Pain and Paradise

Pain and Paradise

season 1, episode 2 of Horizon

by Dogwood

read, enjoy (hopefully), and comment (please?)

PAIN AND PARADISE
The sun is shining all too brightly for my mood. Avalon feels fake- too cheery, too smiley, too zealous of this eternity spent eating, drinking, sleeping, and repeating.

I find my paws leading me back to the pool. Again, for the third time today. Maybe the twentieth time this week.

I feel someone tap me. I glance up to see...River? Cliff? I can't remember. "You okay, Rattle? You've been coming to the pool a little too much."

I nod dismissively. "Yeah. Am."

The tom just shakes his head, still looking concerned. "Don't spend too much time on it, okay? Enjoy Avalon."

I give him a tight-lipped smile. "Gotcha."

My nose touches the water, and again I find myself in Acheron. But instead of Pebble, I see a group of cats in a circle, roaring with laughter.

"Just beat her up!" one of them roars. I see a leg swish out, kicking hard. There's a soft "Oomph!" of pain.

My ears shoot up. That noise...was it Pebble getting hurt?

I let out a hiss and sprint for the cats, teeth bared and claws unsheathed. I can see Pebble now, curled up on the ground, scrapes and cutes etched in her once smooth gray fur. I lunge, plans already formed in my mind from my years of bloody training. I would rip apart the neck of the brown one, roll to slice open the black one's stomach, launch myself up and snap the white one's spine-

And it's like I've smacked into a wall. I stop, co