Chapter Text
"Ok, did everyone get the plan?"
"You and I both climb into the ventilation shaft while Perrito distracts the guards. Then we crawl to the room where the priceless ring is and grab it. We should be able to find the room quickly thanks to this map.", Kitty answered and pulled a small map out.
She, Puss and Perrito were all sitting behind a bush in front of the residence of one of the richest men in the country.
"Perfect and Perrito, be careful. We're only letting you join us this time because you really wanted to. As soon as we're in the ventilation shaft, you immediately run to the carriage we've already prepared and wait for us hidden."
"Of course. Team Friendship GO!"
"I hate this name." Puss and Kitty said at the same time.
Perrito walked out of his hiding place smiling. When he could see the guards, he hobbled towards them, made sad dog noises and held up one of his paws. Immediately, two guards approached the dog and knelt down to pet it and examine his leg.
"I told you it would work, Kitty."
"Yeah yeah. We shouldn't waste any time or Perrito's act was for nothing." She whispered and crept through the bushes to the entrance of the ventilation shaft. She quickly looked at the guards again. Since they were still concentrating on the dog, she was able to jump out of the bush and run the last ten feet. Puss followed her and went down the shaft after her.
It was cramped and they had to walk down the aisle on all fours. When they got to a grate, Kitty carefully removed the screws with her sword until she could remove the grate. After that, she jumped onto the nearest closet and Puss landed next to his best friend shortly after.
They both looked over the edge of the closet at the same time and could see the ring lying in a small box in the middle of the room. Normally it was always in a vault, but not today as it was due to be moved to a different location. Puss was afraid the ring would already be stolen by the time they got there, but apparently, they got lucky.
The two quickly nodded to each other and jumped onto the table below them. The gleaming ring stood just a few yards in front of Puss, the red ruby beaming at him. But before Puss could grab the ring, something wrapped around the ring and was pulled right out from under his nose.
"Hey!" Puss yelled, looking down from the table where three frogs were standing. One of them held the ring in his mouth, his long tongue was wrapped around it.
"How dare you steal the ring we wanted to steal," Kitty said beside him, pulling her knife from her belt.
"Since we both wanted to steal it, you're no better than us. So the better one gets it and that's us.", said the one with the ring and immediately, they jumped up onto one of the shelves. Puss now drew his rapier and jumped after them with a (very manly) meow.
He jumped on the one with the ring and as he was standing in front of a window they broke through the window. A loud alarm went off immediately and all the windows were closed with bars. He was briefly concerned for Kitty before she landed gracefully next to him.
"You always have to take the riskiest route, don't you?"
"Of course, after all I'm Puss in Boots."
Before he could grab the ring, the frog hopped away and 10 more frogs jumped out of the bushes. Puss let out an irritated sigh before starting to fight his way through the frogs. Puss saw the frog in the distance and jumped over some frog heads to get to him.
"Don't let him escape." Kitty yelled after him. Of course, the frog wouldn't escape him, he was sure of that. Puss jumped up the trees to follow the frog unnoticed, jumping from one branch to another.
After about a minute, the frog seemed to need a rest. Puss had been waiting for exactly this moment and jumped down from the tree he was sitting on. He swept the frog to the ground with him and rammed his rapier into the ground right next to his head. With a smile on his face, he held out his flat hand and pointed with the other finger on his palm.
Wordlessly, the frog placed the ring in his hand and Puss examined it a little before pulling his rapier out of the ground and tucking it back into his belt.
"And another win for Puss in boo-", Puss couldn't finish his victory speech as another frog jumped out of the bushes and rammed him into another bush. Because of that bush, Puss couldn't see that on the other side was a huge cliff, at least 50 meters high. He stumbled over the corner and flew a few meters before he was able to grab a small branch.
"You know, actually we didn't want this ring from the start. We are assassins and we will kill anyone for the right price. Your squad is a thorn in the side of another thief, he wants you dead. The ring, of course, was a trap that should have been obvious.
Unfortunately, we didn't get your accomplices, but at least Puss in Boots..." said the frog and pulled out a knife to cut loose the branch Puss was holding on to.
"... Will find his end today."
