Give Me A Voice and I Will Yap!

I stare down at what used to be my paws, but now take on the appearance of human hands.

Flexing, they’re definitely mine. Mesmerized, I examine my body. I… I’m human again?! No, kind of? I have a tail. When I feel my head, I have cat-like ears as well. But everything else feels human. Pure white hair falls in front of my face, and running my hand through it is a familiar feeling. A small, pure white dress cloaks my form as I touch my face.

“Whoa…” The exclamation escapes my mouth before I can stop it.

Yancy stares at me, wide-eyed.

“Oh my god… I actually did it… I did it!” Her eyes light up. “I didn’t think it would work, but it did! I’ve never done this spell before! I had the idea for it when I was in school but never used it or anything! Oh my gosh, you’re really human!”

Shaking her head, she comes back to reality and shoves the clothes into my (New!! Human!!!) arms.

“I’ll help you put these on. It’s a maid uniform. You and I are going to just walk straight out of here before Lady Janice can notice!”

There’s little time for me to process all the new, or familiar, senses I’m feeling. Yancy hurriedly dresses me. The maid dress is long and poofy enough that it hides the tail entirely, and the bonnet provided is able to hide the cat ears. On the outside, I look like a totally normal person, albeit with snow-white hair.

When I’m done dressing, I move to stand. Yancy reaches out, prepared to help, but perplexed when I seem to be standing flawlessly.

“Is… it human instinct? I thought you’d have a harder time standing than this.”

I shrug. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

Her eyes go wide at my response. “And you know how to talk.”

I pause, realizing that yeah, it’d be kinda weird if an animal that’s been an animal all their life was suddenly able to walk and talk just fine as a human. I was a human in my past life, so it didn’t even cross my mind when I regained the ability to do so.

“Um. Yeah.”

We stare at each other for a second before Yancy shakes herself out of it.

“Well, that makes this easier! Come on, we have to leave before someone comes to check on you!”

I nod and Yancy opens the door. Taking a look around, the coast is clear, and she ushers me out of the room. Taking my hand, she leads me down the hallway. This place is massive, almost as big as the royal palace. Fitting for a duke, I suppose. While I’m used to the Palace halls, which are objectively much larger, it feels like I could get lost here, everything looks similar.

Yancy quickly turns a corner, pausing briefly before motioning me to follow close. Slowly, casually, we make our way down the hallway. We pass other maids, scrambling about. I hear them talking in hushed whispers, but thanks to the bonnet muffling sound, I can’t make out what they’re saying. When we reach the end of the hall, I flinch when I recognize the back of Janice. She’s got her arms crossed, glaring up at her older brother, who looks pissed.

Unfortunately for us, we have to walk past them to reach the exit. Yancy and I glance at each other before making our way down the hall.

“Forget how you even pulled this off, I can’t believe you even had the guts to do this!” Marius hisses.

“You’re overreacting, Mar.” Janice pouts. “I’ll just tell him I found her, she’ll learn to love me when I return her home. Then Prince Valentine will naturally love me too, since his beloved cat loves me!”

Marius scowls. “Hell no. I’ve already messaged Val. He’s on his way.”

“You WHAT?!” Janice shouts. Yancy and I exchange a glance, picking up the pace a bit.

“This has gone too far, Jan. Once that cat has been returned, cut contact with him. You’re obsessed and it’s driving you crazy. There are other men out there you can easily catch.”

Janice looks pissed. I swear, you could see the fire light up behind her as she glared at her brother. But as we pass, another maid walks up.

“U-Uhm… Lady Janice…”

“WHAT?” She practically roars.

The maid leans in, whispering something in her ear. The color drains from her face faster than the rage had ignited. We don’t hear the result of that as we reach the exit and slip out. Finally outside, we simultaneously release the breath we were both holding in. Yancy straightens her glasses.

“Th-that was nerve wrecking.” She sighs.

“Val’s on his way.” I mumble. “I don’t know if that makes this easier or harder.”

Yancy stares at me with wide eyes. “Oh, they’re gonna freak out when they realize you’re gone! What should we do?”

