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After the talk with Forge, Catseye finally gives in to the urge to go find someone who was very dear to her. In typical cat fashion, she just strikes out on her own, but luckily, someone spots her leaving the mansion. Kylun, despite the strangeness of the situation, manages to keep track of her just fine.

Making her way through the estate hadn't been a problem, Catseye not expecting any trouble at all on the school grounds. Once she'd hit the road she had become more careful, trotting through the underbrush on the side, just enough to keep out of sight from the cars whizzing by. She knew exactly where she was headed, of course - the truck stop. It was the best way to travel when you wanted to either reach The City or reach areas outside The City, she'd discovered long ago. And there were specific trucks that always ended up in specific places, and if they were going to be so obliging about it, why should she complain?

The snow was cool underfoot and Catseye knew exactly what she was doing, but it was still fun to practice on the way over - keeping quiet, skulking about occasionally and keeping an eye out for prey, as well. The truck wasn't in sight yet, but it wasn't too far off either, though traveling on foot had never been a worry for Catseye.

Kylun followed at a discreet distance, keeping carefully downwind, alert to the slightest change in Catseye's trail. The ground was still frozen, and she was very good, but he had tracked a lost lamb through a blizzard once, and the cultists of Necrom through worse still, and he had little trouble keeping pace.

It was, he thought, almost like home--the tang of snow in the air, the crunch of it under his feet, keeping someone safe in a way he understood, all of it added up to make him as comfortable as he'd been since he arrived in this strange place. The breeze eddied, and he wrinkled his nose as it brought him the oily stench of tires and gasoline; only "almost" like home. He didn't know how people like Kyle, who had to endure this with more than human senses, could stand it.

Pausing at a very familiar spot, Catseye looked towards the road - the sign was there, she was indeed just on the right track. As usual. Pausing to preen just a touch in satisfaction, having lived in at the mansion clearly not having dulled her edge, the purple cat then slunk off to the side until she reached the shoulder of the road leading to the truck stop. Hunkering down she observed the trucks going in and out of the place for a while, waiting for one in particular to park in the spot the trucks of that company always used. Blue bird on a white cloud. She loved those trucks.

Kylun stopped short and concealed himself behind a patch of scrub, the thick tangle of branches and the shadow of a nearby billboard providing acceptable cover despite the season. Puzzled, he studied Catseye closely-- this couldn't be her destination, could it? The note in her file did not suggest that her benefactor was the sort of person who would thrive in a place like this. The smell was worse than ever, here, as the odor of what Kylun ventured to guess was supposed to be food joined the general petroleum stink, and tinny music blasted over a wasteland of concrete and giant trucks.

Her tail twitched suddenly, the first motion she allowed herself since she'd started watching, as a truck drove up slowly and parked near the edge of the truck stop. The man stepped out, heading for one of the buildings - which was all Catseye had been waiting for. Carefully she started to make her way towards the truck, finally slinking underneath it to stand by the wheel, waiting for the driver to return. The quick inspection he did missed her entirely as she hid underneath, tucked closely to the wheel, and as he headed back towards the front cabin, Catseye swarmed out - and hopped on the back ledge, tail wrapping around one of the latches as she hunkered down for the ride into town.

Kylun froze in shock, then closed his eyes, resigned to failure. He could not track one truck out of a hundred over clear pavement, even were he able to match its speed. No one could. This had been, he now saw, a fool's venture from the beginning. Who was he, to believe he could shadow Catseye and keep her safe, when he knew nothing of the world she moved in? He was of some use at the mansion, teaching those few things he knew, and to the X-Men, under orders and using the only real skill he possessed, but only a simpleton would have let a few surface familiarities lull him into believing this world was enough like his home that he could venture out into it on his own.

Only a simpleton indeed. There was nothing for it; he would have to go back, report his failure, and let those who were qualified take over the search. And, he resolved, he would never be so foolish again. From now on, he would stick to what he knew, however little that was.

