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1
Gepard could feel drops of sweat rolling down his face. Belobog might be a cold place, but he'd been chasing a criminal through twisting streets for several minutes now, and that's really quite the workout. Especially if, like the captain, you do so while wearing a full suit of armour and carrying your weapon —a guitar case belonging to your sister— on your back. And it was not just any criminal he was after. It was a particular con man with whom he'd had a couple encounters in the past.
Gepard had been patrolling through Backwater Pass to investigate some claims of high Fragmentum activity in the area, when he caught a glimpse of a figure running by. A tall figure with dark indigo hair wearing clothes that made no sense for the typical Belobogian weather.
It had barely taken Gepard a second to recognise who it was, and he had immediately given chase to the man. He had demanded he stop in the name of the Silvermane Guards, but that had only achieved a surprised noise from Koski as he realised the captain was after him while he continued to run. Well, he hadn't expected much more, really.
The chase had been, as usual, filled with the other man's ridiculous flirty taunts towards Gepard. Or ridiculous attempts at flirty taunts, rather, as these obviously did not work on Gepard one bit and much less did they manage to achieve their goal of distracting him from the matter at hand, giving Sampo more of a chance at escape. No sir, not at all.
Gepard watched as Koski turned a corner and inwardly smiled at himself. That street led to a dead end. The con man had just made things so much easier for him. He turned the very same corner Koski had turned just seconds ago, completely ready to pull out his handcuffs and catch the criminal once and for all, when he was suddenly stopped in his tracks. Aside from a dumpster, the street was empty, and there was no possible way a person —even if that person was Koski— could've left through any other place than the way Gepard had just come from. Had Koski... climbed into the dumpster in some desperate attempt to hide? No, there was no way the con man would do something so stupid. He might've turned around and tried to talk his way out of the situation, but not climbed into a dumpster.
Still, Gepard wasn't about to risk the small chance that the criminal might've actually done the unthinkable. And so, he lifted the lid to the dumpster. Since people no longer frecuented Backwater Pass, no one bothered to empty the trash cans and dumpsters, no matter how full they had been when everyone left the area. This one hadn't much free room left, and the smell that had hit Gepards face upon lifting the lid of the dumpster was a clear indicator of how long it had been resting there for. If the trash the Trailblazer so excitedly pocketed had smelled like this, Gepard thought, they wouldn't have had such trouble figuring out who had been going through Belobog's trash cans like some sort of feral raccoon. The scent would've been a dead giveaway.
In the midst of the many smelly bags, Gepard spotted something odd. In the space between a couple of them, he could see a single bright green eye, staring up at him. Gepard felt his pulse quicken. So Koski had climbed into the dumpster after all? There was no other person in Belobog with eyes like his, and Gepard knew this well. He'd had ample time to stare at them during his encounters with the man in which he had tried to distract the captain with his words. The only reason he had focused on his eyes so much was so he could properly represent them on the wanted posters that would later be hung around the city if Sampo were to escape again, of course. No other reason.
Gepard quickly removed the bag. He had already started saying the typical "Sampo Koski, in the name of the Silvermane Guards-", when he stopped himself in surprise. Instead of a tall, green-eyed con man, a small, green-eyed cat was staring back at him. Gepard blinked. The cat blinked back. Its fur was fluffy and of a dark indigo colour except for the tips of its ears and its feet, which were a sort of greyish white. Quite a strange cat, Gepard thought.
The captain stood there for a moment, staring at the cat in surprise. He really liked cats. His whole family did, in fact (he and his sisters were all named after felines, for Aeon's sake). Which of course meant that he could not help himself when he saw the little thing in the dumpster and slowly leaned in to pet it. The cat let him. He pet it again. The cat leaned into his hand.
Gepard glowed. Ah, the magic of being liked by a cat. He decided to try and take it a step further and attempt to pick the furry little thing up. The cat made no objections. Gepard held it above his head for a moment and then lowered it to his eye level.
"Hey there, little guy." He said, voice much softer than usual. "What were you doing in the dumpster? Did you fall in?" The cat meowed.
"Ooh, is that so? Well, good thing I found you then, huh?" Gepard softly pressed his forehead to the kitty's forehead and the little one began to pur. "Ah, you're so soft. And so cute, too."
