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Footsteps echoed around the bland, empty hallway as bare feet firmly fell on the hard ground of the metallic ship. A figure so thin and lithe compared to its brothers walked down with a set destination in mind. Their shoulders were raised high and their back was straight, the perfect image of posture. Their hands were clasped behind their back, inches away from a long, still tail the same colour as the figure’s short, brown hair slicked back against their scalp.
Eerie, glowing, green eyes stared ahead in a seemingly calculating manner on a freckled face accompanied by a smile frozen in time.
Truthfully, the feline was bored out of her mind and an innate desire to at the very least twitch her tail grew more and more irritating by the second, but that was fine, she kept reminding herself.
Why Horde Prime had chosen her to be the one responsible for the new prisoner, she didn’t know. Anyone else would be far more capable (and willing) than she’d ever be to babysit a princess for Prime’s sake, though she supposed that her being unaware of how the decision was made might be a lie. It didn’t mean she had to like it, though.
A princess meant an Etherian.
An Etherian meant someone like her, someone who could be put into a false sense of security by the sight of their own species.
She wanted to laugh.
Instead, she twitched an ear in amusement.
Her? In charge of comfort?
She had always known Horde Prime was an idiot, but this was further proof. There was no way the princess was ever going to feel comfort in a hell hole like this no matter who was with them. Not her, not a clone, and certainly not Horde Prime. She, however, simply had to do.
She always just simply had to do.
Her form was composed, though she felt as if she was dragging her feet as she found herself turning a corner to an open doorway where two large clones stood guard on either side.
“Little sister,” the clone on the right calmly greeted and the feline stopped in her tracks, hands still clasped and smile still displayed for all the idiots to see but oh just a little bit more tense. “Are you supposed to be here?” He asked with suspicion in his tone and it sounded far too accusatory for her liking.
She gritted her teeth behind her smile.
They let anyone through this area, she knows that. She’s seen that. But everyone knows her mischievous nature so Prime forbid she enters an area because she’s allowed to be in there.
“Horde Prime’s orders,” she responded in that dreadful voice of controlled passivity she taught herself years ago to survive. She wasn’t going to get a passive aggressive scolding for telling her supposed brother to rightfully fuck off to the core of the nearest planet, not today.
She didn’t wait for a response before she was already picking up her pace towards the so-called guest’s cell.
She refused to allow her anger get the best of her as there was no use in keeping it around. She had a princess to go fetch for Horde Prime, after all. She tried her best to discard of it. Key word: tried. She wasn’t sure she had ever once succeeded in calming herself.
Lost in her head, the feline had almost walked right past that annoyingly bright green force field. Almost. Hands still clasped and smile ever so polite, she turned towards the cell with a less than put-together greeting in mind along the lines of I didn’t know princesses were the new hype for pet owners, but I do see the resemblance to a rodent.
But for the first time in a long, long time…
She faltered.
Because in that cell, the princess sitting on the bed with her head turned and sparkling, short hair she was supposed to babysit was no child, no pet, no toy, no…
No insignificant prisoner, not like she had thought.
For the first time, she was seeing someone who was just like her, and yet they were worlds apart.
This was what she could have been.
Her left palm dragged across the barrier and the force field fell, catching the princess’s attention. The girl’s head turned to face the feline’s, and her light pink eyes were full to the brim with raw strength and an independence so strong it could be wielded like a weapon.
The princess, too, faltered, but not like how she had. Shimmering eyes blew wide in confusion as if she couldn’t understand who or what she was.
Her right hand clenched harshly behind her back. With her claws, she didn’t doubt she was breaking through her own first layer of skin. That awe had begun to crack, and a sweeping rage began to slip through instead.
This was what she would never get to be.
She took a deep breath. This was not what she came here for. Horde Prime was waiting.
“I didn’t know princesses were the new hype for pet owners, but I do see the resemblance to a rodent.”
“…well you’re charming.”