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It is another dark, creepy night deep in the bowels of the playtime factory.
Catherina Grambell was walking beneath her large cat son, on a mission to find another one of their supposed allies, and bring them back to the safe haven.
Before she and Theo left, they were instructed by Poppy and Doey to try and find the ‘princess’, whoever that was.
She had wanted to go by herself, but Theo insisted on coming with her to protect her, since he didn’t feel safe letting her roam around the dangerous factory all alone.
And because Cathy was physically incapable of saying no to his big pleading kitten-eyes, she’d allowed him to.
So now they were walking together in the dark, Theo holding up the flashlight with his tail.
“Hey Theo?”
Cathy asks. “I have a question.”
The large cat glances down at her. “Hm?”
“Did you ever go to the game station…?”
Theo tries to remember for a minute or two.
“Um… maybe?” he says.
“If I did, I don’t remember… my memories of those days are kinda fuzzy…”
Cathy nods. “That makes sense… it was probably a very long time ago…”
Theo sighs. “Yes…”
The two continued walking, through the unrelenting darkness and despair.
Eventually, when they got to one of the many caves littered throughout the factory, they came across a castle about the size of a small mansion that looked like it was made of cardboard and colored with markers and crayons.
Cathy smiles.
“I remember this set…”
She says.
A long time ago, when the princess of the critters, Elizabeth (Aka Betty), was revealed, a large playset of her princess castle was sold, along with the Miss Delight style dolls of her.
But for the kids who could only afford the doll, there was also an instruction kit available, to make their own princess castle out of cardboard.
“Oh yeah, me too…”
Theo whispers.
“I remember Mae used to get me to play with her on it all the time…”
He giggles, lowly.
“I thought it was really girly, but I had fun when she would play as Betty, and force me to play as Ulrike.”
Cathy laughs. “Aww, that’s cute.”
‘Thank the heavens there was never a Bbi Ulrike.’
She thinks to herself.
When they enter the castle, the first thing they see is a large cardboard staircase, with two flights of stairs going left and right.
“Ok… I think we should split up.’
Cathy says. “I’ll go right, and you go left?”
Theo looks worried. “But what if there are enemies…?”
Cathy shrugs. “I doubt there are any in here.”
She says. “And I still have my wrench just in case.”
Theo sighs. “Okay, if you say so, Mom.”
He hands her the flashlight, not needing it since his cat eyes allowed him to see in the dark.
“Thank you.”
Cathy says. “Meet me back here as soon as you can, okay…?”
Theo nods. “Okay mom.”
They then split up, to go in different directions.
~Darkness transition~
Cathy finds herself walking down a long, dark hallway, pointing her flashlight at any noise she heard.
So far, the only creatures she’d seen in here were cockroaches, flies and the occasional dead toy.
“If the princess is still here, she really needs to hire better maids…”
She jokes to herself.
Finally, she comes across the princess’s bedroom.
The door was suspiciously open… so she didn’t feel the need to knock.
Slowly, she makes her way inside.
Looking around the room, she could see a large bed, dresser and vanity, that were all also made of cardboard.
Then, she spots something.
Someone was sitting at the vanity… crying?
Cathy slowly shines the flashlight onto them.
When the light hit them, she could see they were a woman, with auburn plastic-string hair and tan plastic skin, wearing a tiara and an orangey-yellow dress.
Cathy’s eyes widened.
“Betty…?”
She says softly.
The princess jumps, slowly turning her head to look at her.
She slowly gets up from the cardboard chair.
“W-who are you…?”
Her voice sounded familiar… but Cathy couldn’t place where she’d heard it.
The princess slowly walked forward.
Her physical structure looked very similar to Miss Delight’s, with the plastic joints and feet that were permanently shaped into heels, except her face was intact.
“A-are you here to k-kill me…?”
Cathy shakes her head.
“Oh no, of course not!” she says. “I’m actually here to help.”
She smiles softly and shines the light on herself, so Betty could see her face.
“My name’s Catherina.”
Betty’s entire body freezes, and she looks horrified.
“No… you, you’re not…”
She backs up, her voice sounding almost broken.
“Hey, take it easy…”
Cathy says gently. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
The princess tears up, covering her face.
“Don’t look at me!”
Cathy steps closer. “Betty, it’s okay… calm down…”
Then, Betty quickly rushes out of the room, gently pushing Cathy aside, and holding her dress as she runs off, similar to Cinderella.
Cathy’s eyes widened.
“Betty, wait!”
She says, dashing after her.
She chases her down the hall and into another room, where the princess starts to push on the walls, seemingly looking for some kind of button or switch.
“Damn it!”
She says, "I was sure this was the room with the secret slide!”
“Betty!”
Cathy says, causing the princess to flinch.
She panics, trying to find the secret button even faster.
Cathy walks forward.
“Betty, look at me.”
The princess shakes for a minute, then slowly turns around.
Cathy smiles softly again.
“You don’t need to be scared…”
She says gently.
Betty shakes her head.
“Catherina, you don’t understand…”
She cries more, looking at Cathy with her big hazel eyes.
(wait… Betty doesn’t have hazel eyes- hers are blue…)
“You need to leave this place…”
Betty says. “Please…”
Cathy gently grabs her shoulders.
“Betty, calm down!”
She says.
The princess goes silent.
Cathy sighs.
“Betty, it’s okay.” She says. “I’m here to help you.”
Betty looks down.
“Why?”
She says. “There’s nothing left here…”
Cathy gently takes her hand.
“Well even so, I'm gonna take the nothing.”
She says gently.
Betty then lets out a broken laugh.
“Cathy… you really don’t recognize me, do you?”
She says sadly.
Cathy sadly shakes her head.
“No, I’m sorry…”
Betty smiles softly. “I figured…”
She says.