He carefully plopped the cat down on the ground, where it sat as he continued to pet it while talking to it in his kitty voice for several minutes.
"I wish I could stay with you longer, kitty, but I'm afraid I have a duty as the Captain of the Silvermane Guards." Gepard sighed, standing up. "It's too cold for you to be out and about, though. Maybe I ought to bring you to the shelter."
Immediately, the cat stood up and ran out of the alleyway, but not before smooshing its face against Gepards leg.
"Oh. Okay then. Goodbye, kitty."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~•~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2
Gepard was walking down the streets of the Underworld on his way back from negotiations with Wildfire, lost in thought.
Just before the meeting had started, Ms. Seele had been talking to someone. Not wanting to interrupt, Gepard had simply waited for them to stop talking before making his presence known. Then, however, he had heard the other person respond.
"Okay, okay fine, Ms. Seele. I proooomise you that I won't steal any more medicine from the Overworld, if you give the guards a firm reminder that underworlders are actually human beings that need medical care juuuuust as much as the folks up there. And you make sure they start bringing stuff down here themselves."
"Whenever did you become so selfless? Worried about the underworlders health?" Seele had responded, in a manner that must have been accompanied by her rolling her eyes.
"Whatever do you mean?" The other party had said, sounding playfully offended. Gepard had imagined a hand shooting up to the person's chest, ever the one to over dramatise. He had moved a bit closer, so as to be able to see the other party's face.
"Koski," Gepard had suddenly let out, not really meaning to. Green and purple eyes turned to look at him, surprised.
"Captain," Ms. Seele had greeted.
"Ah, if it isn't my favourite Silvermane Captain! How are you doing on this beautiful day, Geppie~?" Koski had smiled.
"You-" Gepard had started, not quite sure what to say. His hand had begun reaching towards his cuffs by instinct.
Koski, already retreating, had then said "Oh, I'd love to stay and chat, my dear Captain, but I'm afraid I'm quite busy today! See you~". And just like that, he'd left.
Gepard should've run after him and gotten the arrest over with, surely, but Ms. Seele had quickly reminded him that they had a meeting to attend, so he'd let it be.
Now that the meeting was over, he'd started thinking back to that moment. Ms. Seele and Koski had been talking about... Medical supplies? Koski had said something about stealing them from the Overworld to bring to the Underworld (presumably to Natasha's place), hadn't he? Gepard felt strangely and... pleasantly ? surprised. He hadn't expected Sam- Koski to be the type to care so much for others as to risk himself to help them.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by a small noise coming from an alleyway nearby. He wasn't sure, but it had almost sounded like- Ah, there it was again. Yes, it was most certainly meowing.
He moved into the alley, looking for the source of the noise, and there it was. The cat he'd rescued from the dumpster just a couple days ago.
"It's you!" He couldn't help but smile. "What are you doing here, little kitty? This is a long way from Backwater Pass."
The cat walked up to Gepard and started rubbing its face against his legs. Gepard's face lit up. He squatted in order to be able to pet the cat, which he did. The cat started meowing and pawing at his leg.
"What is it? What do you want, kitty?" Gepard asked "Oh, are you hungry? Hold on." After the last encounter with the cat, Gepard had bought some cat treats to carry with him on patrols, just in case. He took one out then.
"Here you go," he exclaimed, as he opened it and held it so the cat could eat it. The cat did not, however, eat it. Instead, it backed away and sat down. In fact, it seemed to be making a disgusted face.
"Do you not like these treats?" Gepard said, slight disappointment evident in his tone. "I'm afraid I don't have anything else, kitty, other than the chicken sandwich I packed for myself this morning."
The cat's ears seemed to perk up at this. "What? Do you want my sandwich?" Gepard asked, amused. The cat meowed, making Gepard laugh. "Alright, well I suppose it's a very plain sandwich anyway, and I don't think it has anything that could harm you. Well, here you go." He concluded, as he held the sandwich near the cat's mouth.
The cat took a bite, swallowed, and meowed appreciatively. Gepard giggled. The cat continued taking small bites out of the sandwich, until, eventually, there was none left.
"Ah, well, there goes my lunch. You're lucky I have time to get myself something else, kitty." He said, smiling as the cat purred while he pet it. Then, the cat stood up, rubbed its face against the Captain's leg one last time as if to thank him, and left.