Puss hissed at the frog. Before he could process what the frog had said, the branch was cut and Puss saw the ground coming towards him quickly. In an attempt to break his fall, he grabbed with his claws onto the rocky slope. His fall was slowed down by the thick canopy before Puss hit his head on a big branch and passed out.
Puss woke up to the smell of blood. Breathing fast, he opened his eyes and controlled his body. He had a few scrapes and bruises, otherwise nothing serious. Puss took a deep breath to slow his breathing and felt his head. A bulge would certainly form there. Puss couldn't have been unconscious for very long, 30 minutes at most.
He stood up quickly and swayed briefly until he could concentrate again. He saw the ring laying in the grass right next to him, so he picked it up and stored it in his belt. His nose twitched and only then did he notice the stench of blood again, which clearly didn't come from him. He carefully turned away from the wall he had slipped down and was greeted by what could only be called a massacre.
Pusse's eyes widened and his ears folded back. He carefully looked from one animal to the other. Some of them couldn't have been dead more than a few hours, others were dead way longer. Puss wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. The trees blocked out the sunlight and in this darkness the massacre looked even more frightening.
A sound came from afar. Puss's ears swung in that direction immediately, straining to hear that one sound in the silent forest. It was a whistle. Puss knows that whistle. He had last heard it two months ago and in his dreams every night since then.
Pusse's hair stood up and he immediately jumped into a bush next to him. He was lying there on all fours, wrapping his tail around himself. His heart was beating fast and his hair was still sticking out in all directions. The last time they saw, Death had promised him that they would meet again. Puss knew they would meet again.
Despite all his dreams, he was not afraid of Death. He stood in front of him in a fair battle without running away. Puss wasn't afraid back then, even though he knew how much stronger Death was.
So why? Why was he hiding here, curled up in a little bush? Maybe it's because every time he heard that sound, he became aware of his mortality. He wasn't afraid of losing his own life, he's long past that. He doesn't want to hurt his friends with his death.
Puss thought he had appreciated his life well enough over the last two months. So why was the wolf here? Did Puss have worse injuries than he thought? Or has Puss lived his life pointlessly again, without paying attention to it? No, that couldn't be it.
Puss his thoughts raced through his head until he saw red eyes appear in the distance out of the darkness and all his thoughts stopped. He thought of nothing, felt nothing. He just lay there and didn't take his eyes off Death's eyes for a single second.
Death strode out of the darkness and showed his form. Thanks to his hood, you could only see his whistling snout and his red glowing eyes.
Puss watched as Death stopped not in front of him but in front of the massacre. He looked down at it and sniffed the air briefly.
"I smell fear."
Puss stayed there like a stone, expecting Death to jump at him to kill him at any moment. In a last moment of reflection, his hand went to his sword and clutched it. If Puss dies, he would die honorably in a fight. He learned to love his life in his last life thanks to Kitty and Perrito. But when he thinks about it, Death was the first one to force him to open his eyes.
Puss almost shook his head to get those thoughts out of his head, but then he would make a noise, so he stopped.
Death turned to a man lying on the ground who, if you looked closely, was shaking. It seemed like they weren't all dead after all.
"Fear," Death whispered in a deep voice, picking the man up with one of his large paws.
"Any last words? Actually, I would give you a chance to defend yourself, but you're already more dead than alive. I'll make it short, short but not painless."
When there was no answer after a few seconds, Death took one of his sickles and severed the head with precision.
"What a boring job. What did I come here for in the first place? No fight and just unsatisfactory fear." Death sighed while putting his sickles away again. He raised his hand to his ear and scratched it. He would seem almost like a normal talking wolf if you ignore the many dead people around him. Describing the reflection of his red eyes in the red blood as majestic would not be right. Shouldn't be right, but Puss can't think of another word.
Suddenly, black bubbles formed behind him and quickly grew larger. Eventually, behind Death was a tall figure that Puss couldn't define. He couldn't even really describe it, it was the deepest black he'd ever seen, in a form that shouldn't exist. It was floating like an angel, but it looked like the end. The end of everything.
Finally, Death turned around and looked up to End.
"Hello boss, expected you earlier."
"I see you're working, did I come here at the wrong time?"
"Like you care."
"I'll get straight to the point. You know, Death, I'm very busy, after all, you're not the only one taking care of the dead under me.