Thuds and muffled shouts from an out-of-the-way corner of the truck stop drew Kylun's attention, and he glanced over: two large men were pinning a third up against the wall of a storage shed. The victim's thrashing was punctuated by occasional blows; clearly his captors had no good in mind. Kylun's lip curled. His skills as a tracker had been defeated, that was true, but before he carried his defeat back to the school, he could at least right this one small wrong.

Whatever the 'discussion' had been about, clearly the topic had been forgotten by all at this point - the defiance the pinned man was showing was unacceptable and that was that, as far as his captors were concerned, their rancor at this fact shown in the coarse language being used as well as the physical abuse.

"Damn it, Micheal, did you have to get all noble about this?" And while the sentence made it sound as though one of the assailants regretted what he was about to do, the undertone of glee in his voice spoiled the effect entirely. The hand raised up high, holding a tire iron however, added an urgency to the scene that was undeniable.

Kylun gave up secrecy, covering the distance in a long, rangy stride, his boots crunching loudly on the packed snow. "Take yourselves elsewhere and leave that man in peace," he instructed as he drew closer, a hint of sharp edges in his voice.

The man against the wall stared up - and up until he found himself blinking owlishly at Kylun's face. "Damn. This is new." Apparently, the conversations of this sort had happened before. The men with their backs to him sneered at each other before looking over their shoulders, clearly expecting nothing much for them to deal with before going back to the beating up of a fellow trucker business.

Kylun folded his arms, raised an eyebrow, and waited expectantly. If it came to blows, he was confident in his ability to remove the one man's tire iron and disable both of them before they had time to do anything unwise. He didn't think it would, though. "I rarely repeat myself," he prompted, after a moment.

Both eyebrows disappearing underneath the rim of his baseball cap, the man pinned to the wall wasted no time in taking advantage of the sudden turn of events. Wriggling out of the grasp of his captors, he scooted over to stand a bit behind Kylun, tugging his red coat into place as he did so.

"Yeah. He rarely repeats himself!" he blustered, not at all inclined to just stay there and do nothing, after all.

The men now left standing before Kylun slowly turned to face him, calculating expressions turning uncertain. Fair odds, apparently, weren't to their taste. Or rather, resistance of any kind, since the small man now next to Kylun didn't seem to have worried them much. Backing up with sullen expressions and muttered threats, then slowly headed around the corner of the building, soon vanishing from sight.

Kylun watched for a moment, making sure the erstwhile toughs were truly leaving instead of simply looking for reinforcements, before turning to inspect their victim with concern. "Are you injured?"

The man was grinning at the departing backs of his tormentors, even as he swiped as his cheek - and then winced, glancing at his hand as though it were the cause of the bruise slowly taking shape on his cheek. "Are you kidding? I got off light this time! Man! I owe you one, mister!" A quick swipe of said hand on his jeans, and it was then outthrust towards Kylun. "I'm Michael! It is truly my pleasure to meet you!"

Kylun bowed slightly, out of reflex, barely more than a nod, before taking the man's hand. "Kylun. I am glad I was able to help." He frowned. "This has happened before?"

Michael waved his hand with cheerful disregard for the entire situation, as though dismissing it as routine. "Oh, I usually have my driving partner with me. Trust me, no way they're trying to horn in on business then. He just had to stay home to take care of one of his kids yesterday, which meant doing the long haul on my own for once. Happens now and then. I'm an independent contractor and some of the drivers for the big companies get shirty about it, when they see a good contract passing by." He straightened his clothes out, then scooped up some snow to press to his cheek. "Don't suppose you'd be needing a lift somewhere? That's about the only way I can think of repaying the favor!"

Kylun blinked slowly, the wheels turning in his head. "That would be . . . very much appreciated." Craning his neck, he spotted the truck Catseye had commandeered, its logo distinct. "Can you follow that truck?" he asked, pointing it out. "I believe one of my students has hidden herself aboard it, and I have no vehicle of my own."

Michael turned to blink at the truck slowly moving away, heading for the highway. "Well, that's a new one. 'Follow that truck!' I'll be da- darned." Laughing cheerfully, he nodded at Kylun and waved him towards another truck nearby. "My rig's there. Let's go find that student of yours, man!"

~*~

Catseye reaches her destination, but doesn't find what she'd hoped would be there. This doesn't mean giving up though, and with Kylun's encouragement, she pushes onward.