“Uhm, can’t you turn me back?”

“I… I don’t know how.” Yancy fidgets with her skirt. “The spell lasts for an hour, I know, but I’ve never used it before. Gosh, did I make things worse? M-maybe I shouldn’t have–”

“Hey!” I slide in front of her, grabbing her hands and gently pulling them away from her skirt. “It’s ok! You know where I am, you just have to return me to my Val in an hour. I feel bad to cause everyone stress for that long, but we both know everything will be ok by then, right?”

“I… I guess so… But should I just tell his Highness what I did? That might be–”

“No.” I cut her off. “I… I don’t want that. Let’s just wait it out if you can’t reverse the spell.”

Yancy frowns, eyes trailing off to the side when they widen in recognition. A large, black car pulls up to the front of the manor. She gasps when she catches a flash of golden hair, ducking behind me.

“H-He’s here! He can’t see me!”

Ah, that would make sense, it would be suspicious if one of his maids were at the castle when they don’t even know who all were involved with kidnapping me in the first place. I grab her hand and pull her behind one of the large trees that dot the front of the manor right as the door opens, Marius and Janice stepping outside to greet Val. His face is scrunched up in a mixture of anger and worry.

“I… I’m here, Marius. And my cat is…?”

It breaks my heart to hear the anxiety in his voice.

“The cat got out.” Marius nearly growls, casting a sideways glare at his sister. “We’re searching the manor up and down to find her.”

Val’s face falls. “Th-then what are we waiting for? I’ll help search.” He runs into the manor, Marius following close behind. Janice lingers for a second before turning and walking into the manor, pout on her face.

With the immediate threat of discovery gone, I pull Yancy and flee the property. We run from the manor, ending up in a sort of town park far enough away to take a breather.

A sigh of relief, Yancy sits on the edge of a fountain. I’m not entirely sure where this area is, but there’s a fountain, multiple trees and flowers around, surrounded on two sides by brick store fronts. Granted, it’s not far from the manor, but it’d at least be reasonable to assume Yancy was just on a stroll through town if someone caught her here.

Yancy is safe for now.

I plop down next to Yancy, taking in my surroundings. It’s been ages since I’ve been in a setting like this; in my past life, my grandparents lived in a small town. The residents typically lived a bit outside of the main area, but the heart of the town was always lively. It was easily walkable, from their house to the center of town. I was always envious, since I lived in the cities and suburbs my entire life. This town… gave me those vibes.

It was nostalgic, like I could just walk straight back home and see my gran and pops sitting on their porch.

So I say as much.

“It’s been ages since I’ve been in town like this.” Trying to break the ice. “Well, not like this per-say. But you know what I mean.”

Yancy lefts out a soft laugh that could almost be mistaken for a sigh.

“I imagine being in town like… this after being used to how you usually are… is quite jarring.”

“I’m usually cooped up inside the Palace.” I hum. “I only go out into the gardens or, on bad days, to the vet.” Yancy laughs.

“I’m sure it can be suffocating. Although, I’ve never been too adventurous myself. I almost wish I was the cat here, I’d get to relax all day and not have to worry about anything.”

I can help the laugh that tumbles out, unable to reel it back in. Yancy looks at me with wide, owlish eyes, unsure as to what’s so funny about what she just said.

“That’s– That’s what I used to feel like, too.” I say, with a smile. “I like being the Prince’s cat, honestly. At least I can steal a few books to read in the time between seeing him during the day.”

“I… what? What do you mean?” Yancy blinks. “You… used to feel like what? And you can read? What… what does that mean?”

Ah, shoot.

I really didn’t mean to let any of that slip– it wasn’t my intention to ever reveal to anyone I used to be human. Not like I could when I was a cat. But now that I’ve got a working human mouth, I just had to run it until I got myself caught!! DUMMY!! Ugh this is awful..

I let my guard down cause I was comfortable around Yancy.

Well.

There’s worse people to tell than Yancy.

Turning to Yancy, before I could even get a single word out, a commotion coming down the street caught both of our attention.

