Chapter 9: Explainations

Nythil's dazzling green eyes shot back to look at Ocean for a moment, then he continued to watch the path he followed as the ragged cracks in the sidewalk changed.  The concrete from the walk had completely vanished now;  It was just a stony path alongside much abused buildings that seemed to shriek for help.  Nythil's movements were fluid and almost like second nature as he padded along in silence, leaving the question to hang in the air.

Finally, Nythil began to speak in response.  "We're going to a building down further in, where I know Calisto wouldn't think to look so early on."  Nythil's tail flicked slightly, as if something was bothering him.  "I suppose I owe you an explanation, too, now don't I?"  Right as Nythil said that, he slipped through a hole in one of the broken down buildings which would be big enough for Ocean and Artoria to slip in too.  The place was obviously old and beaten down;  The inside appearance definitely matched the outside's.  It was just a single room with two worn out couches and the remains of an armchair.  Not a very welcoming place, but it would have to do for the moment.  The dust on the ground was matted in a thick layer, and the only markings you could see where paw prints and the occasional footprint path.  Meaning, somebody had been here before.  Or more precisely, Nythil and Artoria had wandered into here before, but the dust suggested it had been at least a year.

"I'm sure most of the things Callisto said have you confused, especially the fact that I'm not really a cat and that I can talk.  Interestingly enough, I've never had to explain this to somebody outside of the ordeal, let alone an alchemist that was caught up in it for just trying to be helpful.  Nonetheless, I feel like I can trust you enough to let you know.  At least, that's what my gut is telling me, whether I can or not I can't be sure."  Nythil paused, rasping the side of one of his white-tipped paws while he let that sink in, and also to give Ocean a chance to come into the beat-down building.

"Artoria and I have always had a very…complicated past.  We were good friends for the longest time, but we were never able to be around each other publicly, but instead in secrecy.  But in our case…things were abrupt.  My parents knew of it:  They wanted me to use it to my advantage and kill her off, so I promised them I would, but always made an excuse as to why I didn't.  I never wanted to hurt her, and they realized that, because I was always with her.  Whenever she had her problem, I never let her die like my parents would have wanted, but instead I helped…And as this went on they got angry at me.  They cursed me, having my soul fused to the soul of this cat."  Nythil paused again, this time rasping his other paw, but briefly.  "And that man you saw, Calisto, is my younger biological brother, sad to say.  He has a bit of an anger problem."

~*~

Calisto swatted at the sparrows that pecked angrily at his body, but by now they were no longer under Nythil's control, and he was nowhere in sight.  The only reason they were attacking him was that he had made them angry by swinging his arms at them.  He growled angrily, batting at them one more time before they finally decided it was a hopeless case and flew away.

Calisto stomped angrily, his boots making a thud against the pavement.  He slinked down a different alleyway, one that was more familiar to him, and one that made him lust for Nythil's blood even more.  So many strays wandered through this area, but obviously none of them even resembled Nythil.  No, that was a face Calisto could never get wrong.  A face he wanted so badly to bruise, but instead he imagined him as a human, not a cat.  Beating on a cat would be no fun.

Finally as he came halfway across the alley, his vision comprehended the two figures in front of them.  They were obviously gifted, since none of the guards where trying to attack them and throw them out of the alley.  Even so, something about them was familiar in a way he didn't quite understand.  All he knew was that he didn't much care who these people were, but perhaps they had seen Nythil somewhere nearby.  So, in his rough voice he asked, "Hey, you two.  Have you seen any alchemists near here, possibly following a cat?"