Curled up under a park bench, staring ahead intently, Catseye sighed. The screams from the yard were happy, no doubt about it. But they were human children sounds, where before cats had ruled. Twitching a bit, she flattened her ears back at the sound that followed. Raucous barking, and a glance towards the hedge on the side of the street revealed enough to make out the dog jumping around excitedly after something or other the children were throwing around.

The cat doors were all gone, nary a way in left. Everything had been repainted a bright and obnoxiously cheerful yellow, instead of the nice soothing grey-blue of before. The rocking chair on the back porch had disappeared. The porch itself was now half demolished, currently in the process of being rebuilt. The wild undergrowth which had always been in the back had been replaced by the smooth expanse of snow covered lawn, in which the children and the much despised dog now romped about.

To say that Catseye wasn't too pleased was something of an understatement indeed.

Everything had changed. The day Catseye had been taken to the pound was the same day she had come back to find the Cat Lady sick, and had so called in help, changing to human for the first time in a while. It had landed her in trouble and in a new place which Catseye admitted to herself she dearly liked being in, but at the same time, it had changed everything in so many ways.

She'd hoped to be able to come back and visit something familiar and safe, at least.

Kylun deliberately let his footfalls sound loudly as he came up behind Catseye, crouching down next to the miserable little cat.

"When we leave home," he said quietly, "it is easy to assume that when we return, all will be as we remember. That whatever may happen on the journey, good or bad, this one place is ours, just waiting for us to come back and see it again. As if time could stand still, freezing one place, one moment just for us." He smiled, wry and sad. "And put like that, it is obvious, is it not? Time is change, and it never stands still. But that is one of the most heartbreaking of lessons."

"Mrrr." The sound was disconsolate, a reflection of the sentiment being radiated very clearly by the lavender cat, busily tucking herself into the smallest shape possible she could manage under the park bench. With a small sigh she briefly leaned her face against her paws, refusing to look at the house across the street, though a particularly loud shriek of glee made her twitch, just a bit.

The Cat Lady hadn't come back from the hospital, clearly, and Catseye wondered if she'd been too late to help her.

Kylun sighed, running soothing fingers down Catseye's back. "So, "he said gently, "you have come back to where you began, only to find that the one you seek is no longer here, and has not been for far too long
for her tracks to remain. I think you have come to the end of the searching you can do as a cat." He offered an encouraging smile. "Lucky for you, then, is it not, that you have another option? You have been at the school a few months less even than I have, so this must be a fairly recent change. Perhaps these people know where your friend has gone."

He meant talking to them, Catseye realized. Changing to human shape and asking. Burying her nose in her paws she thought the notion over, turning it in her mind. Would they even know who the Cat Lady was? Catseye remembered more than one occasion where the woman had mumbled softly to herself about the neighborhood children mocking her or trying to break into the house, though over time she'd started to wonder if it was always like that, or if some of it might not be the old woman's own sense of isolation coming into play.

Finally, with a small sigh and a light rub of her cheek against Kylun's hand, Catseye padded out from under the bench. She sat there for a moment, tail curled up around her paws, staring ahead pensively - neither of them paying attention to the incongruous sight they presented. Catseye wants to do this. The Cat Lady is important.

A small nod, entirely untypical of a cat, and Catseye shifted, turning into her six foot human frame - shorts and t-shirt included.

"Catseye thinks maybe Catseye should find shoes though," she finally sighed, looking down.

Kylun smiled, and pulled the set of Xavier's sweats, with socks and shoes, that he'd grabbed before leaving the mansion, out of the small duffel bag he was carrying. "I thought a moment like this might come," he explained, giving her a sympathetic look. "And if it would be easier for you, I would not mind doing most of the talking."

"Mmrf." The sound would have been disgruntled, had Catseye not felt so tired suddenly. Not even putting up a fuss about the clothes she pulled them on, neatly flipping the velcro ties of the shoes in place once she was done, and generally ignoring the cold while straightening up.

