Chapter Text
Quiet. Silence. Alone. It had been months since Kalina had interacted with anyone, which wasn't unusual for her. She remembered the years of solitude she had lived and the nights alone, but that was when she had filled her mind with that single-minded goal. Something that kept her tethered to who she was.
She didn't mind it back then; she knew what she had to do. Her goddess, her mother, had always been her reason to keep moving forward, and that relentlessness, ruthlessness, was worth it. She felt whisps of magic run through her fur like familiar fingers, and the starry night of Cassandra's domain was illuminated in hues of indigos and violets.
But now, it didn't feel the same. There was no goal to keep her busy; that had been completed by someone besides her, and thank the nine hells. Her mother was back, her true mom, not some hollow husk that didn't contain her voice and memories. She was thankful, but it made the time spent in this moonlit forest seem even longer and painful.
The restless loneliness ended as she felt her fur stand on end, dragging her out of her thoughts. The faint graze of light, the color of saffron, felt warm as it narrowly missed her neck.
Instinctually leaping back, Kalina felt her back press against an old tree, fur catching in the crevices of bark and tail flicking in annoyance. The forests of the Astral Plane were usually temperate, but as light blazed in front of her, the heat of the summer sun clawed at her skin from a creature of pure crystal.
From the shadow of a nearby tree, the sound of gunshots accompanied by golden, fiery light shot at her. One was placed into her ribs before she managed to vault herself out of the way, hands landing on the ground as she stared down her unexpected foes. “What is going on?” she snarled through the pain, fangs sharp as she readied her claws with a moonlight glow, “Who are you, and how did you get here?”
“Kalina!” The voice that rang out instilled fear into her limbs. She felt her muscles go limp as some sort of pressure was applied to the back of her neck. The burning heat of the sun stabbed through her stomach, instantly cauterizing the wound.
She stared down at the golden blade, her face snarling and her fangs bared. Twisting to look behind her, she realized who had grabbed the scruff of her neck - a woman made of golden light, fire blazing bright as her hair rolled down like waves of molten lava. Her outfit was different from when Kalina saw her last, with a bralette covered by a leather jacket, emblazoned with pins and anarchist imagery.
“Nice to see you again, Ma,” she managed to choke out even though the hands around her neck pulled against her vocal cords, “you’re looking better. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
She felt the hand grow tighter around her throat and the sword plunge deeper into her guts as the flames burned brighter. “You know exactly what you did, Kalina; don’t play dumb with me,” Ankarna barked as golden smoke blazed from her eyes.
The familiar did most of what her feline facial structure would allow a cocked brow, her eyes narrowing at her creator’s wife to try and piece together what she meant. The air around the two tensed, eyes meeting as each tried to figure out the other’s motive. The other two figures stood there, magical sunlight gleaming from their weapons of choice.
“Kalina? Oh, Kalina, where are you, kitten?” A soft voice like a lullaby from a mother sang from the woods, hitting the ears of the two who were most familiar with her voice. Kalina’s eyes widened, the soft smile took the place of her snarl, and the pain in her chest somehow numbed despite the impaled sword in her abdomen.
“Momma,” she mumbled, stumbling off the sharpened steel of sunlight and staggering into the woods, claws catching the tree bark to sturdy her resolve. “Cassandra! Momma, I’m over here!”
She managed to spot her as her vision drifted into black. Cassandra looked better than she had previously, with dark purple skin, stars shining as freckles dotting her skin with constellations, and pure white eyes filled with the purity and love she had for the world. Her long purple hair was tied back in a braid, but Kalina saw it begin to unravel and float with magical energy. “Kalina! Kalina, kitten, stay with me! Stay… with… me.”
The next thing Kalina saw was the material realm, more specifically, the stained ashwood floors that reflected the light shining from the stained glass window above her. Purple and orange tones cascaded on the floor around her body, which struggled to gain movement again. She heard shouting and bickering from a multitude of voices that seemed to shake everything.
“I can’t believe you stabbed her,” a normally soft voice said with found protectiveness and strength. Kalina spotted Cassandra pointing her finger at Ankarna. The Bad Kids, sitting in what looked like pews, watched from just behind them in shock at the sudden change of attitude from the normally timid goddess. “She was our wedding gift; how could you do that to her?”
“She was your wedding gift from your sister,” Ankarna added defensively, stepping back as she ran her fingers through her molten locks. “Look, I’m sorry, Starlight, but with the information we have...”
“Don’t you 'Starlight' me,” Cassandra added, and with Kalina’s vision slowly focusing, she saw the tears of moon water and stardust fall from her eyes. “You never liked Kalina! You never gave her a damn chance, even though she’s my familiar. She’s the one who stayed and comforted my despair, not you.”
Kalina’s eyes met the Bad Kids, who all seemed to feel awkward with the two solar deities fighting in the middle of their shared church, none focusing on Kalina’s awakening except a perceptive goblin who was staring daggers into the feline familiar.
“Cassandra,” Kalina croaked, pulling herself to her paws as she grasped the nearby altar to help her stability. “Calm down; I can’t die even if she wants to kill me,” she said as she sat on the cold wood of the ceremonial table.
Everyone’s eyes were now on her, making her throat swell up more than it already was, but she faked a smirk as her eyes dotted each figure, each potential foe. “Hey, kids, missed me?”