Always And Forever

* xHey, if you've read this, leave feedback in the comments, please?

aLWAYS & FOREVEr

Sequel to Never Meant To Be

A oneshot by Foxstep

20 moons after Never Meant To Be

PART ONE

❄️*Cyrus*

Life is always the same for Pauciflora's adolescent cats; get up, hunt prey, offer it to your elders, eat when told, have a little social time, and fall asleep. There's not much for our age to really do here. Once you turn 24 moons, you are let in on the real work, the real business and, you suddenly turn from childish and playful to stern and leader-like.

Well, every now and then the lucky youngster gets called onto a mission and/or patrol. The *lucky* ones do.

"Cyrus! Are you going to stand there daydreaming all day or come hunting like you're supposed to?" Xavia's voice calls from east of me. I purr, padding over to my sister and a few of her friends, Flax, Foxy, Elisa, and Roxanne. "Where's the rest of our patrol?"

"Went hunting already," Foxy answers, swishing her bright ginger tail. "Figured you were too much of a slowpoke but we stayed behind."

"Yeah!" Roxanne shoots me a toothy grin. "How kind are we?"

"All right," Xavia cuts in. "Time to get to the others now."

"Imagine how grumpy Carson will be when we get there" Flax jokes.

"All right, I'm sorry guys," I laugh.

"Eh, it's pretty hard not to tune out when we're expected to do the same thing always." Foxy snickers.

"Hush!" Xavia nudges the ginger-pelted she cat. "We can't talk like that about what our elders expect us to do."

"That was exactly what I was thinking about!" Foxy and I share grins.

Xavia rolls her eyes. "Let's get there before these mouse-brains start a rebellion plan."

I shrug. "Nothing wrong with my planning."

"Oh please!" Flax huffs.

"What's wrong?!" I pretend to be offended.

The other she-cats shake their heads, laughing and we're silent for the rest of the time until we get to the rose bushes and begin to hunt.

~~

We come back with loads of prey and I've caught two mice. This is pretty pitiful as the older cats have caught 5 rabbits each. I need to try harder.

"You need to try harder," Father says.

"I know, I will." I grumble.

"What was that?" He hisses. "Do I have a rebel for a son?"

Mother pads over to us, looking concerned. Father whirls over to her. "Do you see that, Lily? How our son talks to us?"

Mother turns her glare on me and I lose it. "I WILL TRY HARDER, OKAY?," And I run off of the hunting grounds and into my family den. I storm into my room.

I stare there for 5 minutes or so, face flat on my nest until Mother comes storming in. You can't really ask for much privacy. "What was that?" She demanded, her brown tabby fur bristling. "You don't speak to your Father that way!"

There is nothing else to say. "Sorry."

"Tell that to your father," Mother says at the same time Father says, "You don't sound like you mean it."

"*Sorry*." I storm out and go over to the eating place. I do my chore of preparing the prey without being asked; there.

I hear father and mother talking. "Adder, we need to give him more discipline."

"How? We've given him all the work an adolescent can have."

"Xavia is much more worthwhile. She doesn't stroll around rebelling; she caught three rabbits and one mouse today!"

I grit my teeth at Mother's insult. It is no doubt Xavia is their favorite, she's absolutely obedient but it still makes my heart flash.

Xavia comes inside the den, her pale silver fur groomed neatly. "Oooh, prey is ready!"

Mother and Father come over to see mice in four moss plates. I nod curtly and they come over and begin eating. We all eat in silence and I finish first, and head out to go on my next hunt. "Cyrus," Mother beckons me with her tail. "I need to talk to you."

We head over to the den hall that leads our personal rooms.

I stare at her expectantly and she sighs. "Your father and I have been considering asking the Governor if...you could join a meeting with the Wisteria cats.

My parents are actually sending me on a special quest. "For what?"

"A few kits have wondered into Africanus Forest and they caught a severe disease that....paralyzes cats and causes massive bleeding from the throat and it's been spread around the west region of Wisteria....we are going to assist in deciding a name for the disease and help figure out a cure. Only 5 cats may go. 3 are decided so your father and I are wondering if you wanted to attend."