Guards, both from the Palace and the Lias Manor Guard, are seen walking down the street. They’re handing out flyers, putting them up in the surrounding area. In the center of the formation, Val and Marius. Val practically ignores the curious on lookers, looking under tables, going down alley ways and looking up into the trees. No doubt, looking anywhere a cat might be found. Marius follows him, pulling him away before he can cause trouble to onlookers and causing others to scatter from just a glare.

It’s an odd picture to witness, especially knowing how sour their relationship has been recently. Heck, the only thing Marius was missing was one of those… child leashes, or whatever, to put onto Val. He was practically trying to keep him in check so he doesn’t do something stupid and cause a stir. A morbidly curious part of me wonders if this was close to their dynamic back when they were kids.

The other part of me hopes not to get that curiosity answered. I don’t want Marius anywhere NEAR my Prince, and I’d be lying if I said seeing them like this didn’t make my hidden tail bristle.

The two start coming closer to the fountain, Yancy freezing, clearly unsure of what to do. Glancing at her, I place a hand over hers that are fisted in her lap. I look back at the pair as Val happens to look our way. He has a beat of confusion cross his face, before recognition registers and he jogs over, Marius close behind.

“Hey! Yancy! Surprised to see you here!”

Yancy starts, blinking owlishly at my Prince, before nodding her head. “U-Uhm… Yes… I, I was…”

“...on her lunch break, so she decided to meet with me!”

I lean over to steal Val’s attention from Yancy, an oh-so innocent smile on my face. He blinks, staring at my face before cocking his head to the side. I can’t help my smile from growing, why is my Prince so adorable?!

“Oh… and you are…?”

“Yancy’s Bestie! You… Can you call me Lana, your Highness!” I stand to give him a bow as a proper greeting. Yancy blinks, watching as I take over the conversation. “To what do we owe the honor?”

Val blinks again. I can tell he senses something familiar about me. I’m sure if I told him I was his beloved cat, he might actually believe it. He can’t quite put the pieces together though, and he motions for one of his guards. They hand me a flyer, a picture of me looking at the camera on my perch in the library is printed. I accept it and look down at the picture. It’s definitely the kind of picture I’d have saved on my phone in my past life for when I wanted to look at cute cats.

Vallie clears his throat and composes himself, looking at me in my eyes. I can’t help but realize that I’m somehow taller than him; I didn’t think he was short for his age… maybe I’m just tall in this form?

“I’m looking for my cat.” He says, voice clear. “She was kidnapped and, well, when we went to retrieve her, she’d slipped out. We think she’s outside somewhere in these surrounding areas. If you happen to see her..” He glances over at Yancy, who sits a bit straighter as they make eye contact. “... Yancy is a maid at the Palace, please hand her to Yancy and have her bring my cat back.”

I cast a glance back down at the flyer, pretending to study it for a bit, before looking back at him with a smile.

“Of course! We’ll keep a sharp eye out while we are out and about!”

Val nods, turning back to Marius.

“Let’s… keep searching. She can’t have gone far if she’s in town.”

Marius simply nods his head. Val bids us goodbye and we watch as the search group continues down the street.

“...Thank you for stepping up.” Yancy mumbles. “I… don’t think I could have talked to him like this, I’m not… very good under pressure.”

I turn back to look at her and offer a smile.

“It’s ok, Yancy. It’s already been… what, 20 minutes or something? Why don’t we walk around a bit while we wait for the spell to wear off?”

Yancy looks up, nodding before standing.

“Sure… Is there anywhere you want to go? I’m… sure you’re at least curious.”

Yeah there is, actually.

Before Yancy can even blink, I whisk her away, only to stop when we enter a cafe and motion for her to sit in one of the booths. She does, a bit dazed, and I sit across from her.

“I’ve been DYING to go to a cute, little cafe like this!” I smile sweetly. Yancy takes a minute to process before smiling.

“I… see. Then, let’s enjoy it. Just don’t order anything a cat can’t eat. I don’t know if it’ll negatively affect your health when you turn back.”

