Ooh yay, new part! I bet Amethyst's family will get rid of the cat, and then Topaz will find it back. Ooooor, he'll track the cat and find Amethyst. I do hope they get reunited...

One critique: You seem to use -- a lot. Perhaps try different punctuation occasionally? 

I just read this all and it's really good. I am kind of waiting for Amethyst to find another love interest, so I'm refraining from shipping Topathyst just yet. But if it becomes more canon, and no more love interests enter the picture... Topathyst is totally a ship I could get behind. Also, I feel like Opal might become more of a major character, because whenever Amethyst sees Topaz, Opal seems to be standing by.

Yes, I do use -- a lot. And I get what you mean, but... what other punctuation is there to use? I think the -- help it flow smoother, like in the sentence: "Opal too --while still happy that they had won-- looked very tired, and yawned a few seconds after Amethyst." It's kinda like an interjection. It would definitely make a difference if I didn't use the --, for example: "Opal too, while still happy that they had won, looked very tired, and yawned a few seconds after Amethyst." It makes the sentence seem longer and rambling. If I did this: "Opal was happy that they had won. But she looked very tired and yawned a few seconds after Amethyst," it would make my writing choppy. So, I get what you're saying, but do you have any suggestions on different punctuation? Or you just think that I use it too often? 

Chapter Six

Amethyst closed the door behind her softly, food dish in hand. She reached over and turned on the light, illuminating the shadowed walk-in closet --and Tom. He slowly got up from the comfy position on his pillow, mrowling at her as she set his food bowl down on the floor. Over the past week, he had gotten plumper from all his meal scraps that Amethyst and her family had saved for him. After only one day spent indoors, Eudie complained so much about his stench that Amethyst had to give Tom a bath. It had been a very tragic experience for him --one he definitely did not enjoy. However, he now looked very clean and well-groomed. A very handsome tomcat, which, if Tom himself knew Amethyst had said that, he would have surely preened with pleasure.

Her family had grown accustomed to Tom rather quickly, Amethyst thought. After her parent's first initial "No! No stray cat is coming into our house!" reaction, they had consented for Tom to use a vacant walk-in closet as his home. Amethyst never remembered Eudie and Opal being more happy at any other time in their lives. 

Of course, cats are creatures meant to be outside, so the closet was only to be used as a shelter. Amethyst's father had --discretely, mind you-- cut a cat-sized hole into the far wall that led into the alleyway, so Tom could come and go as he pleased. And it pleased him very much, it seemed, to be indoors all day every day. Chuckling to herself as her sisters lavished their love upon their cat, Amethyst gave Tom a look that meant: "You are getting spoiled, young man." He purred even louder. 

Opal and Eudie crammed in on either side of Amethyst, wanted to pet Tom for the thousandth time that day --which also pleased him greatly. 

So far, they had experienced no trouble in keeping his presence a secret. They hardly ever had visitors, and if they did, they were shown to the living room or dining area --not a closet. The closest call they had was when Opal and Eudie's friend, Garnet, had come over to play one day. The girls had romped around the house as they usually do but spent most of their time in the twin's bedrooms. Eudie and Opal made sure to stay away from their feline friend's hiding place, and the whole household breathed a sigh of relief when Garnet left none the wiser about Tom. 

After Garnet had left, Eudie asked Amethyst a question. "Why do we have to keep Tom a secret?"

"The Leaders made all household pets illegal a long time ago, and if anyone found out, we would most likely get into trouble," Amethyst replied. 

Eudie was quiet for a minute, then said, "Big trouble?" 

"Yes. Big trouble," Amethyst agreed. 

"But... why? One time, me and Opal were playing in the attic and we found a really old book with pictures of a girl, two puppies, and a cat. The animals went inside the house, too! How come the girl in the book didn't have to obey any rules about no pets?" Eudie asked, puzzled. 

Amethyst had to think for a minute to come up with a good reason. "Well, because the little girl you read about in the book probably lived a long time ago, when there were no laws about pets." 

"No laws, and no Leaders to make them," Opal said quietly from the corner, where she had been observing their conversation. 

