Author's Note: This is a last chapter for "Everyday Life with Bubbles".
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Nobody could tell her what happened, or even really how it happened.
She just had to accept it, the way it was.
The blonde neko could feel the shredding of her palms as she laid yet another bundle of sticks against the pyre, being built in the middle of the city square. Her tail dragged in the dirt behind her, fallen and limp, as she stumbled away, to find and build another.
The palms of a whore had been conditioned for oils and massage, not for the rough items of the street. Her skin was torn, little white pieces pulling away from her palms, with tiny flecks of red. The sticks weren't even that thorny, just broken.
Dead, dried out, and broken, just like she was. Empty of meaning, empty of anything, because daring to understand and feel the truth of the matter, would be tantamount to suicide. She just... Couldn't.
Sana didn't know where anyone else was, and she didn't want to know. They had every right to cry and scream. They had the right to cry for their lives lost, in the fire yet to come. The cleansing flames that would burn away a name that was imprinted into the very spirit of the land.
They couldn't even give her the right kind of funeral.
There was no body to cremate.
She was far from the only nobody in the square. Cats from all across the city had come to pay their respects. Some leaving gifts for the lost, to burn along with the pyre. Bottles of milk, bangles, earrings. Anything that was precious to them, to show the pain they felt by losing her.
Sana sniffled, as the tears ran down her cheeks. Her sister had done her best not to be queen to these people, and they had loved her for it. Not just because she had provided them a shelter, when humanity had turned against them. The promise of Bubbles had been real safety. You didn't have to change who you were.
She had hardly been a Toofy. That one was an immortal legend, impossible to live up to. That one had been a true empress. Whereas Bubbles had been something more akin to a friend. She had been family, for anyone in need of one.
The catgirl fell to her knees, the dry sticks tumbling from her shaking hands, and she let out a trembling caterwaul of pain.
She'd known the woman for so short a time, and now she was gone. Everyone in Sana's life was gone. All of them, killed for hatred's sake, except that one fun woman who had named her sister, danced and sang with her in the rain. And now that one was... Gone.
She had dared to believe that their fates were intertwined. The secret motives of the gods, wrapped so tightly around the soul of her sistren, binding the two together, for whatever voidscape the future might bring in. They would fight it, back to back.
Erientyara's explanation didn't even make sense.
Bubbles had been getting healed, going through the pain of it, when the neko had started channelling and growling.
One minute she was there, her usual clumsy, pissy self.
The next, she simply wasn't.
The dragon hadn't seen or felt any spell. She hadn't felt the shifting of the world, to suggest that Luna or one of the gods had stepped in to teach the queen some manners. There had been no magic beyond that healing her broken tail.
Bubbles probably didn't even have a chance to know anything was happening, before she was... Gone.
Sana lifted one trembling hand to her mouth, and bit down into it. Her fangs sinking in, as she calmed her shattered heart. Trying to find a way out of the darkness reeling above her head. Proudly proclaiming that the worst was yet to come.
War and horror was guaranteed. The legacy of Bubbles would be found in her death, and the instability champing at the bit. Avician had been trying to teach the Elders some respect, and punish Phoenix for his coup, when Bubbles... When she... Sana couldn't admit she was dead.
Her sister was gone. But gone didn't necessarily mean... Forever.
Day of the Dead. She had that to dream on, for. Her sister might return, for just one day. Explain what had happened, and bed the entire harem of wives, husband, lovers and would-be bedded partners. Show them all just how much heart that the kitten always had to give.
Not that Bubbles had a single damn reason to include Sana in that, if she did come back. For one day, just the once.
Gentle, but rough, fingers gripped her hand and pulled it from her mouth. The stranger crouched in front of her as they drew a bandage around the hand, and tightly wrapped it. He didn't say anything to her. Grief was written across all of his features, as well.
The man offered no blame towards her for hurting herself. He just did his best to fix what had been done.
She swallowed nervously, and spoke raspily, "What's his name?"