It's about the incident. You know exactly which one I'm talking about. You didn't do your job, I expected better from my best worker. "
Death was silent and just stared into the black mass without showing a single emotion.
"I gave you the job under me as it was a win-win for both of us. But I think I need to put you back in your place. Tell me, Death…
… Why are you saving this cat from his fate? "
Puss felt out of place. How could it be that these two supernatural creatures were conversing just a few meters away from him and didn't notice him? Still, he just couldn't stop listening.
"Answer."
Silence.
" ANSWER!"
Death's hood slid down from his ears, because of the volume the darkness roared at him.
"A promise."
"To whom?"
Silence.
The silence lasted 10 seconds, Puss kept count.
"I really need to show you your limits."
Red flames formed around the darkness and one shot straight at Death and hit him. Puss wanted to yell at him, ask why he didn't dodge this attack, he knew death could.
"I'll take your powers. In other words, you're fired. Temporary. Be good and you might get the life you love back."
Death almost showed no reaction until Puss looked down at the tightly clenched fists. They trembled slightly.
" I'm impressed, others would have collapsed from the pain of the debilitating long ago. Don't worry, it'll stop in about... a day. Have fun until then. Normally you should be knocked out the entire time, but I know that you are resistant as a rock, so I'm not really sure what will happen to you."
End shrank back to little bubbles and said before he completely disappeared: "And all because you wanted to save a cat in boots, what a shame."
Then End was gone. It was quiet again. There was no sound and Puss was still processing what he had heard. Cat in boots... He could only have meant him. Fuck, was Death in pain because of him? Was Death getting fired because of him? It shouldn't make him feel so guilty, after all it was Death in front of him. A brutal killer...
Puss got up and made Intentional noise as he exited the bushes. Death slowly turned around and stared straight into his eyes. Death's eyes were cold, numb as ever. What was Puss doing? Since Death had his paw on his sickle, he really didn't seem to have noticed him the whole time. They just stared at each other.
"You always show up at the best times, don't you?" Death broke the silence.
"If you keep throwing yourself into these situations, you won't be able to enjoy your last life the way you wanted to."
"What can I say? I like danger."
"Didn't the saying go earlier: Puss in boots laughs in the face of death?"
"Everyone needs changes in life."
Puss couldn't believe he was having a conversation with Death. The only man who could stand up to him in all these years. The man who showed him the fear of death. But right now he felt no fear. Maybe because he was curious about the conversation death had, or because death looks more like a normal wolf.
"I don't smell fear from you. No wonder I didn't notice you." Death growled deeply while taking a step closer to Puss and sniffing briefly. A shiver ran down his spine.
"What are you doing here, Puss in boots?"
"Got pushed off a cliff," Puss replied after swallowing.
"Then it even fits that you have an encounter with death. Well, before I lost my job."
Puss didn't know how to answer that. Luckily, he didn't have to either as Death turned away from him, his blades making a bright clang as they collided.
"I'll say goodbye then. I have a boss to placate."
Before he realized what he was doing, Puss raised his hand and... What did he do now? He was too far away to grab his cloak anyway. Why did Puss even want Death to stay with him? Shit.
Puss made a fist with his hand and squeezed it tight. This was probably his second to last meeting with Death. His last would be his death.
Unless Death didn't get his job back, then Puss wouldn't see him there either. A job he lost because of Puss himself.
"De-" Before Puss could finish his call for the wolf, he saw the wolf's feet give way and fell to the ground.
"Death!"
For about three minutes Puss stood in the same spot, bent over Death. At first, he had assumed that he would get up immediately, but he hadn't moved a bit.
Puss staggered away from the big wolf. Kitty and Perrito must be worried about him at this very moment, so he had to get back to them as soon as possible. Maybe they even thought he ran away again. But he would never make that mistake again and he hoped his two best friends knew that.
With a bit of luck, he didn't have to climb the huge wall, but could go another way. Death would surely wake up soon. Death wasn't weak, he was much stronger than Puss and could take care of himself.
Hesitantly, he turned away from Death and walked down a gravel path. First, he had to get past the massacre to finally get out of this forest. When he came to a stop in front of a dog, he took a quick look at his injuries to see what had happened to all of them.
