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“Ugh. They’re saying there’s one of those, those annoying things in the next town. The one that shows you stuff in your head to scare you instead of just using a sword or something.” Kitty rolled her eyes, passing Puss and Perrito their meals and sitting deep into the booth.
“I wonder what it is it shows people that is so effective.” Puss mused between slurps of soup. “Surely there can’t be something so horrifying that even the goth types are affected by it.”
“Something about mind reading, blah blah. Must be custom.” Kitty put her feet on the table.
Perrito was now interested in the conversation and looked up from his book. “Mind reading? That sounds cool! I’d like to get my mind read sometime!”
“What’s the point? You already know your own thoughts.”
“Oh, yeah.” Perrito shrugged and read on.
“So, are we going to spend ages hiking through the woods to go around this place, or just go there and not get noticed?”
“How bad could it be?” Puss shrugged, nonchalantly.
“Don’t say that. Why would you say that?” Kitty groaned. “Now something has to happen. You’ve cursed us all.”
“It will be fine!” Puss waved it off, but Kitty just threw her paws up into the air and groaned more.
It shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone that the same time the next day, they were locked in combat with said mind reader.
It had started as just a regular mild tavern brawl, when instead of punching again, a young woman stared intensely into her opponent’s eyes. The fighter started openly sobbing. They tried to leave, but only made it a few steps before sitting down in the street, still weeping. At this point, the owner of the tavern shouted “It’s the mind reader!” and everyone within earshot pulled out their weapons and charged. Kitty and Puss looked at one another before joining the fray.
It was a good fight. The mind reader did in fact use both a fist and a cutlass, making it a significantly harder challenge to beat her. She seemed to only be able to stare at one person at a time, and only if they made eye contact, so the odds shouldn’t have been in her favor. But one by one, the crowd of people attacking her grew smaller and smaller, and the background sound of sobbing grew louder.
Puss saw an opening in her attacks and went for it. He forgot about the eyes. They were strikingly electric blue. The kind of blue eyes that makes you wonder if they can shoot lasers from them.
And suddenly, he wasn’t there at all.
Kitty paced back and forth, rubbing her paws together anxiously. It was okay. Everything was fine. Nothing was happening that wasn’t a surprise. There was still time. Everything was okay.
For probably the eighth time that afternoon, she jumped into the window and swung onto the roof, peeking out at everyone who had shown up so far. Various adventurers and travelers, all friends of Puss. Kitty hadn’t had anyone to invite.
Well, she had invited the groom. That had been something. It had taken her months to work up the nerve to admit that there might be someone good in her life for once, and another few months to do something about it. Night after night, pacing back and forth, trying to choose between protecting her stupid feelings and hoping that it would be okay for once. Her heart won, like it always did right before it got broken. Again. And again. And again.
A late-night picnic on the roof of one of the glitziest diners in Spain. Candles. Fancy pilfered food. A stolen engagement ring with rubies in the shape of a paw print, offered on one knee with a suave smile, hiding all of the turmoil roaring just under the surface. A legendary night for the most legendary of cats.
He had gasped with shock. Two minutes later, he was shouting a speech that was likely pre-planned, telling the whole city how much he loved his future wife Kitty Softpaws before the two of them had to flee from the local law enforcement, paw in paw and laughing as they ran.
He wasn’t there yet.
He wasn’t there.
Kitty climbed back down to her dressing room, where her wedding dress still hung by the mirror. It wasn’t worth the hassle to put on until Puss was there. She had done her makeup, though, and her boots were freshly polished. There wasn’t anything to do but wait.
So she waited, walking back and forth and back and forth and pretending she didn’t see the sky turn pink and purple as the sun set and the guests left for the reception without her.
Her legs and paws ached from the constant stress. Her stomach rumbled. Her eyes were tired.
Finally, she gave up on Puss. She crumpled to the floor and sobbed until she was dizzy, and then laid on the floor, still sniffling. Then she got up and tore the dress to shreds with her teeth, screaming. Then she left, slamming the door so hard it broke. Then she ran through the woods, still sobbing, until she physically couldn’t go any farther. She sat down.
Something growled from behind her.
