Chapter Three (part 1)

Everything was settled. Echo was staying in the castle, in cat form of course. She had an immense amount of fun strutting around the castle, acting like she owned the place at first. She also found, to her enjoyment, that cat hair clung very nicely to the king's throne. Most of the royals were annoyed with her, but Dymetri's mother relished in the thought of such a beautiful cat. Dymetri was just glad that Echo was still there and his to hold. Kendra had named Echo's cat form Kikii and had a lot of fun pampering the 'furry kitty'.



But even with all this power in such a small black, white booted, form; Echo was becoming depressed. Because she couldn't be of use to anyone, and everyone was still on high alert, looking for 'the whore who jumped,' she was losing her sanity. The wall she had up to block all her bad memories was crumbling. Often times, she could be found padding slowly and sadly down the hallway, her head hanging so low to the floor that her pink nose was almost touching the tile. Kendra, realizing this, tried to get her spunky, princess of a cat back to normal, to no avail. Instead it made Echo feel even worse that she was troubling everyone else.



Even Dymetri began to notice something was very, very wrong. Most mornings he found Echo(Kikii) huddled in a corner in the room, curled as tightly as possible into herself. A couple times he managed to coax her into changing into her human form hoping to find out what was wrong, but even now she was refusing...or she couldnt.



Echo was tempted with food and water, on occasions milk. But she ate and drank nothing. The depression of her past was crashing down on her without mercy. Soon enough, the dying worry filled Dymetri's golden orbs permanently. He watched Echo thin and deteriorate before his eyes. There were many days that she did nothing but hide in the corner, unable to get up.



This morning was different though, she no longer had enough energy to hold her cat form. Dymetri walked into his room that evening to see the girl laying in her corner, her hair unkempt, clothes falling off her once slender frame, and breathing shallow. He rushed over to her, whispering as he went. "Echo? Please Echo, wake up."



The prince picked her up very carefully and carried her over to his bed. She felt very small and breakable in his arms as her head rested on his shoulder. He began noticing things that he never did when she was a cat. Her skin (that he once noticed was getting darker becasue of the colors of fur she chose) was deathly pale, and her night hair had lost it's sheen as it brushed against the prominant bones of her shoulders.

When she was on the bed, he covered her emaciated frame with a light blanket. He looked up in time to see her eyelids flutter open and her breath catch in her thoat. Her voice was barely a whisper when he spoke. "Dymetri? I ca..cant do this anymore." A tear slid down her cheek as her voice broke.

"What? What do you mean?" He leaned down, closer to hear her frail voice and to catch the tear. "Are you sick? What do you mean." His voice was thick with worry.

Echo attempted at a smile, but she could barely turn up the corners of her mouth. "No, I'm not sick. I just cant...live anymore. Everything that has happened...in my ..li..life. It's just...just too...much....I can't go on anymore."

She turned her face away from him, her breathing becoming a pant as she struggled to explain. She new she didn't have much time left and that thought made her almost giddy with releif.

Her breathing pattern stuttered like she had held in a breath, but that wasn't it. She could hardly breathe on her own at this point.

Dymetri lowered his head a little closer to listen to her heart faintly beat. His pain-filled gaze followed her neckline up to her eyes, watching the blue hide behind her lids again. Her heart stuttered. He had little time.

Dymetri rushed to his door and threw it open. He dashed down the long hall to his mother's quarters at a blinding speed. He skidded to a halt, panting. "Come. Please. Quickly." The fear in his voice was enough to get her off her feet.

Kendra held a million questions in her eyes but dared not speak any. She watched him sprint back to his chamber and followed at a quick, human pace.

Dymetri flew to the bedside in time to hear Echo's heart give one last beat, and then the room was completely silent.