It was clearly the act of a wild beast. Lots of uncontrolled scratches and bites. Probably a horde judging by the different sizes. On closer inspection, the culprits probably were a hybrid of a wolf and a bear. This breed lives together in hordes in large burrows. They usually bring their prey right next to their burrow, like a pantry.
Wait... loot right next to their burrow...
This could only mean that these creatures lived around here and would come back when they got hungry.
"You should be knocked out for a day," Puss recalled End's words.
Puss turned and ran back to the still-prone wolf. Puss knew that if these creatures really met Death in this state, it really could be Death's end.
"Fuck," Puss meowed. He hadn't quite understood the conversation yet, but he understood enough to know that the wolf had saved him and was even willing to make sacrifices for it. Of course, Puss immediately thought of the situation in the flames where Death had spared him.
But that was the difference. Death had spared him then, not saved him. Death was after Puss of his own free will as he didn't value his life. End stayed that Death didn't do a job End himself gave him.
"Death." Puss called as he stood in front of the wolf. He carefully reached out and put his hand on Death's shoulder to shake it.
"Death!" he shouted again, shrugging his shoulders.
Apparently, End wasn't lying, Puss realized.
He looked briefly at the wolf and thought about transport options. The fact that the wolf was more than twice the size of Puss wasn't going to stop Puss in Boots. After some time, Puss had an idea and he quickly ran into the woods to find the materials he would need.
He quickly found many round branches that looked strong enough to support Wolf's weight. After that, he went to the many corpses, since he had seen a wall of a carriage there before. After he had all that, he went back to the wolf and put all his materials next to him.
Puss immediately began to place the sticks next to each other and finally placed the large slab on top. After that he pushed the wolf with a lot of effort onto the plate, which fortunately didn't break under his weight. He looked proudly at his creation. Thanks to the round sticks, he could now simply push the plate. The only problem was that he had to keep putting the other sticks in front of it to keep the plate rolling, but at the moment Puss couldn't think of a better idea.
Puss adjusted his hat, jumped twice, and then started pushing the wolf.
Luckily, they weren't in a valley where they were surrounded on all sides by a large wall, so Puss was able to push Death down the path with no problem. By now about two hours had passed and Puss didn't have to hurry as much as in the beginning, since they were far enough away from the massacre.
He found a good spot under a tree to rest a little bit. Death hadn't woken up the whole time, so he was still lying on the board. Puss leaned against the tree, took his hat off his head and laid it gently on the grass beside him. After that, he closed his eyes. His wounds from the fall two hours ago are aching again from the exertion.
Puss closed his eyes and listened to the wind. In this region, he had encountered birds or rabbits from time to time, contrary to the previous part of the forest, where no living beings were to be seen. After learning who owns this territory, he wouldn't want to live there either. In the distance, he heard a small stream, which he had stopped by for a drink earlier. He took a deep breath and smelled the scent of Death, who was lying right next to him.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Death's face. He had only seen his face briefly as he was either running for his life or fighting. In the sleeping state, he looked relaxed and without his red eyes almost like a normal wolf.
At that moment those eyes opened and suddenly there was no longer any wolf in front of him, but Death. Former Grim Reaper and the man who tried to kill him not a long time ago, but spared him in the end. Right, he had spared him not saved him.
"Good morning," Puss said jokingly.
"Morning," Death muttered back. He would probably get up at any moment and leave Puss. Why would he want to stay with him? But Puss had many questions and without answers he couldn't let Death go.
"Why didn't you leave me there?"
"What did your boss mean with "safed a cat in boots"? According to you, you wanted to take my last life of your own free will because I didn't value my life before. You spared me at the time, for which I am very grateful.
But what did he mean with the not following orders, Death? "
Wolf sighed loudly and briefly closed his eyes again to break their intense eye contact. When Puss looked down, he saw that his hair was standing up again. He quickly smoothed his hair down while Death still had his eyes closed.
"The day I spared you..." Death finally said after they had been silent for a minute and Puss was about to retract his question.
"... Wasn't the last time I met you before today."
Puss looked at Death again, eyes wide. Death had his gaze on him as well.
"To be more precise, we met about two weeks ago. At that time I was sent by my former boss to pick up a very special soul…"