She didn’t bother trying to fight. She woke up when it was sunny out.
She hoped she would never see Puss in Boots ever again. Not in this life, and not in any others.
It hurt.
It hurt so badly his chest burned. That was all he really knew at the moment. His chest hurt.
His eyes were open, actually. What was he looking at? Everything was so blurry. Just colors, not even shapes.
A lot of black and white right now.
His chest still burned. Right in the center, right in the middle. It hurt so much.
Oh, he had ears, too. For hearing things. They were picking up a lot of general ringing right now.
No, wait, there was someone talking to him.
It didn’t really matter who was talking to him if he couldn’t understand what they were saying, right? Probably not worth worrying about.
It just hurt so much.
“Puss?”
Puss squinted at where the voice was coming from. Something wiped his face, and suddenly the face of a black and white cat was in focus very briefly before more tears flowed out, distorting the image.
Puss sobbed again, but harder. Kitty Softpaws. The love of his life. Hurt by everyone she ever knew. Pushed through it all to propose to him, and he left her at the altar. He betrayed her just like everyone else did.
“Puss, you’re okay. We’re all okay. You’re doing a great job breathing. It’s going to be okay.”
Kitty Softpaws, trying to help him even now. She trusted him. She shouldn’t. She died because of him. Then she told him she didn’t go to the wedding either, just to spare his feelings. His feelings!
“Puss? Puss! Perrito, it gets worse every time he looks at me. You try.”
“Hey, Puss! Can you hear me? Straighten your leg if you can hear me.”
Puss did as he asked, realizing he was now sitting on the street, back against a building. Oh. Just like all the other Mind Reader victims. Because he was a mind reader victim. That made sense. That would explain all the sobbing. And the sadness so deep it burned.
“Great job! Ok, so is this the usual stuff? Or--”
Puss shook his head.
“Oh! Oh. So something else. Um… Well, you can’t really talk right now, so I guess we’ll just sit here until you’re okay enough to drink some water. You’re probably really dehydrated by now. I have a glass ready whenever you feel like it.”
Puss nodded, and kept sobbing.
About half an hour later, he wasn’t anymore. He didn’t know when he had stopped, but now he just felt exhausted. He sat up straighter and carefully picked up the glass of water, now lukewarm, with his trembling paws. He drank the whole thing. He tried not to look at Kitty.
“Puss?” she asked quietly. Just the sound of her voice made his face start to crumple up again.
In an effort to not have her talk right away again, he opened his mouth to say something, but got stuck there for a good while. Finally, he rasped out “The wedding.” with a voice reminiscent of manufactured gravel.
Kitty’s face fell. She put a paw on his shoulder. “Puss, it’s okay, remember? I didn’t go either. That’s in the past now.”
Puss shook his head. “I saw--” and that’s all he managed to get out.
“Oh.” Kitty looked horrified. “ Oh.”
She reached out and wrapped her arms around Puss’s shaking body. He tried to say he didn’t deserve this, but Kitty somehow saw it in his eyes. “Will you let me do this?” she asked. He wouldn’t say no to that. She deserved everything in the world. And so she cradled him in her arms.
“You were a different person back then. So was I, actually.” Kitty said, stroking Puss’s head. “We weren’t right for each other back then. But we are now.”
Puss sniffled into her shoulder.
“You’re thinking about that poofy dress, aren’t you?”
Puss went still. He totally wasn’t. That was not the important thing here. (He was)
“Tell you what. Next time, you wear the dress. Then we’re even.”
Puss lifted his head and leveled with her eyes. “Next time?” he whispered.
“Of course.” Kitty smiled, lovestruck. “What, did you want to ask this time?”
Puss shook his head. “That’s your thing.”
“Glad we agree.” Kitty caressed his face, then kissed him on the forehead, purring.
Puss stared at her, looking deep into her eyes. His eyes started watering. “I love you so much.” he warbled out.
Kitty laughed. Perrito gave them a thumbs up.
“I love you too, naranja. ” Kitty smirked. She was wearing his hat.
Puss couldn’t help but laugh.
All things considered, he hadn’t cursed the day
that
badly. Any day that ended with Kitty covering him with kisses was a good day in his book.