Cat was running hard. Close, she was so close. If she could just get to the tree, she would be fine. The tree wouldn't let anyone but lost boys in and - "ah!" cat yelled as a net sprung up from the ground, catching her and leaving her helpless in the air.

Cat struggled, trying to break free before the pirates who set this trap found her.

"well, " the pirate drawled from some unknown location. "I was aiming to catch your beloved Neverbird, but I suppose a mangy cat will have to do." the pirate emerged from behind a tree, swagger in his step.

He looked like your average pirate. A red bandana around his head, making it impossible to tell if he had any hair at all. A loose fitting, surprisingly white shirt that closed around his wrists. Pants that cut off just below the knee, with tall socks that compensated for his short pants. And black shoes with a buckle over it, like the kind you might imagine the pilgrims wore. And around his waist, a lopsided belt with a cutlass on left side.

"really?" I said, "you caught me in a net, while I was rushing, not paying attention to my surroundings. And you thought you could catch anyone who's been on this island for longer than a month? Just how stupid are you?" I realized after I said it, that aggravating a pirate while you are trapped in a net, might not be the best idea.

The pirate flushed red with anger, "why you little - " he started to say, drawing his cutlass and stomping towards me.

He shoved the cutlass in my face, accidentally cutting my cheek as I tried to shift to the side to escape his blade.

"You know what? Forget the Captain. He said he wanted any lost boys we captured alive, but I don't think he said anything about lost girls." The pirate said with an evil smile, jabbing me in the shoulder with his sword at that last word. I winced, as blood begin to flow from my shoulder as well as my cheek.

Dispite the pain and terror I felt, and my bleeding cheek, I managed to keep a defiant face. I would not give a pirate the satisfaction of knowing that in my final moments I was terrified.

As he drew back his cutlass, ready to run me through, I thought about all the friends I had made, my only family. I hoped they were all safe in the tree, not here to see my death.

With a shout, the pirate bushed his sword back through the net, aiming for my stomach. "guess he wants me to die slowly." I thought before his sword touched me, intent know driving through and causing irreparable damage.

Suddenly, Raven appeared out of nowhere, knocking the sword out of the way, and cutting a hole in the netting.

As the sword pasted me, I felt a slight tugging in my stomach and heard my shirt rip. I didn't feel any pain so I focused on Raven and the pirate again.

Raven twisted the cutlass out of the pirate's hand, and moving so fast that I could barely see the movement, he shoved his dagger against the pirate's throat.

"Well, " Raven said, his eyes cold, and steely. "I'd say you found yourself a kitten, not a cat. How would you like to fight something that have some actual claws?" Raven asked, his eyes boring into the pirate's face like the dagger he held

The pirate tried to speak, but was prevented by Raven's dagger pressing harder into the pirate's neck, a thin line blood appeared below the dagger.

"Don't try to justify what you did, " Raven said. His voice quiet, but full of anger. "Or did you forget? I know the captain's rules. And one of his favorite, along with never betraying your captain, is that you Do. Not. Kill. Islanders. "

Raven looked over his shoulder at me, still caught in the net. His eyes seemed to loose some of their steel as he looked at me and asked "can you get out by yourself?" his eyes searching mine for some unspoken answer.

I attempted to climb up out the slash in the net, but by now the adrenaline was wearing off, and I was beginning to feel the pain of my wounds. I managed to pull myself up a little bit before collapsing at the bottom of the net, curled up in pain. My right hand over my shoulder, the other covering my stomach.

Seeing this, Raven directed his next comment to the pirate, seemingly calm, but he failed to hide the slight tremor in his voice. "well, it looks like the kitten needs my help. Sorry in advance for the headache." and with that Raven slammed the butt of his dagger into the side of the pirates head, knocking him out cold. The pirate crumpled to the ground, and Raven turned towards me, still looking calm.

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"Okay, let's get you out of there first, then we can take a look at your wounds." he said, following where the rope went up from the net, over a thick tree branch, and then to a stake, deep in the ground.

Raven untied to rope and carefully lowered the net down. I crawled out of the net and stood up with one arm, my left arm still over my stomach. As I started to move my wounds were bleeding more profusely from my increased movement, and I began to feel dizzy in addition to the pain of my wounds. My vision swam, and it seemed as if the world was spinning.

"woah here! " Raven said, catching me as I started to fall. "why don't we go sit down by that tree?" he advised, nodding to a tree a few paces in front of us as he slipped my good arm over his shoulder and fitting his arm around my waist.

We managed to make it to the tree and Raven helped me sit down with my back against the rough bark. He then removed my belt, which had been over top of my t-shirt, holding my dagger and a small pouch to carry things, and partially lifted my shirt enough to see my wound.

It started off shallow at the edge of my right about muscles, getting deeper as it went farther to the left, ending a couple inches from my side, the wound being about nine inches wide. It was bleeding pretty badly on the left side, not quite so much on the right side, but still enough to be worried about.

Raven then looked at my shoulder wound, and even the cut on the left side of my cheek. The shoulder wound was about an inch deep and bleeding profusely.

"well Cat, it looks like you haven't used up your nine lives yet, but you might be down to eight now." Raven said, a slight frown on his face.

"you know, when I first met the Faye, I'm fairly certain they said Leopard, not Cat." I said, trying to keep my mind off the pain.

Raven smiled, merriment in his eyes dispute our predicament. " well, a leopard doesn't have nearly the same amount of fun little jokes as cats do. Besides, the pirates all call us the same thing the fairies and Faye do, so it's more interesting to have your own little nickname." he said, before getting back to business. "I'm going to start bandaging your shoulder, so try not to move? "

He first cut off my right sleeve to get it out of the way. Then he rummaged through both his and my bags, looking for something to use as bandages. Fortunately, he found some cloth bandages made by Flower and Lizard. Raven wrapped it under my armpit, up over my shoulder, and then back under five times before he tied it off, and used what was left for my other wound. Raven managed to get four times around my stomach, before he ran out of bandages.

"done." Raven sighed, gathering our things before he asked "how much does it hurt to move?" lifting his eyes to my face.

"don't know, " I grimaced. Bandaged or not, my wounds still definitely hurt. "how about I stand up and find out?" and did so, touching my left arm to the ground and pulling my knees towards me as I started to rise. Suddenly, I felt a spike of pain in my stomach, and my legs, already shaky from blood loss, started to give out on me in surprise.

Raven said nothing as he caught me and slipped my arm over his shoulder again. It was difficult to walk together, Raven's lanky frame pulling my short one unnaturally high, but by him stooping down a bit we managed to make it work.

"Okay, " Raven said after I was settled. "here's the plan. We take it slow, make our way to Faye's Jungle. They can treat you there. The tree is too far, and the closest thing you'll find to medicine there is Finger's paint."

I chuckled at the thought of someone rubbing paint over a wound and it magically healing in the space of a few seconds.

"Ready? " Raven asked.

I nodding. And we set off.