"But...won't I catch this paralyzing disease." I'm confused on why my parents want me to attend; is it because they *want* me to get sick and paralyzed?

"Not if you stay careful," Mother says firmly. "It'll help you get a better record if you go."

So that's why.

"Fine, I will go."

"All right, I'll tell Adder," Mother pauses and looks at me again. "We're proud of you Cyrus."

I wonder if she really means that.

~~

It is a long way to Wisteria but at least the view is beautiful. Wisteria is said to be even more beautiful than Pauciflora, long chains of the purple flower hanging around the lush forest; it is a miracle twolegs haven't found it yet, twolegs love this scenery...and end up cutting down every beautiful thing, from new flower buds to old oaks. Twolegs are like that.

Cardamom, who is leading us, speaks, "Let's take a break and hunt."

"Now?" Tyron lashes his tail. "At this rate, we'll never get to Wisteria!" Tyron is only 1 moon younger than me yet his challenging nature is far higher.

"Yes," Cardamom lashes her brown tabby tail, her green eyes glowing with annoyance.

"You don't question your elders, Tyron." Heather, a 13 moon old, whispered.

Tyron bristles and looks down at his paws. "You could learn from your peers, Tyron," Cardamom meows coldly. But I secretly agree with Tyron; we've already stopped two times and this is only our first day, we have so much more to go. "Thistle, you and Tyron can hunt in the west forest. Heather, you and Cyrus may hunt in the pool south. I will hunt in the bushes over there."

Heather and I walk on for a short period of silence. "Do you think we'll catch the disease?"

I'm taken aback as I haven't heard anyone on the journey talk about the disease. "No. Why?"

"Just worried," Heather shrugs and after a while, she catches a small sparrow.

"There must be a nest," I say and climb a small tree. Sure enough, three baby sparrows are sleeping, never to wake again. I drag them down with no pity and Heather and I carry our catches back. Tyron caught a vole, Cardamom caught a mouse and Thistle got a squirrel.

We all tear into our prey, eating it all. By the time we're done, I'm so full the thought of prey makes my stomach queasy.

~~

After a full, agonizing week, we spot hanging purple flowers, and walk into the sweet scent. Cardamom signals us to step, letting out a perceptible sigh. "Welcome to Wisteria."

🌸*Magnolia*

"They are here!"

"The guests are here!"

"Where are they?"

"Where are the Paucifloreans?"

I can't help but feel prickly inside and outside. How else should I feel? This plague has been slowly picking off Wisterians, one by one. Now our saviors have shown up at the entrance to our main camp. I gingerly walk towards the crowd that has surrounded the entrance, welcoming and thanking the visitors. Finally, the Wisterian leader, Lavandula ushers the crowd back, to reveal 5 cats sitting straight, their chests puffed out proud. *Only 5?*

"Welcome, Pauciflora!" Lavandula meowed warmly. "Come to our meeting square so we can get to know you better." The 5 cats follow Wisteria's governor and I catch a glimpse of each. They vary from shades of bright ginger to dull gray. I meet eyes with a gray-brown tom and immediately look away. His eyes are a bold amber and he has thick black stripes coating his entire body. I glance self-consciously at my white fur which usually stood out in crowds. What would it be like to walk in to a different camp surrounded by strangers. Couldn't be hard for *them*, their visit being sugarcoated with overjoyed cats.

I turn and stroll over to where the other cats have crowded around the main square. The 5 cats stand on the wooden platform, all sitting in a row, tail curled neatly (except for the ginger tom who had a smug look on his face) and they all sat next to Lavandula.

"What do you think their names are?" My friend, Convallaria asks.

"That ginger tom looks like he could be called Ember and the brown she-cat looks like a Chestnut..." My voice trails away as Lavandula begans speaking.

"Wisteria is very glad to have you all here. But before you can meet with the council, I'm sure that fine crowd over there would appreciate the honor of knowing your names."

The supposed leader of the Pauciflorean group laughs. "My name is Cardamom, and these are my companions, Thistle, Cyrus, Heather, and Tyron." I notice that Cardamom looks about 30 moons at least. Thistle looks 23 and Cyrus, Heather, and Tyron look about my age. What are adolescents doing on this trip?

