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“...Do you remember being young?” The quiet between them was broken by the rat, who thought out loud as he stared into the sky.
“Huh?”
“Like when you were small. Baby, y’know? Or just like, a kid. Like that little girl.”
The two friends had found a small hill away from the city to lay by, the sunset falling slowly before them. They had befriended and swayed the dark cat, and saved the little girl, so it was now nearing Mad Rat’s final hours. Heart had curled himself around Mad rat, holding him close so that he stayed warm. It was a weird time for the both of them. They had only really known each other for a day, but they felt like they had been together for years. Turning back time seems to do that to you.
“Well a little bit. I had a mom, and some brothers and sisters. I remember playing with them from time to time. But when we grew older, we kind of lost each other in the city. It’s a big place, you know...” Heart flicked his tail in curiosity, turning away from the skyline to look at his friend. He looked so small, it was still very strange to see him like this. He had gotten used to seeing him dash, jump, yell, and smile. But now he just laid against the cat breathing heavily, his eyes focused on the city ahead. “...Why do you ask?”
The rat stayed quiet for a bit, turning his head away from the cat’s.
“...I guess i don’t remember mine. I mean, everyone has a mother, right? They don’t just wake up in a cage out of nowhere, all alone…” Despite how nonchalant he tried to act, he looked deeply troubled by this, his brow furrowing as he tried in vain to remember even an inkling of her. Of his siblings. Of the family he didn’t have. It was a very foreign concept to him, and he wasn’t sure how he should feel about it. He never knew them, so why did it even matter?
“Well…” Heart looked down at the floor, trying to think of what to say in response. That was really heavy, and he’d need to be very careful about what he said next. Mad Rat was obviously upset by this, but in a typical fashion, he pretended not to care. A quiet minute passed over them before he found the courage to speak. “...You aren’t alone now. And you’ll never be alone for the rest of your life.” Mad Rat turned away further from Heart, scoffing at his reply.
“Pfft, as if that's a hard promise to keep, I die tonight anyway. You could leave me here and forget tomorrow.” He spoke with bravado, but Heart could swear he heard his already squeaky voice crack a bit. Heart sighed and looked back to the city, letting the gentle wind wash over his fur. “One day is all i have left.”
“Even if you had a hundred years left, I’d try to be there for every day of your life. You don’t deserve to be alone anymore.” Mad Rat stood up immediately, struggling a bit to stay standing.
“You’re an idiot, rats don’t even live that long…! I saved you, so you should go and enjoy being free, not spending your time with a dying rat!” His hands shook with… Not rage, but something else. He sounded like he was talking through gritted teeth and wobbled with each word. He attempted to punch Heart’s hind leg to scare him off, only to fall to the ground in a miserable heap.
“Get… Get out of here you stupid cat…!” It was getting hard to see as the evening sun stretched the shadows around them, as if they too knew his time was soon to come. They harkened the arrival of the moon, and with the moon came the end of his life. But even as the sun began to fade, Heart could still see his face, and how tears streamed down his snout through tightly shut eyes. “I don’t need you here!”
The cat felt his own heart grow heavy as his friend flailed in despair, instead pulling him close with a paw and clutching him to his chest.
“Mad Rat… Stop pushing me away. I’m bigger than you, and you can’t do anything about that.” The rat sniffled as he was cradled by Heart, burying his snout into the cat’s fur. He hated this, but he wasn’t sure why. Even through his blind anguish and rage, he couldn’t think of anywhere else he wanted to be.
“You freed me, and i’m choosing to stay with you, okay? I’m here because it’s the only place I want to be…” Heart softly touched his snout to Mad rat’s head, breathing as softly as he could. “...I am still your heart, after all. And tonight, I won’t fail you again.”
“Heart…” Squeaked the little rat between hushed sobs. “You will remember me, right…?”
“Mad Rat…” The sun finally left them behind, and the moon took it’s place in the sky once again. “...You’re the only thing I could ever love so dearly. I will never forget you. Not even on the day I die.”
“Heart…?”
“Yes…?”
“The moon looks so beautiful tonight…”
“That it does. I could watch it all night.”
But Heart had lied to Mad Rat. That night he never looked at the moon once. Instead he watched his dear friend, until the very moment he was no longer there. He had said that the cat was still his heart, but he never knew that he too, was the cat’s own heart.