"Goodbye, kitty." Gepard sighed, smile still on his face as he continued making his way toward the Overworld.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~•~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3
Gepard was, once again, making his way down to the Underworld. This time, though, he had lots of medical supplies with him. He was travelling using the tram, which was gaining him some curious looks from other people, seeing as he had several boxes with him.
During the meeting with Wildfire, Ms. Seele had, in fact, brought up the lack of medical resources in the Underworld, and Gepard had promised to inform Bronya about it. When he had gone to do so, though, it turned out to be unnecessary, for the Supreme Guardian had already been aware. Something about Ms. Seele messaging her.
Gepard had offered to get one of his men to take the supplies down to the Underworld, but Bronya had instead insisted on him going. For what reason, you wonder? Great question. Gepard realised now that he hadn't bothered to ask. When he thought about it, transporting medical supplies wasn't exactly a job that required a Silvermane Captain...
The tram finally arrived at the Underworld and Gepard got all the boxes out of it. When getting them on the tram, he had had another soldier help him, but that soldier had had to leave. Now, he realised these were too many boxes to carry by himself.
As he was wondering how he was going to get them all to Natasha's office without making two trips, he heard a familiar voice call him.
"Captain! Fancy seeing you here!"
It was, of course, the con man.
"...Koski."
"You're the one they sent with the supplies?" Koski asked.
"What are you doing here?" Gepard asked, suspicious.
"Collecting the boxes to take them to Natasha's? I thought that part was obvious. Did they not tell you someone would come for them? Though, to be honest, no one informed me I would have the honour of being greeted by the Silvermane Captain himself~"
"..." Gepard answered.
"I'm not here to steal them, Geppie, if that's what you think. The whole point in me stealing these from the Overworld before was to bring them down here. But now, I don't have to!" Then, Koski added, "If it puts your mind at ease, you can always come with so you can keep your eye on me, Captain. That way, you can see for yourself whether I try to steal anything or not~"
Gepard sighed. "...let's go."
He picked up as many boxes as he could and left the rest to Koski, making sure that they both carried equal amounts. The pile of boxes made it so he could just about see what was in front of him as he walked. Koski, after standing still for a second with a surprised look on his face, grabbed the rest of the boxes and hurriedly walked towards Gepard until they were walking side by side.
“Sooo…” Koski started. “How come they sent the Captain himself to deliver a few medical supplies?”
“It is of utmost importance that these supplies make it to their destination.” Gepard responded.
“Well, yes, but…” Koski said. “I’m sure they could have had another guard take your place, no?”
Gepard said nothing.
“...you have no idea why they sent you specifically, do you?” Koski smirked.
Gepard continued saying nothing, staring up ahead. His ears, however, went slightly pink.
“Unless you asked that they send you because you wanted to see me~?”
“You-” Gepard said, finally looking the other man’s way, cheeks slightly flushed.
“I’m kidding , Cap, just kidding.” Sam- Koski said, smiling softly at Gepard.
Said captain sighed and looked straight ahead once more, thinking to himself that he wasn’t paid enough to deal with this man and his shenanigans. After a bit of silence, the con man started talking again.
“You’ve been coming down to the Underworld a lot lately.”
“There have been many meetings with Wildfire.” Gepard replied.
“I see,” said Sampo. “Is that all?”
“...” Gepard hesitated. “There is a cat.”
“Hm?”
“There is a cat around here that I have been feeding,” he clarified, and then cleared his throat before continuing. “It likes to wander around, but it’s usually down here where I find it.”
“O-oh? Is that so? I don’t think I’ve seen many cats around. What’s it look like?” Sampo questioned.
“It’s very fluffy, and it’s a strange dark indigo colour. Except the tips of its ears and its feet, which are a sort of darkish grey.” Gepard explained.
“Hm. Quite a funny looking cat then, huh?”
Gepard smiled. “Not any less adorable, of course.”
“Ah,” Sampo smiled and looked away.
Gepard looked over at him. “Its eyes are a shiny green colour as well. In fact, oddly enough, it has quite a resemblance to…”
Sampo looked back at Gepard, expectantly. “...to?”
The captain looked ahead again. “...nevermind.”
After a moment of silence, Sampo asked “That’s all the reasons why you’ve been coming down here?”
“Yes.”
