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Oci resisted the urge to pet Marco and instead pulled an apple out of his backpack. He watched the stars come out as he ate, then tossed the apple core away and watched the woods instead. It was a quiet night, with the only noises coming from animals and the wind.
Marco slept quietly, his shoulder rising and falling with his breathing, his tail tucked over his snout.
Oci managed to stay awake the entire time. It was about midnight, or right after when he decided to wake up Marco. It was hard– he was a cute cat, sue him– but he managed it. "Hey, Marco, you've had your sleep. It's time to kill the king." Oci said, gently poking Marco in the side.
Marco mewed sleepily, moving slowly too look up at him. Before rolling his eyes and stretching out, not bothering to shift back as he kneaded the grass underneath his paws for a moment.
"Are you just going to stay a cat?" Oci asked, pulling the backpack onto his back and standing up. "That would probably make it easier to sneak in. Or harder." He shrugged and picked up the staff.
Marco mewed, rolling his eyes as he stood, making it clear he was staying in cat form.
"Fine, fine." Oci spun the staff around in his hands. "Don't disappear. I don't know where your secret entrance is, and it'd would be a real shame if I got killed before the king got killed."
Marco nodded, mewing softly as he led th way into the woods, making sure the other was still following him as the approached the castle walls.
Oci followed, keeping the staff at the ready, but also keeping a hand near one of his knives. As they moved closer to the castle walls, he was gathering shadows from the trees around them to use later. The castle was brightly lit, which would make finding shadows very hard indeed.
Marco led him along a small gully in the cleared out areas towards the castle, still making sure the other was following his dark furred form.
Oci stepped carefully, not wanting to make a sound that might alert the guards. He glanced up at the walls, sure there was someone watching them. But there wasn't anyone up there that he could see.
Marco mewed softly as they reached the wall, sniffing along it, before mewing again, rising up on his back legs to press on a block, opening a secret tunnel.
"Okay, why the Ed is this even here?" Oci muttered to himself, staring at the tunnel. "Does the king know about this, and if so, will there be guards?" He whispered to Marco, forgetting once again that he could only meow.
Marco mewed again and led him inside, shifting back when the door closed behind them. "The king doesn't know this one is here, and if he does, it wouldn't have opened for me." he hummed, "And I can't tell you how I know about this without putting us both in more danger."
"Good, good." Oci nodded. "Uh… okay. I want to know, now. I don't care about the danger. You have to tell me. Also. Do you want some light to see by, or would that alert someone to our presence?"
Marco sighed, frowning before moving and running his hands along the cavern walls, before pressing in a soft latch, causing old designs on the walls to light up. "Telling you my secret would make you a fugitive. They would hunt you the way they do me."
"I see… and how would they know that you told me your secret, hmm?" Oci asked, stepping closer to Marco. "I've got practice being very wanted by the law." He gave Marco a smirk. "Could you at least tell me who 'they' are? Is it the king?"
"The King, and the majority of his closest advisors. And the Captain of the guard." he said, his tone changing to a barely held back tone of fury when he mentioned the guard. his eyes darkening with anger.
"Well, you sure have got the attention of all the people in power." Oci laughed softly. "What in the world did you do?" He looked at Marco. "Besides knowing about this place," He continued, gesturing around them.
"I never did anything." he said softly, "there was no reason, absolutely nothing." he sighed, "They want me, and anyone who knows who I really am, dead along with me."
"Huh. Typical king. At least I did something to make them want me dead." Oci frowned. "Who you really are? Are you the long lost savior or something?"
"No," he said softly, "But I am supposed to be dead, just like the rest of my family." he smirked wryly, "Can't wait to see old Micheal's face when he sees me alive." he hummed softly, before turning to face the tunnel, "Come on, we don't wanna waste more time."
"Um. I'm confused." Oci frowned at Marco. "Okay, never mind. We can talk more about this after we've killed the king. Lead the way." He shook his head.
Marco nodded, staying silent as he led the way along the tunnel as if he'd been there a million times. And he had. Back as a young boy… before… before… he sighed, pushing everything back down. He had a mission.
Oci was pretty sure Marco had some sort of huge secret, and that it had to do with the king, but he didn't want to pry too much. And it was probably a bad thing to make his partner in crime super emotional before such a bit mission. So, he simply followed Marco down the tunnel.