Hoo boy this ones going to be dark, check the tags before you read.  Been kind of emotional lately and reminded of a dark time of my life which is what this story is meant to represent.

Also this is super LOOSELY in the rejuvie universe since im part of an rp sim in SL that is using that as story, i'm not the most knowledgeable of the proper lore and rules of it so i will no doubt get shit wrong all the time, plz dont eat my face over it.

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	An explosion.  Sudden an unexpected, followed close by another, and yet another after it.  The tan and red cat had institutionally dove to the floor and rolled under a table, holding her hands over her head, holding her ears down, trying to block the deep rumbling, the crack of the shock wave, the glass shattering, the screaming.  Her decision to hide where she did might have been the only thing to save her life as the glass roof of the building shatters, sending shard of tempered glass raining down, followed by  the frames holding them creaking and breaking free of their fasteners.  

It was all she could do to just hold onto her head, rigidity to block out the world and screaming in fear as more debris fell around her, feeling stone shards skip across the floor and graze past her, it was as if the entire world was collapsing in.  It felt like hours before the wave of explosions stopped, and felt like hours before she was able to peek out.  She had no idea how long it had really been,  The building she was in was almost destroyed, the roof gone, and the front entrance blown out, everything, herself included covered in a thick dust.  As she began to push her way out of the rubble around the table she stumbled, a pain shootign up her leg and bringing the girl to the ground again.  She whimpered loudly, looking down at her leg to see the cut across her shin, something had gashed her badly, the blood was drying, but it hurt more than she'd ever felt any sort of pain before.  She needed to get out though, she had  to, it was not safe here, not inside, the walls could collapse at any moment she was sure.  

Despite the pain, Nour pushed herself to her feet, whimpering and letting out a low yell as she did, the wound reopening somewhat as she put pressure on the muscles around it.  That's when she saw it, the blood, not hers.  The front entrance, inside there was streaks of blood everywhere, massive amount of it, it was almost as if someone has splashed the area with several buckets of paint..there were people standing there when it started, now there was dripping blood, clumps of fur, and a smell in the air that made her quickly limp out.  She couldn't bring herself to look back into the building, sure if she did she'd see something, something her brain wouldn't want to comprehend.

And yet, she had to comprehend it.  As she stepped through the rumble, limping her way out of the grocery store that used ot be, she was met with more.  The town was devastated, buildings missing, blown apart, cars on fire, and more blood, and now, now there were bodies.  It was all she could do to stand there, to look at the horror in front of her.  The crackling of flames, shifting of rumble, and the mournful screaming of the few that yet lived becoming the ambient soundtrack of a nightmare she wished she could will herself awake from.  

And then she walked, slowly, forward through the smoke and dust.  She massed the bodies, doing her best to not look at a single one.  She could not help but notice several out of the corner of her eyes, feeling pangs of sudden panic and grief piece her chest when she recognized scents, even through the acrid and smokey air could she tell which of the mangled forms had been friends.  Caril, Xan, the post lady that her mother always hung out with.  Her elementary teacher Mr. Stoneridge, he'd taught her how to paint.  Each one had their flame snuffed out, by shock waves and shrapnel.  

Despite it all the cat girl found herself unable to cry, the pain in her chest unable to reach her fully, in shock, the pain in her leg fading despite still bleeding, leaving a trail of red drips in the dust she slowly found herself trudging through.  The walk from the store to her house would normally take ten minutes, but now, she realized the sun had moved quite far in the sky by the time she'd reached her street.  Her leg no doubt holding her back, and the remains of buildings making her zig-zag around the streets, but she was so close, she just needed to get to mom and dad, they would make it all ok.  They would know what to do, they had to, someone...someone had to.  Her heart began to drop as she got closer to her house, seeing It around the rubble of the neighbors house, the roofs gone, and the left side was caved in, and she heard nothing.

As if time itself began to slow down, she felt it take long and longer ot take each step, slowly walking up the pathway to what remained of her front door, blown half off the hinge and cracked in half.  The porch charred, and melted at the edge, the crater in the neighbors yard showing whatever bombs were used, one had landed here, just outside her room.  If shed left for the store ten minutes later, shed have been there.  Nour didn't think she would have survived.  Finally she stepped onto the cracked concrete of the porch, and through the door.  And she stopped.

She remembered every moment.  Ever minute her and her parents spent together, helping with school work, spending time together on the weekends, family dinners, and the arguments, the yelling, the distance, and then the distance closing again, like clockwork.  She new it was all over.  The drip, drip, drip of the blood in the doom enough to tell her that.  Her father was pinned to the wall, a metal pipe of some kind, possibly electrical, lodged in to his chest, blood dripping down it, dried around his muzzle, his eyes half open and lifeless.  Her mother was on the ground near him, her head no long on top of her shoulders, and the area around her stained red.  