“Really? Are you sure it wasn’t because you wanted to-”
“No, Koski, I haven’t been frequenting the Underworld because I wanted to see you.” Gepard said, sounding only mildly annoyed, seeming to know what the dark haired man was going to say from how many times he had insinuated similar things.
Sampo laughed. “You said it, not me~” he said, a small glint in his eye.
Gepard just hmphed and glared at him.
Sampo laughed again. “Thank you, Geppie.”
Gepard only looked his way, as if asking him what for.
“For bringing the supplies down and helping me take them to Nat’s. The underworlders will really appreciate it, trust me” he concluded.
“...I am just fulfilling my duty of making sure all Belobogians are safe.”
Sampo hummed. “But you’ve been working extra hard to better the situation down here. So, thank you.”
Gepard stayed silent for a moment. He looked towards the other man and then back ahead “Sampo,”
“Hm?”
“...thank you.”
“Thank me?”
“Yes. For helping me carry the supplies now.” Gepard finished.
“Ah. It’s my pleasure,” the con man responded.
…
“...why are you smiling like that?” Gepard said, after taking another moment to look towards his companion.
“You always call me Koski,” Sampo said, smiling even bigger. “You called me Sampo.”
“I-” Gepard started.
“Ah, we’re here! Look, Nat’s waiting for us.” Sampo said, hurrying his step slightly and walking up to the doctor to strike up conversation.
Gepard followed shortly after, his gaze lingering on Sampo, having felt the need to take a moment to save that smile in his memory. Why he had felt that way, he did not know.
.
.
.
That night, Gepard was awoken by a couple small taps on his window and what he would have sworn was a meow. When he got up, he saw his little cat friend trying to get his attention. He went up to the window and opened it. The cat meowed at him and Gepard pet its head, wondering how it could have possibly found him.
He stayed like that for a while, petting the cat behind its ears, feeling himself grow sleepy again. Then, the cat nudged something on the windowsill, and Gepard saw that it was a bright red rose. He picked it up and stared at it. After a couple seconds, he asked “Did you bring this, kitty?”
But, when he looked at where the cat had just been, it was no longer there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~•~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+1
Gepard was trying to figure out how he had made it to where he was now.
Earlier that afternoon, he had been once again patrolling Backwater Pass, considering ending his patrol for the day as there was no sign of Fragmentum activity.
Suddenly, Sampo had shown up and started with his habit of teasing the captain. After a while, Gepard had had enough.
“Stop,” he had said.
“Make me,” the other had responded.
Gepard had narrowed his eyes and tried to grab Sampo’s arm, not quite sure of what the next move in his plan to make the con man stop talking was going to be. However, Sampo had been faster, and had moved away before Gepard could get a hold of him.
“Oops, too slow, Captain! I suppose you’ll just have to catch me then~” and so Sampo had started running.
There was no real reason why Gepard should have chased after Sampo. He didn't have to arrest him. His name had been pretty much cleared by then and he hadn’t really been doing anything suspicious at that time. In fact, Sampo running away only helped Gepard in his mission of shutting him up, since, well, without the man there, he couldn’t tease him anyway. So, he didn’t quite know why he had immediately ran after him. Maybe it was just instincts. Maybe he just felt like playing along, as he had nothing better to do anyway. Whatever the reason, he hadn't been able to stop himself from smiling as he chased after the con man.
That was until he heard Sampo gasp after turning a corner and found himself staring at several Fragmentum monsters when turning it himself. They had noticed them alright, and one of them had already tried to attack Sampo. He had dodged it, thankfully, but then another Fragmentum monster had attacked him from behind and had left a nasty gash in his right leg.
Gepard had watched as Sampo gasped in pain and had run to assist him. Despite Sampo’s injury, they both fought and managed somehow to defeat all the enemies. They had stood regaining their breath for a moment, and then Gepard had turned around to check on Sampo, only to find him stepping back and saying “C’mon Geppie, we’re not done with our chase!”
Sampo had then turned on his heel and started to run once more. And that’s where Gepard found himself now, running after the con man once again, but while the previous time had been fun, this time it was filled with worry. He had shouted at Sampo to stop several times, but had only received “No can do, Cap!” as a response. He noticed, however, that Sampo seemed to be getting slower and clumsier. That wasn’t a good sign.