On a nearby street corner, the postman stared. It wasn't every day you saw the local purple cat, that you'd been seeing wander about for years, actually turn into a girl, after all. And so the man blinked, and stared, head slowly tilting to the side as his mind tried to wrap itself around the concept of cat being a girl, all of a sudden.

Upon catching the postman's expression, Kylun was sorely tempted to turn off his image inducer--after all, it would fit the theme: cat into girl, man into lion. But no, this was still largely unknown ground, and he might need the advantage of a normal human appearance. He contented himself with a cheerful wave as he led Catseye up to the front door of the house and, after a moment's thought, pressed the small button next to the door. A bell sounded within, and he nodded to himself, pleased with his guess.

The door opened, just in time for another child's shriek of delight to ring through the house and down the hallway, straight into the street. With a faint wince, the woman nonetheless tiredly chuckled and smiled in greeting at the two at the door, Catseye's lavender colored hair apparently garnering no attention at all.

"Hi. Can I help you with something?" The dog's barking soon followed, and upon seeing Catseye frown, the woman called out to her husband to let him know there were people at the door, before drawing closed a gate installed on the doorway leading into the main hall so that the dog wouldn't run through. "There. Fiona's a bit hyperactive, but she's a good dog - the kids love her. Now..." and she paused, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"My name is Kylun," he said, offering a hand--he was finally starting to get used to the custom, thankfully. "I am a teacher at the Xavier School, and this is Sharon, one of my students. She was very close to a lady who used to live here, but has not been able to visit for some time, and had not heard that the house changed owners. We were hoping you might know what became of her."

"Oh dear. My name is Elspeth and..." The woman sighed a bit, though there was a kind smile lurking on her face. "You'd mean the Cat Lady, don't you?" The shrieks of the children could be heard in the yard again, and Elspeth reached out to tug a coat free from the coat rack, slipping it on before stepping outside fully to draw the door shut and keep out the cold. "If you don't mind..." She looked a little sheepish, stepping outside instead of inviting them in. "My youngest is still very sore on the subject, so I'd rather not upset her again. You see, the Cat Lady fell down the steps and hurt herself - and her children, when they were called about it, decided to have her sent to a retirement home, rather than let her live alone in the house any longer, in case she hurt herself again."

"Catseye knows!" The low whisper was barely audible, the obviously upset girl looking down at the ground, standing stock still. Her tail lashed from side to side suddenly, and Elspeth's eyes widened at the sight.

"My apologies," Kylun said smoothly, a rueful smile on his face. "I have perhaps been overestimating the reach of the school's reputation, or I would have explained more fully at the outset; it was established as a place where mutants could learn and grow in safety." He rested a soothing hand on Catseye's shoulder. "We will, of course, trouble you no further if that is your wish."

"Oh." Still blinking a bit bemusedly at the tail, Elspeth shook her head slowly. "No, it's quite all right..." Another blink followed as Catseye's tail stopped in mid motion and then docilely went quiet, the girl not budging any further, as though being utterly still might allow the moment to pass. "I'm sorry - I'm staring, aren't I? Right. The cat lady." A small smile tugged at her lips. "Well. This does explain neatly why you're looking for her... now, what was the name of the home she was sent to?" Trying to remember, Elspeth tilted her head to the side, blonde wisps of hair blowing gently as the wind drifted across the street. "The Quiet Days House? I think. I'm not sure about the name, but that sounds about right."

"That is a great help, thank you." Kylun nodded respectfully to Elspeth, then paused, turning to Catseye with a slightly puzzled look. "Ah . . . have you been there before?"

"No." Catseye thought it over, even as Elspeth politely took her leave of them, though she kept glancing back in curiosity right up until she closed the door to her house. "But Catseye knows how to find it."

She headed towards the corner of the street, picking up a trot by pure habit and because of the pressing sense of urgency that had started up again now that they had a place to look for. Once she reached the corner she sidled into the phone booth there, nearly starting to reach up for the phone book until she realized she was human and that meant reaching down. Awkwardly, she pried open the book and started to look through the pages. "Catseye thinks she remembers the name, though." She'd heard about it before, she just couldn't remember where.