She stared for a long time, not noticing the ships beginning to land all across the town, emergency lights all flashing.  The sounds of people emerging and quickly beginning to comb the town, looking for survivors.  She didn't notice people beginning to walk down her street as she began to imp out of her own house,  The place she'd spent her entire life, were all her memories where, were everyone she loved had once been.  She stepped down the stairs, onto the walkway and reacted down, picking up what used to be part of the railing, now twisted and broken and jagged.  She didn't hear the voice calling out to her, a man in emergency response armor spotting her and beginning to run over.  He saw her eyes far too late, only noticing the broken, hollow expression, as she suddenly swung her arm up, and jammed the jagged end of the railing into her neck.  He stopped, shocked, as she looked up, seeing him.  The cat, feeling small, and broken, opened her mouth to speak, only letting out a cock and a mouthful of blood, and dropping to her knees, her head beginning to droop unsteadily as blood poured form the wound internally and externally.

“Nono no no no no no” the man repeated, sprinting to her as she began to fall forward.  He slid down onto his knees, and caught her across her chest and started laying her backward onto the pavement in one swift movement, making sure the pipe wouldn't be driven and further into her neck. “Stay with me, you hear me? Stay with me, no no no you are not dying on me!”  He reached up and flicked his radio on, screaming for support.  The last thing she saw was him looking down at her, her hearing beginning to fill with a low buzzing, almost like static as darkness began to creep into her vision.  She was sure the last thing she saw would be a pair of mismatched red and green eyes through the glass visor, as she blacked out.

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There was nothing but darkness, just emptiness and silence.  At first anyway.  Slowly, there was feeling, a soft warm feeling, reminiscent of a bed, and a gentle beeping noise, just beeping, over, and over and over.  A heart monitor?  Whatever it was it was annoying, and needed to stop.  She was trying to rest.  Nour tried raising her hand, letting out a groan and searching for the noise to silence it.  As most as soon as she did she heard the movement of someone standing, and gently taking her hand.

“Shh, shh, it's ok.  You're ok little one”  A deeper, slightly rumbling voice, one familiar, more tired sounding than before.  Little one?  She was fully grown and was never a fan of being patronized.  Nour, with difficulty, opened her eyes, her vision blurry momentarily as she tried to focus on the source of the voice.  Her vision slowly coming into focus and meeting the gaze of red and green eyes.  They looked tired, completely spent of energy.  She glanced over the brown car infront of her, he seemed to tower above her, and yet, he seemed so..safe..

She made a bit of a face, her voice breaking and cracking as she tried to talk but, nothing concrete could come out.  She just wriggled a bit, trying to reach up to her neck.  The man gently took her hand again, stopping her.  “It's ok, the wound is gone, the rejuvenation revered all of it.”  That made her stop.  Rejuvenation?  She remembered what she did..she should be dead.  They must have had emergency rejuvenation chambers on hand.  After a couple seconds she laid her head back and tried looking at her hands and arms, examining how much smaller she had become.  It wsa all she could do to ignore the pain growing in her chest.  Shock had long since worn off, numbness was impossible to hold on to as her emerald eyes filled with tears.  She lifted her arms, wrapping them around her head and hiding her face as she began to cry silent tears. 

She was momentarily surprised as she was lifted.  The male had gently scooped her into his arms and sat on the bed, holding her against his chest and gently rocking her.  She leaned into the hug, needing comfort right then, and she cried.  

After a while, when she had calmed down for a bit the man reached down to take her chin into his hand, making her look up into his eyes. 

“I know it's hard, I know you've seen things that no one should.  I know you've lost people that no one should.  But..little one, ending yourself isn't the answer, they wouldn't want that, not when you managed to get out of there.  I know it might be hard to believe things could ever be ok, or be better again...”  He trailed off a little, his eyes still looking so tired.  He had seen a lot that day, seen more than he wanted to either.  And seeing a girl her age attempt to end herself was probably the worst of it.  He began to focus again, looking into those sad, and scared little emerald eyes.

“Can you at least believe there are better ways to die?” He asked, in a quiet voice filled with emotion.  

The kitten felt something hit her chest, not a literal force, but something none-the-less.  She knew her parents weren't great.  They showed her little care through their whole life, rarely making her fel truly loved.  But yet she missed them still, missed the comfort of being able to return to her home every day, and knowing that was never to be again made her feel like death was all she had left.  Until that question was asked, now, she felt a hope.  She looked with wonder into those mismatched eyes, falling in love with the person she saw inside of them, almost seeing the older cat's soul through them and realizing he was everything she needed now.  She leaned into him quickly and burred her head against his chest again, this time not crying, but letting out a faint, tired purr.  She hoped the moment would not end.  She wanted it forever, born in fire and raised up by hope, a hope given to her by the cat that one day became daddy.  By the cat that gave her the name Sinbad those months later.