He watched as Sampo turned a corner and recognised it was the dead end where he had lost Sampo after the precious chase, only to find that strange looking cat. A cat that, each time he saw it, reminded him more and more of- Not important right now.
He turned the corner in hopes of finding Sampo there, but there was no one. He called out the man’s name, asking him to show himself. “I’m not going to arrest you, Sampo!” he shouted, desperately. “Just let me look at your wound!”
No answer. Except…
Gepard heard a small sound come from a corner in the alleyway, and looked over in surprise. The sound had been a soft meowing noise, and there in the corner he saw that cat he had seen so many times lately. And the cat seemed to be in pain.
Gepard walked slowly towards the cat and saw that its right leg was wounded and bleeding quite a lot.
“It is you, isn’t it?” The man sighed. “Sampo… Why didn’t you stop?”
The cat, looking quite dizzy, gave an apologetic meow.
Gepard sighed again and carefully picked cat-Sampo up, cradling him like a baby. “I’ll take you to Dr. Natasha’s clinic. I don’t think you’d like to stay at any hospitals up here…”
Cat-Sampo rubbed his face against Gepards chest, as if thanking him.
“Stop moving, you might hurt yourself,” Gepard reprimanded. “...I just hope Dr. Natasha knows how to treat cats.”
Gepard walked as fast as he could to the tram in the Overworld. He would’ve run, but he was afraid the movement might hurt Sampo’s leg any further, so he settled for a brisk walk. Also, Sampo had managed to fall asleep in his arms during the time it took to get the tram, and a part of him didn’t want to wake him up. That was silly, of course, as the top priority should be to get him help as fast as possible, but Gepard couldn’t help it.
This time, Belobogians on the tram looked at their Captain of the Silvermane Guards weirdly not because he was carrying an unusual amount of things, but because he was carrying an unusual thing. Why was their Captain carrying a cat as if it were a baby? And where was he taking it? The people of Belobog had never imagined him to be the type to care for cats.
Gepard walked off of the tram and made it to Dr. Natasha’s clinic in record time, storming into her clinic and looking around frantically for her.
“Captain Gepard?” came Dr. Natasha’s confused voice.
“Dr. Natasha, Sam- this cat…” Gepard started, showing the doctor the cat in his arms.
Dr. Natasha sighed. “Sampo got in trouble again?”
Gepard looked at her in surprise. So she knew about Sampo’s… whatever it was about Sampo that let him turn into a cat. This made things easier, probably.
“Yes,” he said.
“Alright, well, he’s lucky I don’t have too many patients in here today. I’ll take him from you, Captain.” Dr. Natasha said. “I can’t risk treating him out here in case he transforms, so I’ll be using a bed in a separate room of the clinic.”
“Can I..?”
“Stay?” Dr. Natasha smiled. “I’ll let you know when I’m done treating him and you can come right in and stay as long as you’d like, Captain. You may wait here for now.”
“Thank you,” he said, and did exactly as she told him.
Once Dr. Natasha was done dealing with Sampo’s wound, she called Gepard into the room. It seemed that, at some point during the process, Sampo had reverted back to his human form. Gepard would have to ask him sometime how he did it.
“He has to rest for now, but he will be alright. I need to care for some other patients now, but you may stay and keep him company.” Dr. Natasha explained.
“Thank you, doctor. Really.” Gepard said, visibly relieved upon hearing that Sampo would be fine. Dr. Natasha smiled at him and left.
Gepard sat in a chair next to Sampo’s bed, watching him. He took the other man’s hand in his own, squeezed it, closed his eyes, and sighed. “You stupid con man…”
“Geppie?” a voice asked, making Gepard open his eyes. Sampo was watching him through sleepy eyes. “What’re you still doing here?”
“Making sure your wound is not fatal.” Gepard answered.
“Aww,” Sampo teased. “You were worried about me~?”
“ Sampo .” Gepard scolded, looking serious. Then, in a slightly quieter voice, he admitted “Of course I was worried.”
He wasn’t sure if the other man had heard him, but he didn’t say anything back, simply looked away, face slightly flushed.
“Get some rest, Sampo,” he added after a bit.
Sampo hummed as if to say “okay”, moved a slight bit to make himself comfortable, and closed his eyes.
Gepard wasn’t sure when he fell asleep himself, sitting on that chair, but he was sure of one thing: at no point throughout the entire night did he let go of Sampo’s hand.