"Perhaps it will be close by?" Kylun peered hopefully over Catseye's shoulder at the book; he'd seen similar items back at the school, and had even paged through one once, out of curiosity, but the list of names and nonsensical numbers had left him confused and a little annoyed, another reminder of just how ill-suited he was to the world he found himself stuck in.

Catseye scrabbled through the sheets, somewhat carefully - they were slightly wrinkled as a result, some with tiny pinprick holes from the way she used her claws to snag the pages, but overall the damage was minimal, easily lost in the already worn state of the phonebook. "Catseye remembers people talking about going there while walking in the area. And people are usually lazy in town so-" she paused and crouched down to peer at the page intently.

A moment later, even Kylun's reflexes were hard-pressed to catch the falling sweat suit as a purple cat shot out of one of the pant legs and rocketed down the street. They would, he thought, as he gathered up the clothes and set out in pursuit, have to have a talk. Possibly a long one. About politeness, and respect, and rudeness, and--he quickened his pace--not turning corners and vanishing out of sight of people who were completely unfamiliar with the area and had no idea where they were going. He spotted a purple blur in the corner of his eye and turned that way, long legs eating up the distance, wondering if Zz'ria had ever had days like this.

The alley that cut across the entire block was, Catseye remembered triumphantly, this way! And the pressing need to know, to find out how the Cat Lady was doing was near overwhelming at this point, worry and fear mingling in ways that drove the cat on even faster. A hop over a bag of garbage was all she needed to finally get to the far well, and though she had to scramble a bit to get under the fence, the stay at the school having bulked her up a bit it seemed, she still managed, whiskers arched forward and gaze intently fixed ahead as she raced forth.

Kylun added "not leading people into what are almost dead ends" to his mental list of topics, and kicked his way up the corner, vaulting over the fence to land on the other side with almost no ground lost. Unless Catseye was headed for another truck stop--his mind shied away at the thought--she would have to stop soon; all he needed to do was keep her in sight until then.

Darting between and sometimes over boxes that littered the alley, Catseye never slowed down, intent on her goal, mind already mapping out alternate routes in case the layout of the area had changed since she'd been there. Change, she realized, that was unavoidable. A side passage was darted into and then right back out of, the now walled up route drawing a low hiss of annoyance. Fine - the long way it would be. It just meant going faster, that was all.

The garbage was easily enough avoided, and Kylun even gained a few strides when Catseye ducked into the blocked passage, but his nose wrinkled just the same. He would never grow used to people simply letting their refuse pile up like this; it would never have been tolerated at the monastery, and even the more inhabited regions of Switzerland that he'd seen in his forays against the cult had never been like this. It was disgraceful.

The end of the alley was in sight and Catseye grinned just a bit, sharp teeth showing in an expression no cat could normally manage. This was the fun that was coming up. Even as she hit the sidewalk she gathered herself and leapt, landing right on the top of the hood of a slow moving car. Eyes widening in surprise, the taxi driver stared at the purple cat as she turned to look at him - and winked, before scrambling up on the roof to prepare for the next leap.

Kylun's jaw set. Jumping Into Traffic Without Consideration. This was going to turn out to be a very long talk indeed. And Catseye was already almost across the busy street--no time to wait for the signal, as he saw other pedestrians doing. He sighed, vaulted off a mailbox into the bed of a pickup, used the recoil from the truck's shocks to help catapult him atop a semi trailer, and took advantage of the trailer's width to sprint-start a flying leap, one hand reaching out to snag the pole of a streetlight. His momentum spiraled him down the lamp-post to the ground, and he tossed an apologetic shrug to the amazed passersby before once more setting off after the purple cat.

Not paying attention to the sudden honking and chaos behind her, Catseye trotted to the corner, eyes up and fixed on the street sign. This was the right direction and - turning sharply to the right, she ran down the sidewalk, ducking between the feet of the people walking by and leaving a trail of people looking down then back in her wake. Only one street away now. Just one last corner and then a turn to the left down a smaller, quieter street and that would be that. The end of the search.

Kylun melted through the crowd maybe a third of a block behind her, muttering apologies, though his large frame was surprisingly little impediment to his progress, and wishing with all his heart that he could go back to chasing lost lambs across ice-covered mountaintops full of hidden crevasses and hundred-foot sheer drops.