She then gently takes Cathy’s face in her hands, looking deeply into her eyes.
…
“It’s me… Cathy-nap…”
Cathy’s heart stops.
Only one person in the world ever called her that.
“No…”
She whispers, her eyes going wide and filling with tears.
Now the hazel eyes made sense…
She reaches up to gently touch the doll’s face.
“Not you too…”
The princess nods sadly.
“Yes… they got me…”
Cathy starts to cry, embracing her tightly.
The princess jumps, then hugs back just as tight.
“My Dog-Daisy…”
Cathy says through her tears.
“I missed you so much…”
Daisy runs her fingers through Cathy’s long black hair. .
“Cath…”
She says weakly. “I thought I'd never see you again…”
Cathy buries her face in Daisy’s chest.
“I can’t believe those wretched employees and scientists would do this to you too…”
She says. “The bastards….”
Daisy giggles.
“Well don’t worry, hun…”
She says, kissing Cathy softly on the forehead.
“They’re all dead.”
Cathy blushes and nods.
“I know…” She says.
“And rightly so after what they did to all of you…”
Daisy hums, hugging her tighter.
The two enjoy the sweet moment of embrace, Cathy immensely happy to finally finally finally be back with her soulmate after so many ears…
When Daisy eventually pulls back, she takes Cathy’s face in her hands again, looking deeply into her eyes.
“Why did you come back…?”
She asks.
Cathy sighs.
“Well… I came back because of Theo…”
Daisy winces.
“Oh dear…”
Cathy sadly nods.
“Yes… I know what happened to him, my poor baby…”
She then smiles, looking up.
“But it’s okay.” she says. “He’s on our side now.”
Daisy’s eyes widened.
“F-for real…?”
Cathy nods. “Yes…”
She says.
“I still don’t know how I managed it… I mean, logically, it never made sense for him to just flip on a dime…”
Daisy thinks for a bit.
“Maybe it was because having you here snapped him out of it.”
She says.
“He was so tunnel-visioned on serving someone he THOUGHT cared for him, but then, being in the presence of someone who actually DOES care for him, especially the person who cared the MOST for him, helped him to see the truth.”
Cathy smiles softly.
“Yeah, that kind of makes sense…”
She says.
Daisy smiles.
“So… what are you doing here?”
She says. “In the castle I mean…”
Cathy gently takes Daisy’s hands.
“Looking for you.”
Daisy’s eyes widened.
Cathy smiles softly.
“We have allies down here.”
She says. “They sent me out to find you and bring you to the safe haven.”
Daisy’s eyes sparkle. “R-really…?”
Cathy nods, stepping closer.
“So please… Come with me.”
Daisy is silent for a minute, then nods.
“Okay…”
She says.
Cathy smiles, hugging her again.
“Thank you, hun.” She says. “And don’t worry. We’ll be safe there.”
Daisy hugs back, burying her fingers in Cathy’s hair.
“I sure hope so…”
She leans down to hold her closer.
“I actually used to live in the safe haven, but then I got lost looking for medical supplies…”
She sighs. “And then, somehow I found myself here… I've been here for, I don’t even know how long…”
Cathy gently strokes her back.
“Oh no, I'm sorry…”
Daisy nuzzles her softly.
“It’s okay… it wasn’t your fault…”
After a moment or two of embracing, Cathy slowly pulls back.
“Okay, we should probably be getting back…”
She says. “The others are probably worried about us.”
Daisy nods. “Okay…”
As the two women started to make their way out, Daisy tightly held Cathy’s hand.
“I can’t wait to finally sleep on something other than cardboard again…”
She says with a giggle.
Cathy smiles. “You can sleep next to me.”
She says. “Theo is probably big enough.”
Daisy looks a bit scared.
“Do… do you think he’ll let me…?”
Cathy nods.
“Absolutely.”
She says.
Daisy nods back.
“Alright, I trust you, kit kat…”
Cathy blushes and giggles at the pet name, before leading her back out of the castle, where Theo was waiting for them.
“Mom! There you are!”
He says, walking over to nuzzle her head softly.
Cathy reaches up to gently scratch him behind the ears.
“Hey kitten.” She says softly. “Sorry I took so long…”
Theo purrs softly.
“It’s okay…”
He says quietly.
“So, did you find the princess?”
Cathy nods, gesturing to Daisy, who looked very scared by the presence of the giant cat.
“Theo, do you remember Daisy…?”
Cathy asks.
Theo closes his eyes for a moment, trying to remember.
He vaguely remembers a tall-ish woman, a bit shorter than Cathy, with auburn hair and tan skin, with big hazel eyes.
She was very beautiful.
He also remembers seeing her and his mom together a lot, talking, smiling, giggling, even holding hands once or twice, Cathy looking at the other woman fondly.
When he opened his eyes, they looked wide.
“Wait… so…”
He points to Daisy. “She’s your…”
Cathy nods, smiling.
“Yes, bud.”
She says, gently putting an arm around Daisy’s waist.
“She’s my ‘special friend.’”
Theo smiles.
“Well I'll be.”
He looks at Daisy.
“Glad to have you back, Ms. Daisy.”
He says softly.
“I know she really missed you.”
Daisy gives a nervous smile.
“Likewise.”
Theo then turns to leave.
“Alright, mission accomplished…”
He says. “Let’s get back to the safe haven.”
Cathy taking Daisy’s hand.
“We’re right behind you.”
They start on their way back, Cathy and Daisy following closely behind Theo.
While they were walking back, Cathy leaned her head on her paramour's shoulder, making her smile.
“I… I really did miss you, Daisy-bell…”
She says softly.
Daisy leans down, kissing her softly on the forehead.
“I missed you too, dear…”
She says softly.
“I’ll go wherever you go.”