“BOOO!” I pout, and she finally giggles a bit, life returning to her face.

After a short wait, we receive food and drinks, and I start digging in. Yancy is considerably slower, glancing up at me from time to time, before she takes a sip of her tea and looks me in the eyes.

“What… were you going to say before his Highness approached us?”

Ah– I thought she’d forgotten. I swallow the sweet treat I was devouring, using a napkin to wipe my mouth. I ponder for a minute before deciding with a nod.

“Yes. It’s weird for someone who was a cat their entire life to know how to behave like a human, right? Even if they’ve been around them. At least, maybe. We don’t actually know, do we?” I give her a smile. “Cause the spell’s never been used on a cat that’s never been human before.”

Yancy stares. She blinks once.

Blinks twice.

Blinks a third time.

Finally, her jaw drops open.

“wh-WHAT?” She covers her mouth at her outburst, looking around the cafe to make sure no one is listening in, then leans in and whispers. “Were… were you cursed or something?!”

I can’t help but giggle at her seriousness. “No, no. Nothing like that, maybe.” Resting my chin on my hand, I stare out the window and hum. “I think… I was reincarnated as a cat, rather than turned into one. If I recall correctly, the last human memory I had was of me in the hospital after collapsing at work. The next thing I knew, I was blinking my little kitten eyes open and saw my Vallie looking down at me.” A smile tugs at my lips.

Yancy, however, stares at me in wonder. She tilts her head, before leaning forward.

“So… you came into this world as a kitten… but you had all the memories of your past human life?”

I nod. “I remember most of it. From childhood to the day I died. I’d rather forget that particular day, though.” I laugh. “I was a bookworm, but I was also incredibly overworked. When I realized I’d woken up as a cat, I thought maybe I did something wrong in my previous life. However, when I then realized I was the cat of a Prince, I decided this was probably a divine reward for working so hard~ I get to laze around all day, read books, have my meals prepped by a 5 star chef, and be pampered by everyone around me. It’s practically heaven! It doesn’t hurt that my Vallie is also such a sweet boy. I’ll do whatever I can to make him happy, as I am.”

“Haha, I see, that does sound rather heavenly. I’m envious, really. I wish that would be my next life, too.” Yancy giggles. “Then, the name you told his Highness, Lana…?”

“My old name, yes.”

“Wow…”

“But, please don’t call me that.” I smirk. “It’s not my name anymore. I’ll scratch you if you try, even if we’re alone. I’ll treasure the name my Prince gave to me.”

“Of course, I’ll honor that!” Yancy pauses for a second, before she raises her hand to her chin. “If I may ask… why not tell the Prince? Would it not make him happy to get to speak to his cat and know what’s on their mind? Many pet owners would kill for that. Granted, it’s a spell I made, so it’s not known by anyone else, but still…”

It’s a fair question, I guess. Pausing to gather my words, I look at her seriously. “Because, I don’t think Val doesn’t need ‘Lana’ the human right now… he needs ‘Princess’ the cat. Val… has a lot of people, humans, around him that care about him. I’ve met them. What he needs are for those people to be there for him and to have his therapy cat waiting for him at the end of the day. I am more than happy with the role I’ve been assigned to play here, as long as those around him play their own parts.” Giving Yancy a soft smile, I lean back against the booth. “Regardless of what I want, that’s what’s best for everyone. But if I may be so selfish… Please be my Prince’s friend. He’s only recently started putting himself back out there, and he seems to enjoy your company. Val… Needs friends by his side that care. You came all the way out to help me, and by extension, help him.”

As soon as my request ends, a determined nod comes from Yancy. “Ok! I can do that! I don’t mind being his friend, as long as he accepts me as one!”

It makes me smile. I don’t know if this is me effectively causing them to get caught and stay in the friendzone, but even so, having a friend like Yancy will do Val good… Even if they don’t end up together. Glancing outside at the clock tower not far from us, I move to get up.

“With that… It’s almost time. Should we go somewhere with no people so we can go back?”

Yancy nods. She looks more determined now than I’ve seen her before, it feels good knowing that I helped do that.