"Jackie." He replied quietly, and then went to stand up.
She grabbed his wrist, golden eyes looking at him intently, "Did... Did you make her earrings?"
"The dice." He said in surprise, "You knew her, didn't you? Well, I can see her laughing about the loaded dice in a bar, too, I guess. But you met her."
"She called her sistren." Sana tried to sound confident, but more sounded like she was about to burst into tears, again. She stood up, and sniffled, "We escaped city, together. Sana was there when goddess first slept with Bubbles."
"The god stuff isn't bullshit?" He said in shock, "I... Wow. When I knew her, Bubbles was a virgin."
"Not because you and Veron weren't pushy about it." Sana managed some snark, and then sniggered, "Hearing that she ended up with several wives must have been a blow to the self-esteem."
He shook his head, "Not... Really. She likes women. I'm a guy. Obviously, things weren't going to work out if I don't have what she preferences."
Sana rolled her eyes, "She also fucked Edric. The tailor? He and she were... They were engaged. Oh gods. Oh, who gonna tell Edric? Oh gods, that's going to hurt."
"Well. I guess she just didn't like me that much." He said glumly.
She shook her head, "No, idiot. Bubbles liked you just fine. She just didn't wanna bounce on you. Why is it always sex? Can't a guy and girl just be friends, human?"
"Yeah." He replied sadly, voice empty, "I guess so. I sound like a dick, now. But... I was okay with it. It was just... I sound racist."
"A nekan virgin, at her age?" Sana snickered, "No, not racist. We really, really, wanna fuck around. And just so he knows, Sana is a big racist joke. Her whole life, really. She's a fucking nekan whore. Or was, before humans decided to cut her head off."
"Whole empire's gone to shit, without Toofy. Even the Traitor was better than whatever the fuck this is." Jackie kicked at the ground.
Sana rolled her jaw, "Screw it. She's depressed as fuck. He knows who she's missing and why she hates herself. Care to take her into an alley for five minutes?"
He blinked a couple times in surprise, and then gave a small smile, "I... Last longer than five minutes."
She grabbed his hand, and her tail perked upright. "Prove it."
The catgirl dragged him into the nearest alleyway, literally. She imagined how often Bubbles would have been tempted to do something like this, especially had she had grown up on the streets. Sleeping in cardboard boxes, before she fell in with the baker.
Bubbles had always seemed to find a way to make friends, no matter where she went or what she did. That was a gift that Sana didn't have, and had been ridiculously jealous of.
How in the utter fuck had Bubbles managed to become friends with her, get married, and become the avatar of a goddess, whilst fleeing a xenophobic nutcase ordering an army to put her in the ground?
Sana smiled at him coyly as they exited the view of the crowds. Grabbing the front of his shirt and snuggling up to him, before nipping his chin, and falling back against the wall with a little laugh. Briefly channelling magic to flash her golden eyes.
She might not be anything, compared to Bubbles. She might not have the skills or luck to change the whole world. But she was still a neko, and she was still trained as a whore.
"Has he ever had a cat, before?" She whispered, as he leaned one hand onto the wall, and moved in closer to her.
He paused, on the verge of kissing her, "No."
"Oh wow. Gods above." She sucked in her breath, "He was saving himself for Bubbles, wasn't he? He... Wanted her... To be his first?"
"She's gone." He whispered.
Sana felt more than a small wave of guilt, and self-hatred, before deciding to do what she could to salvage the opportunity. "She never slept with Bubbles. Didn't want. They were sistren... Does he know that one? When nekos call each other sister?"
"It's... Stronger than a blood tie, isn't it?" His hand dropped and he leaned backwards.
She nodded, "Mmm. And most sistren fuck each other. But not Bubbles and Sana. But they still sisters. So if Sana takes the Jackie... Then he owned by both Sana and Bubbles. She had Bubbles wife, few times, too. They shared. Never had goddess though, and... Thank fuck. The Luna terrifying."
