A Unexpected Love Story

## Characters

* Vex
* Misty
* Darmathamew

## Chapter One

Vex tumbled tail o as he crashed into a mound of snow, Misty, his sister, erupted into laughter and prodded him teasingly, “Come on Big Paws!” Vex flinched inwardly, cursing himself for his clumsiness and they bounded after their sister.

“Well then don’t leave me!” Misty had already disappeared into the snowflakes that had fallen from the sky, it almost fell like how sometimes the Powdered Sugar container’s cap broke off as they tried to add it to their pancakes. Then again, that was more of an avalanche if Vex said so themselves. Lost in thought, they realized that the snowfall had worsened and they could barely see their paw in front of their face.

“Misty!? Misty, where are you?” Vex yowled but the wind howled louder as if trying to silence Vex. Now terrified, Vex crept to a tree and sheltered under the roots, their paws over their muzzle as they tried to not cry out in fear. Their heart hammered in their chest when they just felt… something they couldn’t explain, almost as if there was someone near.

“H-hello?” As Vex peeked out of the tree’s roots, they became muzzle to muzzle with a basically see-through cat, however, Vex could determine they had dazzling yellow eyes and black fur.

“AGH!” Vex and the new cat yelped in unison, the two looked at each other and asked at the same time.

“You can see me?”

“Why do you look see-through?”

Both cats looked at each other and Vex felt his heart flutter, as the black cat held out a paw, “Name’s Damarthamew and- oh right-“ Damarthamew pulled his paw away from Vex when he noticed Vex trying to shake it, only for their paw to phase through Damarthamew’s paw, “Oh yeah, can’t grab or touch anything or really do anything for that matter before walk around and spy on cats, wait not spy more like stalking uh- that sounds worse- what’s the word…?” Vex found himself speaking.

“You mean observe?”

“Yeah that, you never said your name though little fella, and why are you hiding UNDER a tree?” Damarthamew cocked his head.

“Uh- Vex, and I am kinda lost right now” Damarthamew eyed Vex up and down.

“Aren’t you a Snow Tufted Cat? Your fur looks shorter-“ Vex stared at their paws, they felt like freshly cut grass instead of a meadow of grass like the other Snow Tufts.

“Probably lost it all, I am way too jumpy” Vex looked hurt as he said this. Then, time seemed to freeze as Damarthamew leaned forward… if Damarthamew wasn’t see-through… their muzzles would’ve touched.

## Chapter Two

Vex squealed in shock and tumbled back, hitting their head on the roots as Damarthamew flinched despite him not hitting his own head.

“Goodness, are you ok? You do know there is a root there right?” Damarthamew looked worried but Vex couldn’t stop themselves from bursting into laughter. Damarthamew just looked shocked, Vex had just hit their head and they were… laughing? When Vex managed to stop themselves from laughing, they looked at Damarthamew, amused.

“What kind of vocabulary are you USING?! “Goodness” isn’t really a word the Tabbies use anymore, and of course, I know that the trees have roots or I've been squished under the tree!” The two burst into laughter and after that, they always met up under this very same tree every single day.

Vex slipped out of their’s and Misty’s tunnel, they didn’t bother shaking out the snow, it was better camouflage to just leave the snow covering their pelt. Vex’s paws seemed lighter and they didn’t worry half as much as they used to, know with something… or rather someone to distract them. However, this time, when Vex arrived at the tree… Damarthamew wasn’t there… Damarthamew had always been here before Vex had arrived. Vex tried to just shrug it off and wait under the tree roots, but they couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that something was wrong, his paws seemed to want to drag him away from the Snow Tuft land and to somewhere else the longer they sat here.

“I am sorry Misty… I-I have to look for someone…” With that, Vex turned around, glancing at their and Misty’s tunnel, a smudge in the distance before they turned around and bounded away, their paws tracks instantly covered in freshly fallen snow.

Vex stumbled in the snow, their teeth chittering together, sounding almost like two chunks of ice crashing into each other momentarily. Vex’s fur wasn’t made for this much snow, and they began to wonder if they had tumbled into a snowstorm. With their paws numb, Vex padded over to a small ditch in the snow that was more sheltered than just standing out in the snow and curled into a ball, their tail over their nose as they shivered. Darkness tried to overtake Vex and after a while, Vex began to give in… until they felt a blast of heat and they jumped to their paws, face to face with Damarthamew.

“You absolute MOUSE BRAIN!” Damarthamew snarled, “What were you THINKING?! Were you EVEN thinking?! You can’t just go padding off without a clue where you are going!” Vex flinched and looked away and Damarthamew’s gaze immediately softened, “I am sorry for yelling at you but what WERE you doing?” Vex hesitated their heart beating as fast a hummingbird could beat their wings.

“I-I was looking for you-“ That was the last thing Vex said before darkness overcame them, the cold finally winning.

## Credits

* Written by Lun4rC00k13C4t from 1/19/2024 to TBA (ongoing).