stack.

Monique didn't turn as she meowed, "what is what?"

"Ferns."

"They are called Rock Cap ferns," even though Unnamed couldn't see her mother's face, a laugh-like tone crept in her voice. "You are curious, yes?"

As an answer, Unnamed walked over to the stack of ferns and pawed at it, the raindrop-shaped leaves catching her attention.

"Monarch thought it would look good and help with the air, so they are air cleaners to use," she murmured, lifting one paw to gentle bat a hanging fern.

"They actually helped us more than expected, more than the cavern, of course." even with that, the laperm sighed miserably. "I still miss the place, though, it was fun while it lasted. After the Monarch came and we cats learned the truth about the King and Queen, of course we settled deep in the jungle that barriered the rainforest we used to live in.

Was no fun at first, even with the Monarch to guide us, but it eventually became better-"

"All cats who will face danger head-on, will always follow me and will always let me help you, and is old enough to face the despisers, come to gather for a meeting!" Strong and confident, every word carefully chosen to make a convincing statement, the call rang out, completely baffling Unnamed.