Nodding her head, Amethyst told her, "Yes, you're right." 

Eudie crossed her arms, pouting slightly. "Why do the Leaders have to be so mean?" 

"Mean?" Sera stepped into the room, a pile of clean clothes in hand. "The Leaders aren't mean, Eudie. They have to do things that need to be done --things that other people don't want to do." 

Still puzzled, Eudie said, "I sure don't want to not have pets. And pets aren't bad! So why'd they make a law saying nobody could have them?" 

"I don't know, honey," Sera told her, setting down her pile of clothes on the table nearby. "But it's not our job to ask those questions --it's no ones. We just have to obey."

Amethyst pondered their earlier conversation as she sat in the living room later that day, listening to her father plunk out tunes on the piano. Just like Eudie, she wanted to know why. Why wasn't it their job to ask questions? To be the ones to make decisions for themselves? Also, like her sisters, Amethyst had discovered old books from 2000 late 1900 that had talked about a democracy, Senate, and one President. It had taken place in America and other surrounding countries for several hundred years. What had brought about the dramatic change from the just government in which it was the peak in 2000, to three, corrupted, control-freak Leaders? 

"Where are the girls?" Sera asked as Howlite paused to sort through his vast library of music to find another song to play. "Will you go check on them, Amethyst? Make sure they aren't getting into any mischief?" 

Nodding, Amethyst stood up from her comfy place on the couch and walked down the hall to the walk-in closet --where she expected her sisters to be. Amethyst peeked her head through the door. Sure enough, Eudie and Opal were sprawled out on the ground, their fluffy cat friend situated across their laps --purring softly. 

Smiling, Amethyst stepped into the small room, saying quietly, "I thought I'd find you here. Mom wanted me to make sure you weren't up to no good." She sat down next to her sisters, petting Tom too. Opal and Eudie looked close to sleep, and as Amethyst sat down next to them, she felt herself nodding off, too. The four of them --Tom included-- started awake when they heard Sera's voice floating through the house, telling them that Afternoon Curfew was over, so if they wanted to go outside, now was the time. 

Amethyst groggily got up. Tom stretched, his little pink tongue showing as he did so. Then he mewed at the three of them, and walked over to his "cat-door" and went outside. Eudie and Opal were slower to wake, then the three sisters went outside to enjoy the sunny day while they could.

∞ * ∞ * ∞ * ∞ 

Peri squeezed out of his cat-door, finding the simple action more difficult because of his newfound plumpiness around the waist. He glanced at the blue sky and meowed once --as if in greeting-- then continued on his way. He scampered down the alley, turning this way and that like he had many times before, and finally reached his destination. Even in full daylight, the rusted sewage grate was still swathed in shadows. Peri lay down on top of the grate and began mrowwling and mewing loudly, to let it be known that he was here. 

When he felt the grate start to move, he leaped off and plopped down, waiting attentively. The man stepped out, and, seeing him, smiled. His blue eyes twinkled in that way that Peri liked so much. 

"Hey there, boy," He said to Peri. "How are you doing today?" Peri meowed again, rolling back and forth, looking for attention. Then he lay down on his back, letting it also be known that he wanted his belly rubbed. The man laughed --probably because he had never seen this before in a cat-- and said, "Sometimes you remind me more of a cat than a raccoon, but now I'm not so sure. You're acting more dog-like than your usual raccoon/cat self." But the man rubbed Peri's belly anyway, and he purred with happiness. 

Then the man stopped and looked him up and down more closely. "Whoever you have befriended has sure been taking good care of you, Peri. You're looking sharp. Just don't forget about your old man, you hear?" He looked at Peri hard, as if wanting an answer. "Promise?" Peri licked his finger, which seemed to satisfy the man enough. 

∞ * ∞ * ∞ * ∞ 

Amethyst gasped, clamping her hand over her mouth and whipping back around the corner before Topaz and Tom could see her. So, this is where Tom had been going every day; to visit... Topaz, of all people. Interesting. So they owned the same cat. Kind of. And, apparently, Tom was a Peri! 

That's actually a much better name than Tom, Amethyst conceded.