"Let's give a warm welcome to our guests!" Lavandula says as the crowd cheers. Isn't this supposed to be very grieving? A lot of Wisteria's cats have died and here they are pretending there's nothing to be sad about as strangers arrive. But they will help us...right? Or are they secretly here to jeer at us? Pauciflora has always had a superior air to them, from what I've seen.

Wait what? I refocus and see the visitors being escorted off the stage and into their private dens. Should I avoid them? Or....

I'll take a walk.

As I turn to leave, Convallaria speaks. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to take a stroll in the Pine Forest. Want to come?"

"Aww but...don't you want to meet the visitors?"

"Why would I care? Some of them are our age, others are moons older. And they're *strangers*."

"Exactly!" Convallaria looks back up at the Paucifloreans answering questions of rabid fans. "Do you think I could get one of them?"

"*Convallaria.*"

"Relax! I mean the ones our age. Isn't that ginger one cute?"

"Why would you hit on strangers? Just why?"

"Because I'm like that." Convallaria shrugged. "Let's go meet them!" She drags me by the tail and I groan. Great. We get into line, 6th place as the strangers seem more close. I inspect them carefully and the brown tabby meets my eyes and I quickly look away. I glance at Convallaria and see her ogling at (yes), the ginger tabby. Oh Convallaria.

"Are we really swooning over cats we don't know?" I ask exasperatedly.

"You never know who might be your soulmate!" The pale cream she cat bounces on her paws. I notice that now we are third place in line. Thankfully, Convallaria can do enough talking for the both of us so I don't even need to open my mouth once.

"We're in second place!" My friend shrieks and I begin to feel overwhelmed. I start paling and wonder what would happen if I immediately step out of line and run for it.

"Next!" Orcinus, a Wisterian Official Committee member calls. No surprise that the Committee is at the official first meeting with the Paucifloreans. "Mags! It's our turn!" Convallaria hisses. I match my pawsteps to hers, trying to look eager to meet them, letting my smile spread wide over my face.

I must look like the biggest dork ever.

"Hello there!" The leader says (I think her name is Cardamom?). "I assume you two are excited to meet us."

"Yes!" Convallaria shrieks. "Who are all of you?!"

My smile fades. I should've known.

Cardamom doesn't look confused in the least. "We're from Pauciflora."

"We're here to save *your society.*" The ginger tom that Convallaria had switched her dreamy gaze to snaps.

"*Tyron.*" Cardamom hisses under her breath but I catch it.

"We're pleased to meet you." The she-cat I remember as Heather says. I can't help but lightly smile; there's something about her that radiates comfort that is lost from the rest of the group.

I switch my gaze to the dark brown tabby tom who I forgot the name of. He looks dull and bored as if he'd do anything but be here. I can sympathize; was he forced to come here? He catches me looking and shuffles away. *What?* It's as if *I* have the plague. Is he going to treat everyone like that. I obviously don't know my expression but I'm obviously frowning.

"It was fine meeting you too," Cardamom says and I can tell she's rushing. I look back and see at least 50 cats waiting behind us. "What are your names, I forgot to ask?"

"I'm Convallaria-" My friend starts.

"-and I'm Magnolia."

"Lovely names." The cat introduced as Thistle says.

"Thank you," I say quietly, turning to step out of the line. When I turn back, I see Convallaria following me, an expression of frustration playing on her face. "I didn't even get to talk to the handsome one."

"I don't know. He seems kind of on the..uh..stuck-up side, don't you think?"

"Never," The pale cream she-cat huffs as she turns and gallops over to her parents who are waiting in at least 15th place in line. I can see what she's plotting but I don't say anything. Instead, I decide to go on that walk again and glance at the Pauciflora again. I intently focus on the unfriendly tabby tom who looks near asleep. Ugh. Somebody needs to teach him his place...and I think I know just how.

~~

"Pauciflora! *Help* me, I think I have the *plague!*"

I wake up, my eyes bleary. Who is that? I step out of the den I share with my family and see a tom (not more than 9 moons) rolling on the floor, surrounded by his friends. I see Lavandula rush out of her den, and the Committee immediately rushes to the visitor den. "Everybody, stay back!" The governor shouts as she makes her way down the stony rock of her den area.

