Stranded (with two teenagers)

Sirene was in charge of one of many routine check-ins this month. The previous times she had these missions, she would have her husband and son with her as company. A fun family trip one might say, but this time around she is stuck with two children.

Asteroid Academy thought it would be an excellent idea to have two of their top students to experience a routine check-in. Rona and Drona begged for Sirene to be a chaperone, as if this was a fun field trip! Really, why was this a concept? Sirene needs to have a heavy talk with the school board…or Rona and Drona specifically, the other teachers never mentioned when she stopped by the Academy.

Even with Sirene’s distaste, the two young spacecats are doing a good job in keeping the pace. Peppermint was a natural in this, unfazed by the heavy snow and stayed close to Sirene at all costs. Peppermint’s father was a well-known traveller, felt like the desire for adventuring runs in the family. “Hey, Miss Sirene,” kit calls out. “Are we able to return to the ship for a bit?”

“We are miles away from the base,” Sirene informs kit. “It’s pointless, we need to keep going.”

“Miss, but Matcha…” Peppermint whines. Sirene halts, paws sinking into the snow, and turns her attention to the young spacecats.

Unlike Peppermint, Matcha did not experience the same excitement when it comes to exploration. He would rather do research in the comfort of his home, safe under a roof with his parents, and now he’s pulled out of his normal routine for an entire month. This is going to be exhausting for all three of them, Sirene was sure of it.

Matcha groans while trying to hold himself up. His daisies are starting to wither and the frost on his glasses are beginning to grow thicker. He stood up straight for around three seconds until falling on Peppermint’s side.

“….Alright.” Sirene perks her ears and pads up an icy ledge, hoping to get a better view of the landscape on higher ground. All she could see was white with the wind howling in her ears. Focus, damnit! Stop worrying so much, you’ve done this so many times…sure you have kids to look after, but at least they have common sense.

A minute passed. Peppermint and Matcha walked up the ledge and stayed behind Sirene. She finally finds a place for shelter, but before she tells them her findings, Peppermint hurries down the ledge with Matcha on kits back.

“Hold on, damnit!” Sirene snarls.

Everything happened too fast. Peppermint sinks into the snow with only her long ears and tip of her purple tail poking out of the white blanket, poor Matcha is nowhere to be seen. “Ugh…kids will be kids,” Sirene sighs before scaling down and meeting up with the two.

She pulls Matcha out of the snow trap first, cannot have him turn into an ice block, then Peppermint pulls herself out when the extra weight left her. “Eh…sorry,” kit flicks the snowflakes off Sirene’s muzzle. “Got a little too excited there…”

“Is this how you act when you go on explorations with Compass?”

Peppermint quivers kits whiskers. “Not entirely. The minute I am just a few feet away from them, they start panicking and calling for me. This is the first time I’ve had some freedom while travelling!”

“But that doesn’t mean you can just leave the party!”

“I-I won’t, promise…” Peppermint lowers kits ears. “Can we go to the cave now? Before all of Matcha’s daises start to wither.”

At least kits excitement was warranted. This was the first trip kit’s been on without kits parents, this new change in pace is making Peppermint think a little too impulsive than usual. But above all, well above kits joy of exploring with more freedom, Peppermint was thinking about Matcha’s safety and wanted to take him somewhere safe as soon as they could.

Once the two made it inside a deserted cave, Matcha had a little pep in his step. Some of the daisies on his back reverted to its bright colours and a few dead petals fell off his pelt. “Pheeww…” The small spacecat removes his glasses. “Sorry that I keep falling behind…”

“You’re doing just fine,” Sirene reassures him. “For a cat who spends most of his days indoors, you’re handling this better than I expected.”

“But I don’t think I can handle this for a month!” He groans. “This has been the hardest week of my life…”

“Hey! You’re not doing this alone!” Peppermint chirps. “You know how the more books ya read; the easier harder ones get? It’s like that here and soon enough this snow will be a walk in da park!”

“Thank you for your encouragement, Peppermint.” She presses her nose on kits forehead. “Now, I need you both to stay here. I’m going to travel a little further. You two are free to make a fire and eat. If anything happens, run back to the ship at once.” Sirene rakes her long and icy claws on the ground. “And please stay there until I say so, understood?”

“Y-Yes, Miss!” The two spacecats straightened their posture and gave her an affirming nod. Sirene prays that the worst-case scenario doesn’t happen, but they need to be prepared for anything that comes their way.

She makes sure to leave a trail of small icicles while venturing deeper into the cave, for both her sake and the kids. So far Sirene doesn’t find anything dangerous, only the temperature dropping and the environment growing darker. She doesn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

Not until a soft rumbling enters Sirene’s ears. Something (someone?) was heading this way, no, several things? Several footsteps overlapping each other and a sea of green appears in her vision.

Sirene had no idea what the hell was coming, but every muscle in her body was telling her to run and get the kids out of here. She darts back to the base and shatters the trail of ice she left. They start to get closer; she can hear them inching up to her, and Sirene forces herself to take heavier strides.

Once she makes out the shapes of the young cats, Sirene lets out a loud cry.

“Run!”

They didn’t hesitate. The two jump up on their paws and head towards the opening. However, the minute Sirene realises that they will be okay, everything got worse.

The strange sea of green chasing Sirene (she wouldn’t dare look back and see what it was) was stomping so strongly that the cave started to rumble. Rocks began tumbling down and creating obstacles, then one dropped on Peppermint’s head and left her unconscious.

“Peppermint!”

Everything started to crumble in more ways than one. The last thing she witnessed was Matcha trying to wake up his friend until the rocks obstructed her vision. The ground beneath her was no more, and Sirene was trapped into nothingness.