Topaz had not gone very far when he ran from the Authorities, really. 'Course, he didn't live in the alley --he would already be in jail and facing execution by now if he had. But he must have a home or some other place nearby. 

She forced herself to go back to her home, to leave Topaz and Tom --no, Peri-- in peace. Whatever they did wasn't her business. She would just carry on, not letting on to anybody that she knew Topaz personally or knew he was nearby, and take care of Tom --no, Peri!-- as long as he needed and wanted it. That is, until she remembered her promise. From when she had been laying in bed, late at night, after her failed eavesdropping scheme. The one where she had vowed to protect Topaz from eminent capture if she had the chance.

If that wasn't a chance, then I don't know what is, Amethyst told herself, beratingly. And yet she continued on to her house. 

Amethyst unlocked her yard gate and walked up to the back door --passing her sisters, who were playing in the shade of an overgrown bush, along the way. Then more questions floated through her mind. Had his little speech-like thing on the podium at the Alarm Gathering been planned? Was it part of something bigger? Or was it just a seize-the-moment opportunity? Either way, Amethyst knew that things were changing and that she wanted to be on the side against the Leaders. If Topaz knew how to do that, she needed to know how.

On a spur-of-the-moment, Amethyst turned and raced down her yard --passing her sisters once more, who yelled at her to ask what in the world she was doing--, through the alley, this way and that; to where she had come from. She tried to go as noiselessly as possible, so as not to scare Topaz into thinking that Authorities were hunting him down or anything remotely like that. She paused at the corner between the alley and the street to compose herself, taking deep breaths to calm her racing heart. 

In, out. In, out. 

But when she turned to where she had last seen Topaz, he was gone. All that remained was Peri, purring, rubbing himself against her legs, and jaunting back home --as if nothing at all had happened. 

TFDRFYGUHJB

This is amazing. I love it. Seriously, I could never write this well. 

@Allie- Thank you! XD

@Agent Winter- XD In all honesty, I just love writing the word 'mroww'. Plus, female cats are more 'mew'-ers, whereas all the tomcats I've come in contact with were all 'mroww'-ers. XD

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Chapter Seven

Peri kept up his afternoon visits with Topaz for quite a while --Amethyst only knew because she followed Peri every time, never having enough courage to go out and talk to Topaz like she had felt that day when she first encountered the two of them together. 

Then one day, Peri just stayed home. Which puzzled Amethyst. Why stop his visits so abruptly? With her curiosity piqued once more, Amethyst decided to go alone to the place where her --Well, both of our's, Amethyst conceded-- cat and Topaz met. On her way, she encountered nobody out and about --not that the alleys are the most wonderful places to be--, probably because the day was so stifling hot. The rusted grate sat in its usual place, but Amethyst paid it almost no heed. Until it started moving. 

She jumped back into the shadows, startled, and froze --questions like: Grates can't move on their own, right? and: Why is a sewage grate in an alley in the first place?! flitting through her head. To her immense surprise, a person stepped out of the hole below the opening. Though not just any ordinary person. Topaz. He stood, brushing off his pant-legs --which had gotten rust-stained from the grate's lid-- and looked around him. Amethyst held her breath, then immediately stopped. 

Why would it be so horrible if he found me? She asked herself. I have been trying to psych up enough courage to talk to him... Now's my chance... 

Topaz's brows furrowed as his gaze completed its sweep of his surroundings. He opened his mouth to speak, still turning his head this way and that, but stopped. His eyes rested on Amethyst, still cloaked in shadows, and she knew she had been seen. 

Furrowing his brows even more, Topaz said in a low voice, "Who's there?" 

Slowly, Amethyst stepped out of the shadows. "Uh, me. Hi." She waved her hand limply, trying to remain cool. 

"You?" His tone sounded incredulous, matching his one raised eyebrow. 

"Yes, it's me. Who did you expect?" Amethyst shot back, crossing her arms. 

"A cat," Topaz merely said. Then, as if just now remembering it, he turned and looked at the open hatch of the sewer grate, then back at her. "You didn't see any of that," He told her, waving his hands like a magician trying to confuse his audience. 