But it doesn't take long for the common cat to see what a stupid prank this is. The Pauciflora surround the young tom and I notice the tabby, looking more frightened rather than disgusted. Lavandula finally comes down with escorts from the Official Committee and stops where the tom lies down. "Feverfew?" She recognizes the no more than a kit.

"What's happening?" I hear my sister before I march straight into the crowd. "What kind of idiots are you? Don't you see? Don't you? He's faking it!"

Lavandula looks shocked, then confused. She looks down at Feverfew and her expression matches the ones of the Pauciflorean guests. I look down at the red stains around the tom's jaw. But it's not blood red, I've seen this tom bleed before when he came back from exploring with hid friends with a thorn in his pad.

"This is berry juice! Raspberries!"

"Don't make up such rumors, young one," A committee member warns.

"She's right, fools," Tyron snaps, nudging Feverfew. "I've done the same prank before to Heather and her friends. Remember?"

The she-cat guest nods and the looks of confirmation and relief fill the surrounding cats' faces. Suddenly, a dark ginger and white she-cat runs over to the tom who had already gotten up, his face filling with smiley satisfaction of the attention he received. "Feverfew! How dare you cause an interruption? I'm sorry, I'll have him punished, now come on!" Vitis drags her mewling son away as his friends run after him and his mother.

"I apologize sincerely for that," Lavandula tells the guests. "And for being disrupted abruptly."

"Well now that we're awake, we might as well get to work." Cardamom says, ignoring Tyron's groan. "Let's go down to the patients and attempt to find a cure."

"Not yet," Lavandula says. "We're expected at daybreak."

"Why, okay then."

"You can just stay around camp and visit others."

With that, the crowd shuffles away, immediately gossiping and the visitors disband too, looking for tasks. Except for one.

"Hey, I just wanted to say that was just...awesomeness." The dark tabby grins.

"Oh-uh...thanks, I guess." I laugh nervously.

"I mean, I thought it was happening so fast what with all the peace yesterday and I was so worried that something was going to happen but you immediately figured it out. That's really smart of you."

"Really, no worries. I've seen that tom be a prankster before and I have seen berry juice before so no tricking me, I suppose."

"But really, that was amazing! Those cats should've stayed around to congratulate you."

"Yeah, I suppose," I say. "But I think they're just busy what with the sickness."

"I figure...anyways, I'm Cyrus. And you're Magnolia, right? I believe we met yesterday?"

"Yeah, and how did you remember my name? I think there were at least 50 cats meeting with you?" I'm beginning to feel like I misjudged this tom...

"Well, only a few names stuck with me and for some reason, one of them was yours."

"Same! When the Pauciflora cats were introduced, only a few names stuck with me...which yours didn't make the list, no offense."

"Oh, none taken...but seriously? There are 5 of us? Compare that to 50."

"I know? How do you do it? I didn't even know Feverfew's name until Lavandula mentioned it."

"Yep. Troublemakers are easy to forget."

I don't really know what to say next but maybe I could get to know Cyrus more? Only having Convallaria around to talk to is quite overwhelming as she is the...overwhelming type. "I'm actually planning to go on a morning walk now..."

"Oh. Mind if I join you?"

"You can come." I nod and smile I turn, happy to get the reaction I did.

~~

"It's actually a nice place here." Cyrus says, observing the flowers.

"Exactly. I'm proud to be born here." I say.

"But the flowers don't overwhelm your nostrils?"

"I'm kind of used to it, feels completely normal."

"Can't even imagine it." The dark brown tom mutters.

"Completely." I state.

We reach a two-way path, one into the Majalis Way, and another into Agapanthus Stream. The latter reaches into Africanus Forest and I involuntarily shiver. "Let's go here."

"Why not the other one?"

"*Trust* me, you don't want to go there," I drop my voice. "It leads into the Africanus Forest."

"*Oh.*"

We continue on in silence, but what comes next, neither of us could've never expected.

