Intruders (OMC, Catwoman; PG-13/T; #63: Quicksand)
Title: Intruders
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Batman/Catwoman
Characters/Pairing: OMC, Catwoman
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge/Prompt: #63: Quicksand
Word Count: 596 -- Aye, I went a little bit over this time, but I couldn't see cutting it down. Sorry.
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.
I run through my home. Fear is now my constant companion where once I knew none. I've roamed this land since I was a cub, full of pride and courage. I've never known fear until now. I've always reigned with majesty, but times have changed. My territory has been invaded. The white man has come.
I run and run. I run until my entire body is rippled with sweat. My breaths come in labored pants. I want only to fall and have this last fight over, but I know what will happen. If I fall, it will only be the beginning.
My paws suddenly slide out from under me, and I begin to sink with a mighty roar. Terror and fear engulf me. I struggle, but my fight is even more in vain now than my flight was before. I can not make it out of this puddle of quicksand . . . not without help.
Ropes ensnare my neck. I snarl and bite but can not catch them. I sink lower. I kick out with all four legs, wanting the quicksand to engulf me. At least if I disappear in this dark, surging mass, the man will not have me.
But they are determined hunters, ruthless murderers just as my parents always warned me. If they ever come to our jungle, they told me, we are as good as dead. I remember the horror of that truth as they drag me from the quicksand. Arrows pierce my beautiful fur. Bullets punch me. My roar turns into a scream. Blood spews from my mouth, and I know it will not be long now.
But suddenly, they stop. Another voice speaks. I have not heard this human voice before. It is softer than theirs but far more deadly. The murderers stop to listen; then, they laugh.
They turn on her, a single woman. My sight is gone from one eye now, but I watch her fight through the other. Their bullets, arrows, and whips do not stop her. She throws them around as I myself would have had I been able to remove their guns. They can not touch her.
Suddenly, I am no longer as afraid as I have been since they first entered my territory. The intruders are falling. She's not killing them as they would have me, at least not all of them. I would rip out their throats myself as they fall if I had the energy to rise, but I do not.
"Stay there, big guy," she says, and I know she's talking to me. She winks at me. It's a funny sight, but she's beautiful, especially for a human. "I'll be with you soon."
She is true to her word, joining me as soon as she fells the last murderer. Her hands are the only gentle hands I have ever felt. She stops my bleeding, strokes me in a way I've never before been touched. "Sleep, big guy," she tells me. "It's gonna be all right."
I'm going to be okay. I know that now for the first time since I watched these murderers slay the animals in my jungle, animals whose lives were not theirs to take. I'm no longer alone, and with her, I'm going to be just fine. I peer one last time, as my eyes shut, at her mask. She makes herself look like a small cat. She is not to be my mate, but perhaps she is to be my friend and savior forever. I purr as I sleep in the Catwoman's arms, safe at last.
The End
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Batman/Catwoman
Characters/Pairing: OMC, Catwoman
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge/Prompt: #63: Quicksand
Word Count: 596 -- Aye, I went a little bit over this time, but I couldn't see cutting it down. Sorry.
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.
I run through my home. Fear is now my constant companion where once I knew none. I've roamed this land since I was a cub, full of pride and courage. I've never known fear until now. I've always reigned with majesty, but times have changed. My territory has been invaded. The white man has come.
I run and run. I run until my entire body is rippled with sweat. My breaths come in labored pants. I want only to fall and have this last fight over, but I know what will happen. If I fall, it will only be the beginning.
My paws suddenly slide out from under me, and I begin to sink with a mighty roar. Terror and fear engulf me. I struggle, but my fight is even more in vain now than my flight was before. I can not make it out of this puddle of quicksand . . . not without help.
Ropes ensnare my neck. I snarl and bite but can not catch them. I sink lower. I kick out with all four legs, wanting the quicksand to engulf me. At least if I disappear in this dark, surging mass, the man will not have me.
But they are determined hunters, ruthless murderers just as my parents always warned me. If they ever come to our jungle, they told me, we are as good as dead. I remember the horror of that truth as they drag me from the quicksand. Arrows pierce my beautiful fur. Bullets punch me. My roar turns into a scream. Blood spews from my mouth, and I know it will not be long now.
But suddenly, they stop. Another voice speaks. I have not heard this human voice before. It is softer than theirs but far more deadly. The murderers stop to listen; then, they laugh.
They turn on her, a single woman. My sight is gone from one eye now, but I watch her fight through the other. Their bullets, arrows, and whips do not stop her. She throws them around as I myself would have had I been able to remove their guns. They can not touch her.
Suddenly, I am no longer as afraid as I have been since they first entered my territory. The intruders are falling. She's not killing them as they would have me, at least not all of them. I would rip out their throats myself as they fall if I had the energy to rise, but I do not.
"Stay there, big guy," she says, and I know she's talking to me. She winks at me. It's a funny sight, but she's beautiful, especially for a human. "I'll be with you soon."
She is true to her word, joining me as soon as she fells the last murderer. Her hands are the only gentle hands I have ever felt. She stops my bleeding, strokes me in a way I've never before been touched. "Sleep, big guy," she tells me. "It's gonna be all right."
I'm going to be okay. I know that now for the first time since I watched these murderers slay the animals in my jungle, animals whose lives were not theirs to take. I'm no longer alone, and with her, I'm going to be just fine. I peer one last time, as my eyes shut, at her mask. She makes herself look like a small cat. She is not to be my mate, but perhaps she is to be my friend and savior forever. I purr as I sleep in the Catwoman's arms, safe at last.
The End