"Yes I did," Amethyst said to him, stepping over and peering into the dark hole. "What's in there?" 

"Nothing! Nothing you need to see." Topaz shooed her away, which only made her want to venture down there even more. "Listen. It was nice to see you again, Miss, or whatever," he rolled his eyes. "But now you really need to go." 

"Excuse me?" Now Amethyst's tone was incredulous. "You don't get to order me around like I'm some... some..." To her internal fury, she couldn't come up with any good analogies. 

"Regular person?" Topaz offered, looking displeased. "Like the Leaders and Authorities do to us?"

"Yea--! " Amethyst began.

But he cut her off, saying, "Whatever it is, it's not important. What is important," the way he used stressed syllables made her think of Emerald once again. "Is that you didn't see anything and now you're going away. Bye-bye." Topaz waved one hand up and down, less like a magician now and more like a young child. 

Amethyst put her foot down --both literally and figuratively. She wasn't leaving 'til she saw what was down that dark hole-tunnel-thing that definitely wasn't supposed to be there! And... until she talked to him about Peri and asked about him speaking out at the Alarm Gathering, which she wasn't exactly looking forward to. So she laid down her wild card. 

"Peri."

"Huh?" Topaz looked confused.

"Your cat. His name is Peri. I know, because he's my cat, too. Except, I call him Tom."

Now Topaz looked utterly confused, as well as startled. "What are you talking about?" 

Amethyst gave an exasperated sigh. Then --almost as if he were summoned-- out walked Peri from behind one of the nearby Waste Compartments, meowing at them both. 

"That's Peri. That's who I'm talking about," Amethyst told him, motioning with her hands to their mutual friend. 

"You know him?" Topaz asked her, stooping down and petting Peri, who was rubbing himself against his legs. Amethyst, too, crouched down and petted him, scratching at his favorite spot behind his ears. Peri mrowwled with pleasure. 

"A few weeks ago, I found him in an alley. This alley, actually," She said as she looked around. "And since I thought he had no home, I brought him back to my house, and my family and I have been looking after him since." They sat in silence --situating themselves into a seated position on the cold cobblestoned alleyway-- for a few minutes, listening to Peri's purrs. "He has gotten rather spoiled," Amethyst added, glancing at Peri's plump belly. "And he has two little girls who give him all their love." 

"You named him... Tom?" Topaz asked, looking incredulous once more. 

Amethyst winced. "Yeah, I'm not too elaborate on names. As you can see." 

To her surprise, Topaz barked a short laugh, almost like he was out of practice. "I only named him Peri because of his eyes: green like a peridot." 

"Oh. That's a much better name than Tom," Amethyst told him, laughing too. "It's no wonder why he would never come when I called him Tom!" 

As if disturbed by her laughter, Topaz seemed to clam up, not saying anything else and standing up once more. Peri remained sprawled out on the ground, but Amethyst stood too. Topaz glanced around him like he had before, only now he was not looking for a friend. 

He's making sure no one heard us talking. Making sure the Authorities didn't hear, Amethyst thought --a shiver going down her spine. Peri brought her back to the present, mewing once more and rolling back and forth on the ground. But this time Amethyst didn't bother to pet him. 

Topaz looked at her sideways, as if evaluating her. She looked back, feeling her questions about the Alarm Gathering bubbling up inside her throat, wanting, waiting to be asked. 

"So," She said, hating the silence and being slightly unnerved by his penetrating stare. "Your name is Topaz." The eyebrow went up again, questioningly. "Topaz...? Is that your only name? Topaz?" 

"Yes," He told her, grudgingly. "My only home is the streets, away from people who call themselves Leaders and box me into a corner, taking away my rights as a person. Is that your only name? Amethyst? I think not." 

She shook her head. "It could be the only one if I wanted it to be." Then she looked at the ground, saying, "But I'm not sure." Commons were the lowest of the Classifications. But below that, there was the Nameless. Those who were so worthless, that no one had bothered to give them a last name. To Topaz, having no last name almost seemed like an honor. And honor not to be dragged down and Classified along with the rest of society. Only, Amethyst wasn't sure she wanted that just yet. 