~~

❄️*Cyrus*

 *Magnolia had screamed, disrupting the peaceful silence. I was too shocked to say anything. In front us were 5 bodies of Wisterian she-cats. "Who are they?" I finally said.*

*"I-I don't really know them, but I've seen them before." Magnolia stumbles over her words.*

*"Who?"*

*"I think-I think...Orca, Malus, Musa, Reticulata, and Maxima. They're all friends."*

*"Okay...should we take them back?"*

*"Yeah...but what if we get the plague?"*

*"Are you sure it's the plague that killed them?"*

*Magnolia had lingered closer to the she-cats. "Um. There's blood around their mouth, nowhere else."*

*"Really," I had stepped forward to inspect the bodies. "But isn't it supposed to be a dehydrating, crippling disease?"*

*"Those are the rumors," Magnolia had shrugged. "I don't really know, but I think we should leave the bodies here and tell Lavandula and the council."*

*"Yeah, good plan...let's go." And we had fled the crime scene.*

~~

Now I rest in front of the guest den, the beautiful weather betraying the haunted moment. Cats were bustling around and traveling to several different regions of Wisteria to spread the news of 5 dead cats. I heard that the families of these cats were mourning and had demanded to bury them but the governor had ordered the bodies to be studied in the hospital quarantine down at least a quarter-day's walk from here. Right now, Lavandula and Cardamom have left to see the bodies but the rest of us will be called later after they get the basic information.

"Hey Cyrus," Magnolia says, coming to sit next to me.

"Hey."

"I was wondering...why were plague bodies away from the Africanus Forest?"

"I don't know. Maybe the plague is everywhere and we just can't tell."

Magnolia looks down at her white paws. "Hey, when you go down there..."

My ears prick up.

"...can you tell me a little bit about the symptoms?"

"Of course." I say.

"Thank you," Magnolia stands up abruptly, staring at a cream she-cat. "There's my friend. I need to talk to her." She walks off and I'm left in front of this den, watching her go.

~~

It's now my turn to visit the hospital. I go with Tyron and Heather and thankfully, the ginger tom keeps quiet for the whole trip. Once we reach the place, I see it's a tall, tall, enormous den just as Thistle said it would be like.

"Welcome!" The Wisteria governor rushes out of the den, as if she sensed us. "Come in quickly and stay as far as you can from the patients." We walk inside and my breath catches in my throat. Before me are at least 200 unconscious cats.

"How much has this spread?" Heather gasps.

"Can't you tell?" Lavandula says, sounding distressed as she looks up to Cardamom picking her way carefully to meet us. "Patient #142 has just traveled to the skies." She whispers and Lavandula closes her eyes and wails softly.

"Come on," Cardamom meows and we follow her to a small room.

Lavandula begins speaking, free of her previous despair."This is where the testing goes on. Scientists in different sectors of Wisteria are working together to develop a cure and we need Paucifloran input."

Thistle emerges from the crowd of scientists and beckons us over to a sickly looking elder tom lying on the ground. "He's been bitten recently." She whispers. "We don't know how long he'll last."

"Chard," Lavandula whispers. "Cicla's son."

I peer at the tom and focus on the blood draining out of his open mouth into a massive pile of moss. His legs are splayed out and limp. I make sure to capture as many details I can for Magnolia until I realize we're filing out. "We're leaving already?"

"Of course," Tyron scoffs. "unless you actually want the plague." His eyes glint and he grabs my scruff and hauls me over, backwards. "Hey!" I kick out, knowing what he's going to do and I hear shrieks from Heather and Lavandula but before Tyron can finish I feel a strong grasp against my scruff drag me away. *Thistle.* I watch the plague victim I was about to be thrown against close his eyes as if sleep could block out the sound.

Lavandula and Cardamom stare at Tyron in shock and disgust. Thistle immediately grabs Tyron. "I can take care of him Cardamom. I'll punish him."

Somehow, Cardamom takes her word for it and Thistle and Tyron leave earlier than us. And then we set out. I keep on thinking of how I could've nearly caught the plague and died in a rotten place like this rather than dying a noble death, saving Pauciflora.

How close that possibility could fade away in a place like this.

~~