The corner was turned and after a few hundred meters Catseye came to a stop, eyeing the building in front of her. Sitting down on the pavement with a small sigh and looking suddenly very uncertain, Catseye waited, still as a statue.

Kylun jogged up behind her a moment later, and one look at the forlorn little cat persuaded him to postpone the lecture until later. "This is the place?" he asked, giving the building a curious glance. It seemed well-tended, at least, and to his mind had a peaceful, welcoming air.

"Mrrr." The sound was small and lonely sounding, even as Catseye shifted to human once more, drawing a startled squawk from somewhere up the street, along with the sound of a window slamming shut.

"Yes." The confirmation was followed by an uncertain, worried look upwards, before the girl silently accepted the clothes Kylun handed her gently.

Once she was ready, they headed for the main entrance.

~*~

Epilogue. After all is said and done, some things still move on at their own pace. Faded memories and might have beens.

"Did you see that girl that came by earlier?" The nurse shook her head as she scribbled down a few notes on the file, transferring the information from the card the man had given to it dutifully.

"I was on break, which girl? Who did she come in to see?" Any gossip worth having in this particular job was always given all the attention in the world. It was such a quiet, boring place almost. Even the patients never acted up or seemed to get sick. Beth wondered at that sometimes, but compared to the sometimes mind-numbing stress and sadness some of the other places she'd worked had brought, she wasn't about to complain about boredom. Not for a long time at that.

"Miss Reynolds. You know, the old lady who's crazy about cats?" The words were said with fondness, both women exchanging knowing smiles. There was an unspoken agreement to bring back small trinkets they found, little porcelain cats to decorate that room in particular.

" Aw man... was it a good today?" It was the traditional question, for the one who had Alzheimer's.

"Not during the visit, no. Well - she didn't recognize the girl, but she wasn't fussed about it either. Took to her right away, which seemed to be enough for the kid at least. And generally not bad, considering how upset she gets sometimes." The man had been silent, creeping her out at times until he'd smiled at her in apology.

"I'll go check on her, I think." Nodding to herself, the nurse set down her pen and pushed the chair away from the counter, rising to her feet. "Maybe she'll remember my name. Don't look at me like that Beth, she does sometimes."

"Yeah, you and no one else!" The laughter, gently and companiable followed her down the hallway. Pausing at the small kitchen, the woman claimed a tray, dropping a small spoon on it, with a napkin, and a small container of pudding. She knew the old woman had a sweet tooth, and favored vanilla. Always vanilla. On impulse, she added a small glass of water and 'borrowed' one of the flowers from the cook's daily bouquet of flowers, setting it on the tray with the small treat with a smile of satisfaction. That would do nicely.

Opening the swinging door with her shoulder, she paced down the hallway, stopping at the door with a neat, small number nine on it. "Miss Reynolds?" The door was pushed open slowly, revealing a small wizened woman sitting in a chair by the window, face haloed by small wisps of silvery hair.

"Hello, dear. Ooh! Is that for me?" With childlike delight in her eyes, she clapped her hands lightly. The sun was warm and though she didn't know who the woman was, she knew this was where she belonged. That much she remembered. Even though the memory of fur brushing by her legs was still somehow poignant, leaving her with the feeling she was missing something, oh so much. And there had been a girl earlier, purring at her. Or was that yesterday?

Small talk was exchanged, not always on track or making sense, but pleasant enough for both of them, as the nurse cleaned up the room and set the flower on the windowsill. Eventually, the treat was finished and the tray reclaimed, and Miss Reynolds left alone again in her room, to look out the window.

"Ooh." Frail hands reached forward, caressing the petals of the flower gently. "Ooh, I know this color." Smiling at the flower, she leaned forward a bit to smell it - nothing at all, the flower too small and she too old to lean further. "It reminds me..." She tilted her head to the side, smiling out the window, at the passerbys. "That little boy who was looking for a kitten. When was that again..." She trailed off, lost in time, remembering something from years ago as though it were yesterday.

"I wonder if he ever found her."