"You're a Semi-Precious 020. Living with your two parents and twin sisters." Topaz stated it like a fact he had memorized. 

Confused, Amethyst furrowed her brows. "Yes..." She said slowly. 

"In order to make a difference in this time and place, you can't have those things dragging you down." He stared at her, hard. Then added softly, "Believe me, I've tried. And that's what you've been doing this past week, isn't it? With your spying? Wanting to understand all these changes?" As her expression turned into surprise, he laughed quietly then told her, "I'm not oblivious. You can't be if you want to survive on the streets." 

Then Topaz turned and started climbing back down the grate-passage. Alarmed, Amethyst said to him, "Wait! I didn't think that you were! And you're right! I do want to help, I just don't know how." She watched in apprehension as he went down the hatch, not knowing when or where she would see him again. The grate closed with a small THUNK! and then all was silent. Peri continued with his incessant purring, making Amethyst start to think that it was more annoying than cute now. 

She groaned aloud, balling her hands into fists. Amethyst was angry. Angry that he had pretended to be confused when she had been talking about Peri. Angry that he had just walked away from their conversation. She exhaled sharply, glancing down at her ankles where Peri was perched. 

Then she started to grin. Not giving a single thought to what she was about to do, Amethyst marched over to the hatch, opened it up, and disappeared into the murky depths below. Just like that annoying Topaz had done moments before, and not knowing at all what lay ahead.  

Sorry for the wait! Life has been busy.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Chapter Eight

There was less light in the tunnel below the grate then Amethyst had anticipated --she had to squint to make out the simplest of shapes. The last ladder rung was completely rusted away, which caught her foot --which was expecting another rung-- off guard. She ended up jumping the last few feet, her arms flailing, trying to find something to grab onto in the inky darkness. Eventually, she regained her balance and as her eyes adjusted to the low light, she could make out a torch hung on a wall a little distance off. Amethyst started walking towards it, groping at the wall --which was cold and damp, she realized-- with her hands as she went. But she stopped abruptly and jumped back as her fingers collided with human skin. 

She heard a grunt, a sigh, then footsteps. The torch up ahead bobbed up and down, coming closer to Amethyst --who shrunk back against the cold tunnel wall. The bright light shined in her eyes, and as she reached her hands up to shield her face, she saw another face --this one now made visible in the torch-light. 

Topaz. 

A smirk split across his shadowed face and he said, offhandedly, "Knew you'd come," Then he marched on up ahead, leaving Amethyst behind in the darkness once more. She let out a frustrated sigh and, against her better judgment, jogged to catch up with him. 

"Wait," She said to him, for the second time that day. "So that big speech about having a family will only be a hindrance was just to discourage me?" 

Topaz stopped abruptly, making Amethyst crash into him. Over his shoulder, he said, "Partly. I knew you would be too stubborn not to follow. But having family and doing what we do is still a weakness." 

Amethyst decided to let the part about her being stubborn pass and instead focused on his last sentence. "We? Who's 'we'?"

He stopped once more, turning to face her. "I belong to an organization. We call ourselves the Priceless. We're devoted to bringing equality back into our government, and we do the little things that make a big difference in the end." Then he paused, thinking. Adding after a moment, "Like with what I said at the Alarm Gathering. It was a little thing, but you and I both saw what a difference it made. People are still talking about it all over town. So are you in?" 

"In?" It was a little too much information at one time for Amethyst to process. 

"Do you want to join the Priceless? Otherwise, you have no business being down here --you go right back where you came from and forget this place ever existed. Forget that I ever existed. Are you in?"

"Um, yes?" Amethyst told him, hesitantly --she wasn't quite sure of all the responsibilities that would involve joining the Priceless. It was a gang... sort of. So she would have to spend time being involved in what they did. Spending time away from her family for who knows how long. Which, in reality, Amethyst had no idea at all what they did, besides Topaz's vague answer of "small things that make a big difference." But do I want to help? She asked herself. Do I want to help make a change for the better? Of course. And if joining this gang can make that possible, then by all means. Then, more decidedly, she said to him, "Yes."

Topaz nodded once. "Good." 

After striding forward a few more feet, he stopped once more and bent over, holding the torch in his hand close to the wall. He must've found what he was looking for because a moment later, he rapped out a complicated series of beats and yet another secret hatch swung open. The head and shoulders of a person popped out, looking over Topaz, then doing double-take when they saw Amethyst. Topaz just waved his hand at the person --Probably signifying that I'm with him, Amethyst realized with a slight moment of exuberance.

He stepped through the hatch, motioning for Amethyst to follow. As she placed her foot on the other side of the high-up hatch, she felt like stepping into another world. The room was dimly yet tastefully lit, with a few raggedy couches placed hither and thither, with a large wooden table situated in the middle. People were sitting in the chairs surrounding it, looking over at Topaz and Amethyst. It looked almost like... a homey apartment. 

"This is 'we'," Topaz told her, gesturing with his hands to himself and the people at the table.  "We are the Priceless, and welcome to our unofficial Headquarters, kid." 

Kid?! Who does he think he is, calling me a kid? Amethyst wondered. Unless he somehow looks really young for his age, we're no more than two years apart! However, just like his comment about her being stubborn, she let it pass. 

The people seated around the table glanced at her curiously, and Amethyst waved her hand shyly back --like she had done when she first encountered Topaz in the alley less than an hour ago. The person who had let Topaz and Amethyst in through the hatch retook their place at the table, nonchalantly kicking up their feet and scanning the weathered maps that were strewn about on its surface. 

There were a little less than ten people seated before them, Amethyst estimated. All different ages, with all different eye colors. Nearest to them was the person who had let them inside, a man with vibrant violet eyes and freckled, tan skin who wore his short blonde hair combed over to one side. Next to him was a girl with, well, purple eyes --Amethyst realized with a start, wondering if it was just coincidence or something more to cause three people in the same room to have the same colored eyes-- and long, corn-flower yellow hair. To her right sat another woman, a girl, really, since nobody in this room was over 25. She had striking red-black eyes and chin-length black hair. She stared glumly at the floor, no one else at the table really paying her any attention. Across the scattered chief of papers sat a young man who was running his hands through his curly hair, his orange eyes reflecting off the light as he studied Amethyst intensely. To his left was a laid-back young man, with faint blue eyes and unruly brown hair, who was fiddling with a silver whistle that hung on a string around his neck. With her chair pushed out, elbows resting on the table, there was another girl with rich black eyes --Amethyst was instantly reminded of her mother-- who, just by observing her for a few minutes, Amethyst could already tell that she was a bundle of energy. Her long, wavy dark hair cascaded down her back, swishing back and forth as the girl's legs tapped with unused vigor beneath the table. A young man with dazzling yellow-green eyes caught Amethyst's attention next, along with the person next to him --another girl, this one twirling a sharp-edged knife in her hands idly. Her smoky-blue eyes observed everything with little interest, yet Amethyst could still detect curiosity in her sharp gaze. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a no-nonsense braid at the nape of her neck, but just the fact that she owned a knife was startling to Amethyst. The Leaders had banned personal weapons of any sort a long time ago, but Amethyst still had a vague memory of her father's knife collection, sitting out on display in the living room. 

They were all wearing different styles of clothes --from sweatpants and a sweatshirt to tight-fitting skirts with heels-- meaning that they were from all different Classifications. Amethyst predicted that she was one of maybe two or three Semi-Precious in that room --with their simple yet elegant slacks and flowered tops for ladies, with slacks and button-up shirts for the men. Topaz --sticking with his idea that he didn't belong to any Classification-- wore a hodge-podge of clothes that were somehow well-suited to his style and taste. 

These people obviously did not care what the world around them thought, Topaz especially. Which was odd, to say the least. But also gave Amethyst a sort of warm feeling. She was so used to needing to have perfect manners, dress, and personality when around people. But here, that was not required, it seemed. 

"I won't bother with introductions," Topaz said, shaking her out of her reverie. "You'll meet everyone sooner or later, and they will meet you. The important thing is, you're here now."

Nodding, Amethyst told him, "And I have questions."